Archive: July 25th, 2008

New York...

I'm going to New York next week, and God's timing couldn't be more perfect, for several reasons:
My patience with the kids has been wearing thin the last week or so - I find myself getting frustrated with all the little things - some they can control and some they can't. Burnout is such a strong possibility in jobs like this one, but I think a week away will be a real help.
My future is still so up in the air, at least from my perspective, and that is what I find myself thinking on much too often. A break in my routine will give me different things to think about...and along with that the blessed ability to NOT think about that for awhile.
All the people I get to spend time with are people that I think will be refreshing to my soul in one way or another...i may say more about that later.
And then there's New York itself- something about the calmness of my tiny little town, and something about that infectious excitement of the city itself...I think both will be like a breath of fresh air for me.
My week will start with flying into the city on a red-eye flight and arriving early Thursday morning. A whole day in the city with nothing planned, probably hanging out with my friend Amber. Then I'll take the train (and I LOVE this train!) into Middletown. My friend Lindsay, who was an intern with me, will pick me up there on her way to Monticello from Indiana, and we'll stay with our other ex-roommate Amanda at her apartment in Monticello. I have no doubt there will be a lot of laughter and craziness - and probably some pretty memorable quotes. :-)
The official intern reunion is from Friday to Saturday at the Center for Discovery. I'll get to return to the place where so much soul-searching happened for me, where I felt knocked down in so many ways but from where I eventually emerged as a professional with so many amazing experiences under my belt. I'll see some of the music therapists there and hopefully a lot of the residents that I worked with. And we'll be putting on a concert on Saturday, which should be a fun adventure.
Sunday I'll say a sad farewell to my music therapy friends and meet up with a family from the church I attended there. They're picking me up to take me to church with them, then I'll spend the day and night with their fabulously fun and huge family - 7 kids!! These kids had so much fun introducing me to fun things to do in the snow while I was there, and I'm eager to see what the country life has in store for me in the summer. The whole family was a huge encouragement to me while I lived there and I'm so glad we're going to reconnect.
Monday I go to the city again. I'll go whenever my friends can get me to the train station, hopefully meet up with Amber, and spend another day just enjoying everything that NYC has to offer. In the evening, I'm meeting my friends Mo Bing and Cathy, who went to Romania with me. They've both been back there more than once since we came back last spring, which I can't help but be jealous of, but which will also be fun to hear about. And I'm excited to get their input on my whole situation - they love Romania almost as much as I do and are also older and wiser than I am so may be able to help me look at things in a new way. I get to spend the night at Mo Bing's apartment in Chinatown, which I'm really excited about, too.
Tuesday is another up-in-the-air day. Bumming around the city some more...one of my favorite things in life. I'll spend the night at Amber's fantastic house in Brooklyn.
Wednesday Amber is actually flying home to Phoenix before I am, and I'll have the day to myself I think. I'm torn between exploring parts of the city I don't know very well and going to my old favorite spots. I do know that Central Park is a must and could see myself spending the entire day there, with coffee and a book and a journal and my watchful eyes taking in all the sights and processing life. I'm kinda up for anything.
At some point that afternoon I have to find my way to Newark to fly home. Praise God I have many things to look forward to once I get home also - I know it will be hard to leave but at least not impossible.
This was a really long blog and maybe only interesting to me...so if anyone read this far...I'm flattered. :-)