Coming and Going

Hello fellow Global Learner Emissaries!
(See what a thesaurus can give you: GLE(E)!)

It's that time of year again: everyone's moving. Some are moving in. Others are moving out. And some of us aren't physically going anywhere, but we still begin to move on.

Does this freak anyone else out?

One day we're all here, and then the next, we're scattered like leaves on the wind. Everything is so finite.

But here's the thing: would we really appreciate it if it weren't?

During the year, we tend to lock ourselves away into these little corners of our lives. "There's always tomorrow," we say.
But every time we prepare to move, in one way or another, that's when we really connect. We stop taking everything for granted and begin savoring the moments we have with those around us.

This isn't supposed to sound like some sort of second-lease-on-life, bucket-list kind of post. I think it goes deeper than just trying to take in everything before it's too late.

For me, I find this time to be a chance for self reflection. It's the one time I really stop and think about where I was and what I was doing the last time I moved. It's the time when I realize how much I've grown and changed.

Since last May, I've helped coach two girl's soccer teams, improved my yoga, spent a semester in Italy, traveled through Europe, lived with complete strangers, been published, got my first mediocre grade in a class, and so much more ... but those experiences are all in the past.

It's the things these experiences give us, the ways in which they change us, that we get to keep. Patience, harmony, independence, courage, language, friendship, confidence, perspective ... time can only take these from me if some new experiences come along and change who I am, yet again.
And that's one of the reasons I can't wait for our international students to get here. Seeing these transformations in ourselves is awe-inspiring, but seeing them in others and knowing that we were a part of their transformation, knowing that we helped them with the experiences that will not only shape their future stories, but also their future selves ... how fulfilling is that?

It's sad saying good bye to the past. It's scary facing an uncertain future. But wherever we go, we take ourselves.

Here's to a healthy, happy, life-changing summer.

-Kelly M.