written August 14, 2013
On such an anniversary as this. Three years ago today I boarded the plane taking me to Kenya and to the discovery of myself. On this anniversary, I am thankful.
Thankful for the immense honor and gift it was to live alongside, to learn alongside, my Kenyan family at such a young age. Thankful for the warmth of community surrounding me, believing in me, challenging me to reach and to see it through. Thankful for the true privilege I possessed in never being forced to consider giving up my dream for more easily-attained realities. Thankful for the gracefulness I witnessed and learned to strive to emulate. Thankful for what I discovered along the journey — not just that of those first plane rides or that throughout Kenya, but also that of coming back. Thankful for the gift of deeply-rooted passion that was given to me by Kenya, its beautiful people, and by those who walked beside me, encouraging me to be brave enough to live out that passion – then, now, and in the future.
On such an anniversary as this, I have so much for which to be thankful for. hen I first faced this anniversary, I approached it as commemorating something lost. Today, I look at my life filled with such love and such purpose. Today, I reflect on the person I work to be and the path I am taking. I take all of this in and today, I view this anniversary not as marking something lost, but of acknowledging and celebrating something found.
And I am just so thankful.
(See https://calliedh.wordpress.com/2012/08/19/anniversary/ for reflections on this anniversary, 2012)
callie daniels-howell 