back home

I got home from New Orleans early this morning. It was a great trip that taught me so much, and reinforced things I'm already learning. If I had to throw a theme on this year of college, I think it'd be something like, "Life:Simplified". Last May when I went to Thailand was probably the beginning. I saw and encountered people that had lost every single thing they owned. When I got back from Asia, I lived with my grandmother for the summer. Life there was simple, to say the least. I taught swim lessons in the mornings and went on walks with her in the evenings. On weekends, I went to BBQs at friend's houses. When I moved back to SD, I didn't have a car. That's an instant simplifier. Friendships went through changes and gained clarity. School is definitely harder, but now that I'm a senior I think I've finally grasped some time management and study habits that are making 19 units bearable.
And all last week, was spent in the 9th Ward of New Orleans (Google it for more details). We visited where the levee broke and the houses were completely wiped out. We saw houses lifted from their foundation, moved into the street, with cars underneath. My first thought was that it looked like a war zone. The same thing kept ringing through my head.. that the things of this world fade. That we can accumulate and store possessions, but they don't last. I could work in Marketing and make a lot of money, and have nice things, but I wasn't put on this earth to have a huge home and Egyptian cotton sheets. I was put here to serve others. I don't know exactly what that means right now, but it'll come in time. I'll write more about New Orleans when I find time, it was definitely an experience I want to write about sometime soon.