It started out as an eventful summer travelling across Canada, and will likely end as one with our return. The hunt for an apartment, job, and preparations for another year in school will no doubt keep us very occupied for the next few weeks. In between these busy bookends however, the summer has been relatively uneventful leaving considerable time for reflection and growth as well as, unfortunately, too much time for dwelling on the past.
In the interest of brevity, I’ve bullet pointed my list of what I’ve learned this summer:
• Humility: None of us is an island and we just can’t make it alone no matter how much we like to think we can. And to prove just how humble I’ve become, I’ll state for the record I’m still far from perfect in the humility department.
• Gratitude: I’m more grateful than ever before for friends and loved ones, many of whom were willing to give us a helping hand when our resources - both emotional and physical - were about exhausted (see also humility above).
• Acceptance: I’m still working on this one, but however much I may struggle with it, it became painfully obvious this summer there is nothing I can do but take people as they are and do my best to love them regardless.
• Indifference: I haven’t mastered this one, but I’m convinced it’s the only way to go. Other people’s issues are just exhausting to deal with if I allow them to become mine, and I’ve got enough issues of my own I’m working on, thank you very much. Because they’re your issues there’s not a damn thing I can do about them, so I’m trying hard not to care about them - unless they involve some sort of suffering I can actually help relieve you of, and they hardly ever do.
• Patience: I haven't so much learned patience as a greater appreciation for it and the relative lack of it I possess. Here would be a good place to insert the tired old cliche about wanting more patience and wanting it now, but I'll exercise some self control. Maybe patience will come as I perfect being indifferent.
• Love: For my wife, primarily. There is no way I could have made it this far without her. For friends who didn’t give up on me. For my daughter whom I miss more than ever. And finally for a dear friend that was nearly lost, but with whom reconciliation seems suddenly and surprisingly possible. And of course Zeus, the best dog on Earth.
I also read three books by Bill Bryson this summer and learned, among other things, that not too long ago they discovered a tribe with no history of contact with the outside world growing sweet potatoes deep in the jungles of New Guinea. Sweet potatoes are native to the Americas so, as Mr. Bryson would say, we should all stop and think about that for a minute. Mr. Bryson also taught me the Appalachian Trail is no walk in the park and that the history of science is as fascinating for its discoveries as for the personalities of some of the scientists. Of course, as life lessons go what I learned from Bill Bryson wasn’t quite as personally transformative as my list, but he sure helped the summer pass a bit quicker.
That’s all until Victoria. My next blog post will be from our new apartment.
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