Little Moments & Being Present

I was talking to a very special friend this week and he reminded of the importance of the little moments and that "those are the ones that count!" Dan Millman wrote that "Life is a series of moments. The quality of attention and action that we bring to each moment determines the quality of our lives." I'm constantly working on being more mindful and intentional. Peace Corps is sure an interesting and wonderfully good place to be working on this. "Living in the moment" is a constant journey. Some moments I think I know what I'm doing and feeling like progress is being made in that area and sometimes I feel like I'm just floating, not really paying attention to what is going on in front of me. And what is going on in front of me is uniquely cool and sometimes I forget that. Instead I'm thinking about what comes next (in the next moment, month or year), what I will say to respond to the person in front of me when they finish talking. Not being mindful. Not enjoying the now. Not at all. I don't want to be like that anymore. I don't know if it's a renewed sense of excitement being back here, the fact that I meditated and did yoga every day this week or what, but man, my week was filled with some amazing experiences. I giggled with kids and jump-roped beneath a mango tree, talked with a co-teacher about how we teach to best help students learn, drank tea and skyped, climbed a tree and listened to the wind, had a wonderful conversation with a local principal about the proper way to wear a ta'ovala (grass mat), taught some Tongans some new yoga poses (eagle pose is a tricky one) and watched as one of my students read an entire book in English for the very first time. 

Today was so good for so many reasons. The cool air, the wind, so many "a-ha!" moments in the classroom (my kids are learning to read English! woo woo!). It was so good. So so good. (I'll be back with a more substantial post later this week.)

 Today was good.

  Today was fun.

  Tomorrow is another one.

  - Dr. Seuss

My Trip to America.

I am back in the land of coconut trees and turquoise water.

I am back to living with rats, walking around barefoot most of the time, and listening to a language that is not the one I grew up learning.

And I love it. I love you so stinkin' much Tonga.

It's 7:30am on Sunday morning and lots of rain is coming down outside.

I love the rain, especially when I rely on it for drinking water.

Thank you Water Gods for filling up my sima vai (water tank). If I could high five you I would. Seriously.

I knew that coming back here I'd feel a plethora of emotions.

I expected the transition back to be a tricky one. And by tricky, I fully expected it to be really really hard.

Which makes sense since 99% of the things and people I love in this life were compacted into the last 22 days. So much goodness that it all feels very much like a dream. The best possible dream. Is there an opposite to a nightmare? Because that's what I have experienced the last month or so.

And even though I did not arrive back with my luggage and I touched down in a rainstorm in a plane that I'm not exactly sure should still be operating (but who am I to judge? I hold no aviation certification, but based on the fact that duct tape was used to hold some parts of the plane together one can only question), I'm one happy girl. 

 So this blog has been a little quiet and I thought that I would share with some of my favorite moments from the last 3 weeks. In no particular order:

1. Reunions. When my flight touched down in Denver, CO on June 22nd I expected to only see my sister waiting for me. It was 11pm on a Saturday night. But instead, my best friend and her crush cutie were there too. Complete with a big obnoxious sign, Disney princess balloons and noise makers. They made quite the scene. I'll never forget it.

 

2. Seeing the family. I love my family to bits - they are pretty rockin' people and the week before Molly got married I got to spend a lot of time with them, hanging out, throwing impromptu dance parties and enjoying each other's company.

 

Playing in the hammock in the backyard.

Drak standing up in the wedding.

Chattin' it up at the wedding rehearsal.

3. Watching Molly marry her crush cutie. I love my new brother (I refuse to call him brother-in-law... takes too long to say and to me it shows an element of separateness and Josh is now part of the family) and I was really excited to welcome him into the family.

Almost ready to walk down the aisle!

 

4. Meeting new friends. Very rarely do I meet people and become immediately comfortable around them. I'm sure it's my fault. I put up walls and really dislike pushing through the artificial small talk that leads you to the deep and juicy goodness found when you know somebody really well, but I made a new friend while I was in the states. That comfort, straight-forwardness and honesty was there immediately and it was really neat that we crossed paths. Plus my face muscles hurt from laughing so much. And now I have a new pen pal. A win-win situation.

5. Seeing old friends. Friendships come in many shapes and sizes and one of my favorite things about my friends back home is that no matter how much time has passed when we get together it's like no time has passed at all. Some of the friends I was able to catch up with when I was home are friends that I have known since I was 5! Whether it was a drink at cool pub in Denver, lunch at a tiny diner, bbq in the humid Wisconsin summer,... it was so good to reconnect.

6. Getting to hang out with babies. I'm at that age where some of my friends are still single like me, some are engaged, many are married and some have started creating families of their own. It's so neat getting to meet the children of my friend's... it's really amazing to see little people that look like the people you love.

Oliver being adorable.

 7. Visiting the grandparents. I had the opportunity to drive up to Door County, Wisconsin for a quick day trip with the 'rents. We hung out with my grandparents, ate trip (a type of sausage, almost like a bratwurst, that is made with cabbage), and hung out in nature with aunts, uncles and cousins. Sweet deal.

8. Eating amazing food. Mmmmm.... salads. Kale. Mixed greens. So much green! I ate as many leafy greens as I could fit in my face while I was in America. Me and Vitamin B12 were best friends for 3 whole weeks.

9. Dry weather. One of the many many reasons I love living in Colorado (when I'm not in Peace Corps) so much is the weather. It can be 100 degrees in Colorado and I'd be loving it because of the low levels of humidity. Humidity makes me look like a bloated red tomato. And not the perfect ripe kind. Not good.

10. Skypes. I was able to take part in multiple Skype sessions at home and with the licky-split quickness of the interwebs Stateside it almost felt as if each one of my friends was right in the room with me. Such a good feeling. I'm still missing camp like wo, but it was amazing to get to Skype with my camp family since I wasn't able to make it to Maine on this trip. 

 

So excited to see them tomorrow!

a video.

I gave a presentation tonight in my hometown about my Peace Corps journey in Tonga (so far). Check out the video I made:

 

Molly and Josh Get Married.

Life is so good in the Northern Hemisphere. 

We celebrated my sister's wedding and enjoyed a week together with family in Colorado.

 I met some new friends.

 Laughed a lot.

 I learned what a Buddhist Shambhala Wedding Ceremony entails (so cool... must learn more... When I get married some day this is the type of ceremony I want).

 Watched my sister marry the love of her life.

 Played with one awesome dog.

 

And now here I am with a cup of coffee sitting at my childhood breakfast table (in Wisconsin) enjoying a bowl of gf granola, bananas and blueberries. 

Life is so good.