2015 has been one of the most exciting years of my life.
Actually, strike that. I must go back a bit. 2014-2015 has been
one of the most exciting years of my life.
It all started with Ensemble at art school. I had never sung in a choir before. It was really exciting to work with different people and to learn so many new songs so fast. At the end of it all, we got to perform at The Festival of Lights at The Grotto. (Don't click on the link if you don't want to hear Christmas music at the end of August. DAWWWW, lookit our choir. Our little rag-tag ensemble in mismatching outfits. I so proud of us.) Far from being just the highlight of the holidays, this was one of the highlights of my life. I've always loved the Christmas season, and musically, carols are just about my favorite things in the world. I was so happy to actually be a part of the tradition of making music at Christmas time in such a special way.
Another exciting thing that happened to me this year: partly due to my involvement in Ensemble, I became friends with a certain homesteading family, a rough-and-tumble cow-herding song-singing gun-shooting study-booking Bible-thumping homeschooling clan called the Whitlocks. Spending time with them entailed firing a gun for the first time in my life (thank you, Cori; the credit for the photo goes to her, by the way), getting powder-burned, charging through a veritable wall of blackberry bushes on the back of a mule, and nearly getting gored by a cow in the pasture late at night (at least, that's how I remember it. Cori may tell you something different). And let's not forget the time Cassie got a horde of people together and dressed us up as goblins and robbers and rangers and elves and a Gollum-esque creature (Cori did the face-paint for the ruffians and the Gollum-esque) and we all acted out a massive Lord-of-the-Rings-type adventure for their cousin's birthday. And then there was the time I went with them to the Mother Earth News Fair and got to watch Cori blacksmith pretty much the whole live-long day ... well, yeah. Just about everything I've done with the Whitlocks, I've never done before.
To top it all off, this year I got to go adventuring with a friend who is practically the real-life version of Finn the Human from Adventure Time. I climbed up steeper inclines than I've ever climbed before; what's even harder, I climbed back down them again. It was scary, but also one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had. And at the end of it all, I got to stand at the edge of a precipice and look out over vast wooded slopes, with no trace of civilization that my eyes could see. The world outside my comfort zone certainly is beautiful.
It's funny, though, isn't it, how quickly the world outside your comfort zone becomes your comfort zone. My horizons expanded. Things I look forward to now, I never would've dreamed of doing just 12 months ago. The fun is still there, but the element of stepping-out-in-faith is gone. I want more of that.
I want to continue to grow. Sure, I have been stretching my mind a lot, which is what you would expect in the course of getting a BA in English. But there are other parts of me that need stretching, too. I need to work hard. I need to seek God's will and let go of my own. I need to try new things and not worry about looking bad. My comfort zone has expanded, you see. And I need to step outside of it again.
So, here's to a new school year! I'll be teaching choir for the first time; honestly, I'm terrified about it, and so I guess it counts as a valid first step outside my comfort zone XD. Love you guys, and thank you all for an amazing year.
:D This post. I like it. Another!
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