In an email exchange with my mother (who deserves an award for being so wonderful and beautiful and coming all the way to Greece to see me in TWO WEEKS!!) I told her about how 5:00 pm is the weirdest time of day for me, because I always get a little homesick – right when it’s officially “evening”, right when the whole family would be home from work and school and practice and we’d be starting dinner and watching crime shows and getting our dog riled up to play because he’d been inside all day. She responded to said reflections with “Why don’t you made a list of things you’ve learned in Europe during your lonely time?” – did I mention she deserves an award?
So here it is – at least the beginnings – of a list that I’ve learned from being in Europe:
1. Greek people do what they want when they want and they always have something else to talk about. I love that about them.
2. Anyone can make art – art is not reserved for “artists”. We force ourselves and each other to “grow out of it”, but we must keep creating.
3. What it means to be in love with Jesus.
4. What it feels like to only have Jesus, nothing else. I’d recommend it to anyone wishing to see Jesus more clearly – just take everything else away! He’s pretty clear in those moments 🙂
5. That sometimes, you just need to write a poem. And that poem needs to be raw and rough and maybe even a little sexy. Trust me, it helps.
6. That I’d never once celebrated the human body. What a treasure it is!
7. How to develop and print black and white film photographs.
8. That I’m really, really bad at updating my blog.
9. Who Apollo was.
10. What being free feels like. Truly free. Jumping in the ocean all alone and smiling while you avoid the sea urchins. That kind of free.
11. How I don’t want to parent my children.
12. How valuable being quiet is.
13. That I hate the sound of loud motorcycles.
14. That the Law and the Gospel are not the same nor are they different, but that they are in a beautiful dance together glorifying Jesus on the Cross, the Resurrected King. I haven’t really learned that yet, but it’s coming along with a few brain explosions on my end.
15. Letting go is worth it.
16. Everything is going to be okay.
That’s all for now. This will be continued.
a wild olive shoot 