Four Years Since My Mission

Being allhookedup's number one outgoing link is a lot of pressure for such a novice blogger as myself. But it is exciting knowing that people are reading my blog. So to not keep my readers waiting I decided it was time for my next post.

Monday, Nov. 21st, marked four years since I returned from my two-year mission from Spain. It made me think a bit about my experience and how much I miss Spain and the people I met while I was there. It also made me feel really old that I've been home twice as long as I was gone for. The mission represented a huge obstacle in my life that I had learing in front of me all through my teenage years. I knew that as soon as I got that part of my life over with I could finally start being the person I wanted to be. And slowly but surely I have made a lot of progress since getting back.

Reflecting on my mission always makes me think about whether or not I regret my decision to go. I went to keep my family proud of me and now, four years later the illusion that I created is now destroyed anyways. Was it really worth six more years of my family's approval? Definitely not worth it if that was the only thing I gained. I realize now that after leaving high school I should have been myself and not worry about what my family thought of me. But I don't think I was ready for that. I was really only ready to tell my family the truth after living in Ohio for a year. So I don't think it was worth making my family happy, but I did learn a lot about myself while I was out there. I learned how strong I was and that I could overcome anything that came my way. I mean who would have thought I'd be able to live without my family for two years just so that they would still love me? But two years passed miraculously and I was left with the good experiences that I had, while the bad experiences have largely faded from my memory. I loved seeing the sites and becoming fluent in Spanish. I also probably wouldn't think Shakira was so amazing. Living out of the U.S. gave me a whole different perspective on the world than I had before I left. So I don't really like to say whether or not I regret going, I just say that it happened and think about all the good things that came out of it.

I still keep in touch with several of my Spanish friends and have been back twice since I got home to visit them. After living there for two years it felt like my home away from home. I always miss Spain and know that I will return as often as I can throughout my life. My dream is to have own a house on the Cadiz coastline. We'll see what happens. Here's a picture of me in my mission clothes in a national park in Cadiz:



Someone asked for an update on Kip. I don't really want to talk too much about my relationship with him, but I will say that after a shaky weekend things are now really good between us again. We saw Rent on Monday and The Rocky Horror Show yesterday. We're going our separate ways for Thanksgiving but I hope that some day in the future we'll be spending the holidays together. I can't think of anyone I'd rather be with.