Greif: @ The Redeeming Things

Well, it seems I am a liar. Or, at least, I was wrong last April when I said I would be back in a month.

This summer was hard. I had no interest in writing, none at all, it was too painful to think deeply. But then school started, and as a writing major, I had to write again. So I wrote. I wrote pages and pages, and none of it was for an assignment. I had to drain out all the summer's stagnant waters to get to what was clean and pure. To heal.

Out of that came a blog post for my internship. I came back to the blogging world today on The Redeeming Things, a blog for the Twin Cities written by a collaboration of Christian writers from my church. You can find the blog post here.

It begins:

"C.S. Lewis concluded that, if God is good, suffering in this life must have a purpose. I fall under the category of one who believes God is good. Experiences sometimes challenge that mentality, but recently I have been learning the truth and comfort in C.S. Lewis’ words. This semester I had to read A Grief Observed for a class, and it enlightened me even more in my personal confrontation with grief.

You see, this summer I had a miscarriage.

The whole summer went by. And I didn’t realize how depressed I had become..." [read more]

The End/To a New Beginning

Well, friends, the school year is winding down and I'll be moving on from the best job I've had so far. I never thought my stint as a photographer's assistant could be topped, but better hours with better pay, cute little kiddies that put a smile on my face every day, and encouraging staff that get along so well have made this job a treat.

Some things, I'm sure, will not be missed. Wandering the halls looking for the right classroom, for example. Then there's walking into a new classroom and not knowing which student is the one I'm supposed to be working with (usually worked out in a minute or two). I definitely won't miss chasing slightly unstable or off-balance, or even just simply attention-seeking students down the hall, or losing them all together... I certainly did get my exercise, though. Soon, gone will be the days of an early-morning call telling me where I will be working for the day (which I have had a break from for the last six weeks of school, thankfully).

Soon, gone will be the days of a steady lunch time, random hugs in the hallway, and excited faces wanting to show me things they have worked so hard on. No more going out to the playground every day after lunch, then again sometimes in the afternoon. Goodbye, plays and concerts put on mid-school day.

Yes, the good far outweigh the bad in this job. Teachers and administration work in schools for so long because they love what they do, not because they feel for any reason that they have to. I know that each of them, no matter how many things they can find to complain about on any given day, really love working with kids; molding the future.

So now, on to the next adventure.