(*) Reflections 2009

Year 2005
Planting of a young tree
Full of robust potential and vitality
Ground was fertile
Gardener was eager and skilled
Tree: ready to stretch, inhale, and expand roots.

Spring
Many are the events of 2005
Formation of a new ring in my wood core
Remember standing with me in the shower of blessings?
Recall the radiant happiness of my heart?

Summer
Along with that happiness was a gift to study medicine
None would contest its challenges
40 hours in class
40 hours on weekends
What have become of my Friday nights?

Fall
First 2 years flew by
Lots of nice memories and good times
And a few challenges later
By divine appointment, I was given a gift I didn’t want
Pain
Emotional, physical, spiritual
Shaken, I quaked
Sadness, frustration, anger, depression
The ice and sleet
Shaved my pride.

Winter
Lingering fog clouds my heart still
Wildfire of anger and frustration have subsided
Tinder has been consumed
Conflicted and incapacitated
I cannot see beyond self.

Spring
As the bone chilling cold of winter pass
New breeze of ocean air washed over me
New shoots of this tree reaches out from the vine
Pods open to fragrant flowers
As my mind finds refuge from the storm and clears of fog
I found Hope and a promise for Joy.

Year 2009
What happened to the last 4 years of my life?
Where was I?
How did I get here?
I don’t know.

What I do know is:
My roots are firm
My shoots are healthy
I am still taking a breath.

As I look UP
Suddenly, I realize
There was a bigger tree
Of which I was taking its shade
I was in the refuge of those who came before me.

As for the Gardener
I’ve realized…
I know His voice!
Sang to me through the winter
Strong arms protected me from the wind
Made cover over me from frost
Placed nourishment for my roots
Pouring living Water over my core
Radiant face over my new shoots
Sweat of blood to color my flowers
Roughened hands to trim my branches
Whispering to me:
You will be shade for others some day
Trust in Me.

Yesterday is passed
Today is yours to enjoy
Tomorrow will be here before you know it.

Make most of your circumstances
Yesterday will never return
You have no other choice but to choose wisely
You are never alone!

Testing out the Hennessey Hammock...

Last Friday I finished medical school. So, to celebrate, Taylor had a cook out and had some friends over. Taylor is such an awesome cook, the meal was delicious. I completely pigged out! After that, Doug and I went camping. I had previously got 2 jungle quality Hennessey Hammocks for my trip to the Costa Rican jungle... and loved it. If you've never seen these hammocks, let me tell ya, it is the coolest adventure camping equipment you will ever own! My hammock weights less than 2 lbs, fits into a tiny sack, setup/tear down in about 5 min, and its environmentally friendly! I will not camp without it. So, Doug wanted to test it out...

Jeeping and hiking in...

Check out our set up! It was so nice and compact... we camp right next to a creek... looking up to see trees and stars.

Doug hoisting all our food to get it out of bear's reach.

I was told to avoid these... 3 leaves of terror... poison oak; and the hairy ball... hum... no comment.

Ok, so, we both convinced each other to go bare bone... minimalist camping, no sleeping bag, only a jacket and a thin blanket... Ouwy... we were both up for most the night thinking of ways to get warm... we were both SOOOOOOO COLD! I was shivering and thinking about the warm Costa Rican beach water and then my thoughts would shift to dreaming about my warm foot box of my 15 degree Marmot sleeping bag... Then, I would start thinking about what if I started packing and hiking out... then I felt it was forever long and looked at my watch hoping its about 4-5am so to tough out another 1 hr to get up and warm up... AWWW its only 2:30am! So, I started getting into fetal position and trying to do everything to warm up my legs... then, I decided to put the rain tarp on my hammock... well it worked... probably raised about 10 degrees in there... as I hear the leaves rustle and creek water churn, I fell asleep into the starlight. Then, I woke up at 6:30am, Doug was already out heating a pot of green tea... what a warm encouragement for the day. What a night! I will never do that again without my sleeping bag.

I am 30!

Today is my birthday and I am now 30. Wow, time flew! My family had a nice meal at a local Chinese restaurant and then came home to a beautiful cake with the planet Saturn on my cake! It was a multi-layered yogurt cake. Very delicious!

Yummy birthday breakfast, special fresh omlet from the garden, and a yummy 'framboise jello heavenly goodness' dessert!

Special yogurt cake mom bought, and Korean BBQ in fresh romain lettus wrap that Taylor made for me... well, Elias looks like he liked it!