4.25.2012

unpacking

[written at 9:20 this morning] 

it's been quite warm (we hit a record the other day for record high during this time of the year!) but early today the sun was shy and the clouds replaced its usual greeting. i noticed this as i rushed to my car after a busy morning, late for work. as i strapped my on seatbelt and pulled out into the street, i realized i felt a breeze. it was coming from the windows which were still cracked to ventilate yesterday's heat. though it wasn't warm this morning, it wasn't unnecessarily chilly, so i kept them that way as i sped on.

gloomy as the outside appeared, for me there was a different quality to it. a familiar atmospheric texture. i couldn't put my finger on it.

my mind was preoccupied with other thoughts, but it occasionally dipped back into a vague recognition of this somewhat recognizable ambiance as i drove.

unlike the normal overcast utah mornings, it wasn't cold, and i could feel water in the air though the rain hadn't made its way down yet.

it wasn't until i caught a scent as i rounded a slight bend in the road that i realized what it was. the faint smell was cigarette smoke, diluted by the smell of oncoming rain. that's when it donned on me:

new york.

of course. many of my memories from my internship two summers ago were fraught with this smell, feel, and surrounding environment. even the current road construction added to it. the only difference was that i was driving to work this time, rather than walking, and i was on the other side of the country.

i let my mind wander back to reminisce. the sporadic rain storms, walking to society, the crazy heat, the dynamics of various circumstances and relationships, the friends that i'd met there, so many fascinating strangers, the curiosity and wonder and awe that i tried to maintain throughout the entirety of my total eight weeks there.

i missed it.
all of it.
and i missed them.
and for a brief moment, i missed the me that was there.

but the other day, i penned it in black and white as i wrote to a friend:
she's still in me, somewhere.

----

in many aspects, i think i was a better person in new york.
the circumstances made it easier for me to function at my optimum capacity.

but, recently i heard a devotional by stanley g. ellis, who gave some solid advice about handling the "temporary stages of your life"...which can last a lot longer sometimes than we anticipate:

unpack your bags.
"be where we are. have an attitude as for years...be there, until you're not. the eternal attitude of a transient isn't good....[that] attitude....will rob you of much joy and satisfaction...and will cause the...community to lose the many contributions you could make."

that kind of hit me hard.
i'm not in new york now.
and i don't know when i'll return.

but -- what good did it do for me, if i only let that growth affect me while i'm there? or any place of growth, for that matter?

i need to apply that here. now. and i need to stop waiting for my future goals to be recognized to make me into the person i want to become. because chances are, as i focus on working harder to be that person now, i'll be a much better version of her later, and will be more prepared and ready when the rubber hits the road as those goals are actualized.

it's okay to miss times, places, circumstances, people, and discoveries that brought out the best in me. but i realized that it's almost like spitting in the faces of those people and places if i let whatever they made me into die simply because i don't want to make the effort to find and apply their effects within myself again.

---

well. that post didn't go where i thought it would go.
it was just going to say, "this morning felt gloomy but refreshing outside and i missed new york."
but i suppose i needed to remind myself of what i ended up writing.

5 comments:

Samantha said...

Hey this is Samantha, your former RB swim/locker buddy :) Thank you for your thoughts. I also heard that devo and it hit me hard that I need to live in the here and now, not in the what's to come...and then I forgot it. So I needed this reminder! Hope you're enjoying life and the summer!

Miranda Meeks said...

Thank you for sharing this Kristin. For the past few years I've been dying to go to New York and that's all I've thought about. I need to be more content with where I am now and focus on that. Thank you for reminding me! I'm glad your post steered in the direction that it did, even though it wasn't on purpose :)

Anonymous said...

The second half of the quote is what really hit me. the bit about "the eternal attitude of a transient" pretty much nailed me to the wall... Thank you,
-Ned-

Unknown said...

Kristin.

You are an inspiration. I feel like this blog, coupled with the CES fireside you told me about made my Sunday and helped remind me who I am and what I need to be thankful for. The content in this blog made me think back to my own experiences in Portland and how they made me stronger. I loved/hated my time there for so many conflicting reasons and it made me appreciate my home here. Having said that, I agree that the place doesn't matter as much as your heart. Home really IS where the heart is and to serve the people in your home is what is most important.

Thank you,

Al

Ryan and Alexis Bessey said...

Thank you, I needed to hear this, like right now. Thanks for taking the effort to put those thoughts into words, and words that resonated so well with me and what I am going through. Like an answer to a prayer that I haven't said yet. I love you Kristen! Keep having fun, making new friends as you do so well, and keep writing those thoughts of yours. They may just change a life for good as they did mine this morning.