Homecoming

Dear Rylan,

As you grow older, you are going to learn a very harsh reality: things don't always work out. One of my favorite lines is from a Robert Burns poem: "The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry." And so my PC plans have gone awry. When I was much younger, this turn of events would have been devastating. But after losing your Papa three years ago, I know that life changes for better or worse in an instant, and there's no way to avoid it. No do-overs in real life.

So I am accepting the disappointment by looking at the good that comes from it: I will be able to return home and see family and friends. I will be able to drink real milk and eat real hamburgers and enjoy pasta that isn't sweet.

Of course, I will be leaving behind a dream of adventure and service. (Of course, I can do both back home.) I will leave friends that I have made during training. (But I will live vicariously through them using Facebook connections.) And I will leave behind my Filipino sister, Tess, and her lovely nieces and nephews. (But I have their phone numbers and address and FB connections, too)

The lesson I want you to really learn from my experience, however, dear Rylan, is not that life changes. It isn't that bad things happen, even when we have the best intentions. It is this: Life is short. Take risks. But take them knowing that nothing ever remains the same. If you are not experiencing highs and lows, then you need to take stock. Life shouldn't be boring. The Orientals believe in yin and yang--life and death, high and low, good and bad. Life is composed of both, and they believe they balance out. As a Christian, I know that it rains on the just and the unjust, but I also believe that at the end of our lives, if we have lived as we should, we will see that in the balance, the good far surpasses any of the bad.

Soon I will be seeing you in person again! That will be a great moment. I have much to tell you and everyone else there. Can't wait to catch up on your life.

Love you bunches,
Mumma