Seasons!!!

Because I have lived on a ship in Africa for the past seven years, I have not seen seasons recently. In Africa, there is the wet season and the dry season, but no summer, fall, winter, and spring. Here in France, I am seeing the seasons! It is fall now, and it is really cold. The leaves are colorful and it will probably snow within the next few weeks. To everyone who lives here, this is normal, but to me it is exciting.

I have noticed people look at me weird when I pick up red leaves to look at them more closely or try to step on every crunchy brown leaf I see. I think that the way the sun shines in at an angle instead of straight down is really beautiful and that the sky is a different color blue here now then it was in the summer. I feel like running around outside and jumping in the piles of leaves and singing Christmas carols. I feel like taking off my coat and feeling the bite of the chilly wind, finding a seat under a tree, and writing an ode to autumn. I feel five years younger. Of course, I can't actually act on these thoughts since I have to go to school and study and do homework, but I am still amazed at the beauty of seasons.

Seeing that most people here don't feel the same and simply take the changing of seasons for granted makes me wonder how many beautiful things I participate in on the ship that I take for granted. It encourages me to look more carefully at the everyday things in life and to thank God for them.

One thing that I will be more thankful of once I return to the ship is the sense of community. Living in a house on land with just one family has made me realize how blessed the crewmembers of the Africa Mercy are to live and work together. I miss the feeling that comes of knowing that me and my role is just one small part of something much bigger: serving God, serving the poor, and serving one another in the messy, crazy, unique, wonderful community we call the Africa Mercy.