Loving Food and Drinks

Among my favorites are pizza (literally always pizza), Chinese Food, donuts and cupcakes, ice cream, and breakfast (always breakfast). My favorite meal of the day is breakfast, and I love frequenting and exploring new breakfast places and options. I recently just visited a really homey place called The Local Moose that was reminiscent of hole-in-the-wall places I’d find in Nepal… The type of places you have to be searching and looking for or else you won’t find them. I also love making omelets in my kitchen or eggs over toast with caramelized onions, peppers, and tomatoes. After breakfast, though, pizza’s got my heart. I have lots of fantastic memories from eating pizza and that’s probably why I love it so much. Whether it’s a memory of eating pizza on a Sunday Night after church or perching on a sidewalk with a box of Little Ceasar’s in Guatemala with my team mates, it’s great. The same could go for breakfast, too. I love eating it at my place, but something about meeting soul’s in a new place to commune over food and drink at the table is a beautiful picture and experience to actually live in when it’s happening.

Speaking Up and Being Honest

I’m mean, I’ve been given a voice and a mouth for a reason. The tricky thing here is to navigate when the right time to say something is — and not holding on to something that should actually be mentioned immediately. Of course, we’re all human, so we are going to make mistakes here and there, but I know I have good judgment and read people pretty well. If something is off, I’m not going to keep quiet now. We called it Community Feedback Time this past year, but as time went on, we learned to just speak it in the moment because real-life doesn’t have sit-down feedback time with a team. It just has to happen — people grow from it. This helped me step out, communicate, and say hard things when needed, but it also allowed me to use the gift of encouragement I have to speak up and let people know things I see that are good when I feel like they need encouragement. I’m no longer afraid to speak up, be bold, and say the honest thing when it needs to be said.

Taking my Time to Learn Things Right

When it comes to learning things, I’m much more of a hands-on, do-as-I-go type. Sitting me down and telling me how to do something without having the opportunity to actually do-a-thing doesn’t help me at all. That actually may make me a bit of a slower learner because I need to do things in order to get them right, but the feeling that comes when I know I am improving is so rewarding. In the moment, I sometimes catch myself wanting to apologize for not hearing or understanding right — but it’s not a matter of hearing or understanding — it’s just a matter of getting my hands dirty and doing something. It may take loads longer for my brain to understand what it is that it’s actually doing, but in the long run, I will do something right and once I’ve got it right, all I really want and desire is to do it well. I will never apologize for wanting to learn it right — and I will never apologize for wanting to do that as I go.

My Past

When it comes to this subject I think about a ton of things I did wrong, things I’d take back, and things I darn right just wish I never even got myself into. But the thing about all these things is that while they are a unique part of me, they don’t have a stronghold over me any longer. This is something I have to remind myself of on a daily basis when I find myself going there. Yes, the past is a part of me, and it effects every part of who I am now, but it does not have to effect how I move forward and interact with people. My past is a part of my testimony that I should share because even in all the hard things, I do see how the Lord’s hand was in all of it and how His hand is still divinely on my daily life now. I should not be ashamed of my past or even who I was back then because the past is where it is and where it belongs. But it doesn’t have to define who I am now, and it certainly is not something I will apologize about. The past is the past. I’m stepping ahead and moving forward — no apologies needed.

I’m sure there are a lot of silly and more serious things I could write about. regarding what I’m not sorry for, but for now, these are some pretty big things that I’ve recently noticed as general themes in my life since being home for a while. I’m not sorry for who I am and I’m not sorry I’m here. I love who I am, and I am glad I get to grace you with my presence — in every rare form.

What are you not sorry for? I’d love to listen.