I do I do I do

More than 6 months have now passed since I've returned home from Jerusalem.  I'm not going to lie, the last few months have been brutal, solitary, and above all lonely.  Although I will always miss beloved Jerusalem,  I no longer miss the life I had in there.  It would be pretentious to say that I've grown since then.  We always grow.  If its not growing up, its growing older.  Growing just implies time has passed.  My purpose isn't to learn anymore - its to do something meaningful with what I've learned.  And in that there is usually more learning than our traditional learning methods.  

I don't believe I've worked harder since high school these last couple of months.  I often had 12 hour days at the restaurant in which I worked, only to see myself break even over the Summer - I finally paid off my $3,000 debt from a bad business venture.  It wasn't wasted, but after it was all over I wondered if it was worth the effort knowing that I would make 4 times that this upcoming Summer.  

As a short aside, I have often lamented my social situation.  While not all my friends come from affluent backgrounds, there is a good number who hail from more than friendly economic terms (aka their parents are millionaires).  Despite my lack of resources, we do the same things.  We hang out, we eat food, we hate studying, and have ambitions.  We are all essentially the same.  Most of them don't know that I'm broke and that my family has their whole lives.  I am grateful for a society that values people for a people for what they do far more from what social class they are from.  

You can take the Jerusalem from a Man,
but you will never take a Stratford from him

I've discovered a newfound simplicity in child-like activities

Hermana Lance. I'm so excited for her to finally be serving.  I always knew she would be a Sister someday.  She just fit the role.  

The next part of my life is to do what I've planned so far.  Within the next year in a half, I should have all of the important decisions locked down: whom to marry, a career, what kind of car to buy? As I move more towards the impending end of planning into the superlative lifestyle planned, the more and more I realize the need to do.  Thinking has gotten me this far, and doing is the only way to get me to the radiant utopia I've been dreaming of.  

My moniker for this phase of my life: I do I do I do