Every November for the past six years I have participated in NaNoWriMo. If you don't know what it is, just Google it. Last year I wrote just over 20,000 words and then just... stopped. This year, out of habit, I was planning on participating, but as October went on my excitement for November to arrive … Continue reading Gratitude Challenge
Author: Suzanne
Feelings and Lessons from Dogs
Something I've been working on for the past *mumble* years is calming down, softening, and just generally chilling out. My emotions come fast and loose and when emotional I don't hold back. It has led me to say and do some things that I have regretted, hurtful things or things that when looked back upon … Continue reading Feelings and Lessons from Dogs
From the Ground Up
One of the reasons I moved to Jarabacoa from San Pedro de Macoris three years ago was to "build my life from the ground up." When I moved to San Pedro (three months after graduating from college), I felt very much like I was plopped down into a life. People I had never met before … Continue reading From the Ground Up
Like A Girl
I am a decisive person. I like to make my decision and stick with it. I'm not much for looking back with regret or wondering about how things might have been different (at least not in an emotional way - sometimes for a thought experiment I think about how my life might be different if … Continue reading Like A Girl
Being fat, Fab 5, and living in tension
I have always had what I call a healthy self esteem. Despite being overweight since puberty (but was I though? like, my memory tells me I was chunky in high school but when I look back at pictures I don't see it), I've never felt, or at least never felt that I felt, less than … Continue reading Being fat, Fab 5, and living in tension
Todo de mí
This past week we had our YouthWorks training. All 250 or so summer staff hired to serve with YouthWorks throughout the United States gathered together in Minneapolis to learn together. Because YouthWorks has had a presence and relationships for many years in Puerto Rico, a number of this year's staff are Puerto Rican. Even more … Continue reading Todo de mí
Now’s the time
In the summer of 2001 I went on my first domestic mission trip with my youth group church, Trinity Presbyterian. We went to Chattanooga, Tennessee with an organization called YouthWorks. Many things stand out to me from that weeklong trip, nearly 18 years later. I remember the hum of the projector (the old fashioned one … Continue reading Now’s the time