counting my blessings
March 31, 2009 by johnwar8
Yesterday my good friend Mark greeted me a happy birthday, which amused me because his greeting came a month early. His greeting jolted me a bit too because it forced me to confront what I had deliberately put off thinking: turning 30. Turning a year older had never alarmed me until now. Probably, this fear stems from the feeling that I haven’t quite done enough after being alive for three decades. What exactly have I done with my life?
- I overcame the demons of my childhood and adolescence. Growing up, I was painfully shy and excruciatingly insecure. It could have been very easy for me to self-destruct, but my faith steered me to a different direction.
- I made very good friends who make learning how to be fiercely loyal effortless.
- I have loved unconditionally, and although I’ve been hurt, let down, and ignored, I learned that all these come with the package of loving.
- I graduated magna cum laude from a reputable university. Graduating with high honors had never been one of my plans, but when I learned that I was to receive the medal, I felt vindicated because there had been a number of people who thought I was not as smart as my two brilliant siblings.
- At 28, I finished my MA in English.
- In 2007, I got a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistantship at Skyline Community College, San Bruno, California.
- I’ve visited the places I vowed to see. Now I am making a new list of places to visit.
