Ok, despite the fact that I have a sprained hand and it's very difficult to type, I feel the need to blog b/c it's been a while. I always tend to write a little bit more often this time of year, November in particular. In the past decade, this has just proven to be a fairly dramatic and/or eventful time of year for me. Both good and bad, stuff happens this time of year in my life.
It's funny though. A few years ago, when I first discovered this trend, different events stood out in my mind than stand out now. Maybe that's a sign that I am losing my mind, or maybe it's a sign of growth.
Ten years ago, at age 19, I entered into what would turn out to be one of the toughest, most challenging periods in my young adult life. It eventually led to a lot of growth in myself, and I still remember every detail of the day it began, despite the fact that for most of the month of November in 2001, I was living in a haze and barely remember anything else.
A few years later, at age 21, as a new student at Ga Tech, I was entering a new phase of my life. What I remember from that November seemed insignificant at the time, but then there's the fact that, 8 years later, I still remember it now. I had just started going to Bible studies and had just attended at Christian retreat. I was hanging out with some friends who I'd hung out with prior to finding my way to Bible studies, when a few of them started calling me a "bible-thumper" (bc I was still not a pot smoker and now admitted that I liked the Bible). I was offended by it, and I actually resented the title so much. I was more concerned by what a group of pot-smoking friends called me than with anything else.
A year later, I'd dropped the name-callers and hung onto the Bible studies. I was baptized in November 2004 at that year's retreat. The following year, in 2005, I spoke at the same Christian retreat. I was no longer too concerned with being called a "bible-thumper" by people who didn't know the Bible from the dictionary.
In 2006, November was a time of transition and figuring out what to do with my life. I was substitute teaching (enjoying it and feeling more at home in a classroom than I ever would have imagined), trying to raise money to be a campus ministry intern in Mexico, and wondering when I'd use my Architecture degree... It the time in my life where all I'd known as a dependent student overlapped with my future, that of an independent adult.
The next few years weren't particularly nuts...though, if you'd asked me a couple of years ago, I am sure I would have found significance in events that I've since let go. The craziness of November returned in 2009 in the form of my tumor (see previous Nov blogs if you don't know about Leroy).
Two years ago, November was a month of fear, worry, faith, and growth. I had discovered that I had a huge tumor at the end of October, and throughout the month of November I faced fear and anxiety over my health, my future, and everything surrounding a scary surgery.
Last November was simply one of reflection... a time to remember how grateful I am to be healthy and that the previous November led to a great time of recovery.
This November...I made my first ever mortgage payment. I signed up for my first triathlon. I am finishing my first soccer season since high school. Despite having sprained my hand, this November seems to have great potential to make up for that one when I had the tumor ;)
So, as you can see, somehow November has always been quite a memorable month for me.
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