En camino...otra vez!

It's been over a year since I last blogged...but now that my next adventure is well underway I can't put it off any longer. So I return here to pour out mi alma de aventura otra vez!

I'm not sure where to start. I've lived here in San Antonio for a month already...how can I possibly put all that into words? So I suppose it's best to just close my eyes, spin around, point somewhere and start there...

This past week, my fellow Corps Members and I had the last bit of training before we go into the schools full time. Although I will be the first to admit my mixed responses to the seminars, I really enjoyed some of the writing exercises. One of my goals this year is to write again...something that's fallen victim to four years of college coursework. So in the spirit of re-connecting with my words I wanted to share one of the exercises...



The little girl's name is Lily. this is the moment in which she sees herself for the first time. She is learning the limits of her body--where Lily ends and everything else begins. As she presses her miniature hand to steady herself against the mirror frame, she feels the smooth metal, hard and tepid against the peachy soft give of her fingertips. And Lily recognizes that the fingertips, the palm, the joints, the nails, the skin, and the blood pulsing beneath it is hers, and the metal frame is not.

Lily's mind begins to grasp the difference between what is foreign and what is familiar. Lily, like all children, is learning to define by difference. Just as she learns to put her hand in one category and the mirror frame in another, Lily will learn to put other things and other people into categories.

Sometimes, Lily will feel guilty about her categories, like when she learns that other people have other categories for defining the world--and for defining her. Maybe learning this will wound her. Maybe Lily will try to unravel everything she has ever learned, because she thinks that is the only way she'll find out what's True.

Until one day, Lily will realize that the categories are what make people beautiful...that the point is not to unravel, but to rejoice in the vibrant tapestry of human creation. Then Lily will know the only Truth is that our divinity lies in our ability to categorize our world. That is how we make meaning from nothing, how we define who we are and who we love. Our humanity lies in our categories...without them we would cease to be human. Without them, we would cease to be.