Yesterday, after our Circle of Faith Bible study, the group of us gathered around and sang Happy Birthday to Kita, one of the nursing students at the school I teach for. As we sang I thought about the simple knowledge of a name. I wouldn't have known this student or her name if I hadn't moved to Orlando. After we sang I had to leave to attend another birthday party in Longwood. As I drove north toward Longwood, I thought about place names: Apopka, Longwood, Maitland, and Altamonte. All cities unfamiliar before, but now a part of my daily geography. There are names too that I didn't know a year ago that have become important to me as well.
A year ago this week I landed in Orlando and checked into a motel. I didn't know anyone in the city except my work contact. The city seemed so large then, foreign and unknown. I felt afraid. In all my travels, arriving in a US city alone seemed more scary than anything I'd ever done. I was overwhelmed. I spent my first couple of days looking for an apartment and getting hopelessly lost. I went to church that week and I got invited to a Christmas party and I went. I met some of my closest friends in Orlando there.
It's hard to believe a year has gone by so quickly. I've been so tremendously blessed. I'm grateful for all the place names I know now. I'm grateful for all the names of friends that I can say. The people in my phonebook who weren't there a year ago.
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3 comments:
Julie, I'm thankful for YOU!
Big grins here. I'm glad I got to run into you yesterday. What a nice way to close my December in Orlando.
I can resonate with this! I had to move in August to a new place and neighborhood. I was annoyed at the inconvenience at the time, but am realizing how much I've expanded my horizons by being in a new area that I wouldn't have ever discovered if I never had to move!
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