Eat, Pray, Love

I just saw the trailer for the movie adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir, Eat, Pray, Love. I couldn't be more excited. This book is one of my absolute favorites. I can read and reread it without growing tired of it. In fact, I've listened to the audio version on my 16 hour Colorado road trip.

Despite major differences in belief-systems, I really admire what Gilbert did. If you haven't read the book, I will try not to completely ruin it for you. I'll only cover topics covered in the lovely Julia Roberts trailer. Gilbert's life is typical. She's married and trying to have a baby. But for some reason there's this emptiness and sadness that she feels. Instead of remaining in her marriage she goes on this adventure of self-discovery. She takes off and spends a four months in Italy, four months in India, and four months in Indonesia. It isn't hard to figure out which country goes with it's corresponding verb in the title. What I admire most is her courage. It takes some major strength to just up and leave the life you're expected to be living to really find what you're meant to do.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with three coworkers on our way back to SA from a float trip on the Guadalupe. We passed the church building I worship at, which I made a point to out to my friends. They asked about the belief system of the church of Christ. As I did my best to explain, our conversation took a turn to what type of Bible classes I attend. I said, "singles" and the girls looked at me as if I was crazy. It's hard to explain how the church of Christ divides the Bible classes up. I stumbled through reasoning for dividing classes up by age and marital status. During this conversations it became pretty evident that there was a significant lacking of my particular age group, marital status combo. Yet another thing that is really hard to explain.

I remember the preacher's daughters from Durango. Two lovely, Christ-like women. I was a teenager when they were in their mid-twenties. Their mother was constantly talking to my mother about the fact that her daughters were not yet married. To a teenager, the tone of voice sounded like one you would use when you found out someone had leprosy. And in my little teenage brain I locked away this tidbit of information, "It is bad to be in your mid-twenties and not be married."

Ummm... Hi, my name is Lacy, I'm 26 and I'm not married.

My river-floatin' friends asked if it bothered me, to worship with people who found marriage to be of such importance. Amazingly, I answered an easy no.

I've kind of lived my own, incredibly tame version of Eat, Pray, Love. Like a good Christian university grad I had a serious boyfriend I followed after college. And that's when my life took an unexpected turn. I mean if you asked a 21 year old me if I would be an unmarried international volunteer at the age of 26 I would laugh at you. God has this way of showing you (or smacking you in the face if need be) that you are not where you need to be. He lays opportunities in front of you that will put you on a path better suited for you. I'm not 100% certain that God made me watch the Oscars in 2008 and feel all sad at the lack of glamour in my life, but I do feel that he provided that Cross Cultural Solutions link instead of anything glamorous. I've already stated that I know God sent me to Cambodia instead of Morocco for a reason. Visiting other countries and helping out has changed my life in so many ways. I am happy with where I am. Most importantly, I am happy with who I am.

The first time I read Eat, Pray, Love after the recommendation from a fellow volunteer in Brazil I felt like I had so much more to do in my life. The big changes were just happening. The second time I read the book was right before I went to training for my trip to Phnom Penh and I felt like I was finding what I was supposed to do. I am supposed to change the world. It's a big order, but I'm working pretty hard at it. The best part is it makes me crazy happy. Like marriage and adorable kiddos have made so many of my friends happy, traveling the globe to make a difference and experiencing different cultures makes me happy.

I am excited to watch this movie. There's no doubt that it will make me smile and remember good times in Salvador and Phnom Penh. Yeah, and I'll probably smile because of James Franco too...

We met in Cambodia! Cambodia!

It's essentially been an entire school year since I've blogged. And that sentence itself should explain what this year has been like. School for the first time in my 5 years of teaching felt like work. Unlike last year, when I was almost always at there early, I found myself dragging out of bed and speeding down 410 to make it to campus by 7:30 am. The year was long. That doesn't do it justice. The year was loooooooong.

A few entries back, when I started this blog I was so optimistic about how the year would turn out. In my mind I would be able to expertly juggle teaching, tutoring, homebound teaching, advisory, yearbook, and student council. I am sad to inform you that I am not super-teacher. I am sorry to have let you down. When I found myself supremely successful in one area another would fall apart. And trust me, people let me know when other areas fell apart. Possibly the only positive thing that came out of this was that my skin was indefinitely thickened.

Ok, so that's not the only positive thing that happened this school year.

