Fruition, the amazing moment when what we have been eagerly awaiting becomes reality. It feels so good to be back. New Orleans feels so right to me, a home very far from home so to speak.
It took an enormous amount of effort to get to this moment. Fundraising, team building, and putting extra effort into school so that we don't let homework build up over vacation. It was exhausting, but indescribably worth it.
You might think that it is hard to just pick up and leave home behind during vacation and throw yourself into an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar tasks and people. There is the mistake, "loosing yourself in the service of others" is actually one of the easiest things to do. It has not been hard at all to leave NM where it belongs, far away in Townsend, Ma, so that we can be where we belong, here in New Orleans, La.
The contenment that I feel here is above any I experience anywhere else. I am happy, surrounded by people with common goals, whom I am close with, and whom I know will never judge me unfairly. I love all of these people, I love this city, and I love what we do here.
Living in the moment is something easy to forget how to do. How often do we stop to breath the air of our present state and enjoy it? Constantly I have an agenda running through my head. What's next what's next what's next is my only stream of thought. Only sleep brings me a break from this never ending to-do-list. That's how it is at home anyway.
Here, we are free. We are free to take our time and be happy. We can throw ourselves into a single, simple task and let it encircle our minds. As we weed this garden, we think only of the sun on our backs and of how right at that very moment we are helping someone. Calculus next period, and college planning, and pleasing this person and that person has no place here. We are here to be here. Not to have a never ending list of responsibilities which must immediately be dealt with. It is a miraculous way to rest the mind, though our bodies may be hard at work. It is also an important stretch of the soul as we learn and grow through what we do, see, and hear.
New Orleans is beautiful. It is as wonderfully simple as that.
Thank you for reading,
Colleen Schroth