Carolina Home/put out the beard! or i just figured out how this whole blogging thing works.

OK, so i am pretty new to the whole blogging thing and just now, April 14th 2007. figured out that people can leave comments and i just figured out how to read them. So-- a very late thank you to everyone who left comments like 5-7 months ago. They have been hugely encouraging! i feel like a big jerk, sorry.

I am in North Carolina right now and enjoying my last day here. It snowed on Easter morning and was really beautiful. i got to see many good friends and spend time with my momma and pa and my older brother Chris. It ahs been fantastic being in the mountains and makes me realize how much they are in my blood.

three days ago i went to the Nantahala Valley "home of the noon-day sun" and went fishin with my pa. he is an incredible fisherman and i am not. i love being outside and being in the water and most of all smoking cigars with my dad. It was quite windy when we were out on the creek and i had to lean the cigar in a downward fashion to get the darn thing lit. In doing so i also lit my wildbeast of a beard on fire. I suppose i could have stopped, dropped and rolled, but i chose a different method, frantically smack my face as quickly as possible-- then start laughing really hard at what just happened.

my dad caught about a baker's dozen of speck, rainbow and brown trout and i caught two brown trout.

i eventually also fell into the water and had to wear a pair of my dad's old bright green corduroy pants that he always keeps in the truck just in case he falls in.

While i've been home i've been trying to pray and spend time learning and listening to how i can focus more in this last third of the year and to be fully present in Camden. Tonight i take a 13 hour train back up to Philly. It is supposed to rain upon most of the east coast and i am excited for the return to home--as my friends Farah and Joshua say:

home is a fluid concept.

I'd like for this prayer of St. Francis of Assisi to be a guide for the rest of my time in Camden and for the rest of my life:

Seigneur, faites de moi un instrument de votre paix.
Là où il y a de la haine, que je mette l’amour.
Là où il y a l’offense, que je mette le pardon.
Là où il y a la discorde, que je mette l’union.
Là où il y a l’erreur, que je mette la vérité.
Là où il y a le doute, que je mette la foi.
Là où il y a le désespoir, que je mette l’espérance.
Là où il y a les ténèbres, que je mette votre lumière.
Là où il y a la tristesse, que je mette la joie.


Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, let me sow pardon;
where there is doubt, let me sow faith;
where there is despair, let me sow hope;
where there is darkness, let me sow light;
and where there is sadness, let me sow joy.

love
-will