This may get lengthy. I can stay up later, I have free time for the first time in ages, and I'm feeling sappy.

Last summer in Cambodia I met people who truly changed and enhanced my life. The girls I went over there with taught me patience, kindness, and helped me strengthen my faith in ways I didn't think possible. The Cambodians I met had a sparkle and a carefree spirit about them that I longed to bottle and bring to the US. Even most of the foreigners I met just had this ease about them. I hoped that I'd keep in touch with all of them. But we all know how great I am at that stuff.

The person I kept in touch with the most was surprising. At least for me. Looking back at how everything unfolded I suppose it makes sense... but in the moment, back in Phnom Penh, I never expected what would happen in the following months to happen. I'm not a stupid girl who believes her life will resemble a romantic comedy...

So I met Juan at the US Embassy on the 4th of July.

It does sound like a grand opening scene for some romantic movie. Put the man in a Marine uniform and add some fireworks. Sounds like a scene made for Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks right? Juan was in uniform, but there were no fireworks.

The thing that I liked about Juan was that he reminded me of home. One girl on our team had already started a countdown to our return to the states. The girls with fiances back at home talked of being homesick and I was afraid it was contagious. But since Juan was from Houston I got this little dose of Texas. We joked about Mexican food. I didn't get homesick.

And I'm not going to lie, spending all my time with 6 other girls made spending some time with an attractive male oh so appealing. But I never thought he'd be the person I'd keep in touch with the most. Sure, I joked about him coming to SA on his leave to ride rollercoasters at Fiesta Texas with me, but that was all in good flirtatious fun.

Then he really came to SA! Only my mind was in fact full of stupid girl thoughts by the time he visited. By the time his constantly rescheduled leave actually rolled around we had exchanged countless text messages and emails. A few of these messages included phrases like "I miss you." These type of exchanges can really mess with a girl's head. Add to that an invitation to the Marine ball, I was an eighth grader in a 26 year old's body. I attempted to avoid all girl stupidity by agreeing to a date with a guy I will refer to as Creeper. I met Creeper on a plane to Lubbock. He seemed like a nice enough guy. He was new to SA and needed friends. At one point I got 5 text messages in 5 minutes from Creeper, none of which I replied to. This guy needed to have a heart to heart with Webster and learn what the word friend really means. I used the borderline text-stalker situation with Creeper to talk to Juan. I'd ask for a guy's point of view. I'd ask him how to gently let the guy down. We'd have little dating conversations. All the while, being the girl that I am, I tried to send signals, read between the lines. You know, continue my eighth grade girl ways. He came to San Antonio almost immediately after his arrival back in the US. (There's a line I should've read between.) I took time off from work to make sure my apartment was clean, my dress was ready, and that I wasn't a giddy girl when he finally arrived.

I'd spent maybe a grand total of two days with this man. I expected awkwardness. (Eighth grade style maybe...) Yet as soon as Juan arrived there was this ease. We talked nonstop as we wandered along the riverwalk. I straightened my hair and applied makeup without my bedroom door being locked. I just felt comfortable. The ball itself was awkward. We literally knew no one and I had no clue about all that crazy Marine birthday stuff they did. But we had fun with each other.

I could go on and on about all the little details from Juan's weekends (yep, plural) in San Antonio. But that's not the point. In the middle of a year that was so rough professionally I had this little light in my personal life. This unexpected someone always listened to my grumbling and complaining. He'd compliment me and reassure me in ways I'd never been complimented or reassured before. He'd call me (in uniform!) in the morning as I got ready for work, just to tell me to have a good day.

Oh, and he did plan this incredible European adventure for me. I was picked up at the Prague airport with gerber daisies, (the man pays attention) chocolates, in a VIP parking place.

When the yearbook was picked apart and those insanely late nights seemed for naught, Juan listened to me whine and complain. When I spent my homebound teaching time holding the nonstop bleeding nose of a very sick little girl, Juan was the one who got the upset, lengthy email. And replied with soothing, kind words. Juan has given me many a calming chat, email, phone call or my personal favorite, Skype date. He is the one incredibly positive thing that's happened this school year. And I guarantee there will be many more sappy, sappy entries. I am starting myself a mental countdown to August... because that's the month he's supposed to be back on the same continent as me. It's amazing, despite being on a completely different continent he's made this crazy year bearable.

And we met in Cambodia! Cambodia!

God works in CRAZY ways.