Happy birthday Daddy!

Today would be my dad's 87th birthday (yes, you read that correctly). Even though he passed away in 1997, I still miss him and am so thankful to have had him as a father. He was a wonderfully kind person with so much life experience... I wish I could have asked him more questions about his time in the Navy during WWII, his experience in med school on the GI Bill, his life as an OBGYN in Columbia, SC. His childhood in the Low Country of SC (he was born in 1925! What a different world, right??), what his parents were like, etc.

Forgive the weird reflection-- but if you've ever wondered which parent I look like...

I don't regret any of the short time we had together though. I cherish all the time spent in his lap in that brown LazyBoy (which is now in my DC apt) watching the Discovery Channel. So thanks Dad, for watching the Little Mermaid every day for... a few years, for letting me do your hair and even answering the door with the clips still in, for always trying to answer my endless questions, and most of all, for never letting me doubt how much you loved me and my mother.  I was always a Daddy's girl.

He retired right after I was born

I even forgive you for that time you fell asleep waiting on me to get home from school and locked me out of the house for a few hours. When I was 7. :) hahaha And I still remember hearing your feet move down the hallway at 5:30am, shuffling towards your paper and the morning news. I remember how you always wore flannel shirts and how you developed a bit of a stomach that I thought of as a pillow. (Little kids are so sensitive, eh?)

Our smiles aren't awkward at all.

Most of all, I remember his calm manner and wonderful Southern accent (yes Mom, he had one too). He was a true gentleman, and I am proud to be his daughter.

Oh, and Mom... thanks for marrying him. :)

Wedding Day

Questions and intense nostalgia.

I am currently buried under school work, but I wanted to say that I have not forgotten my earlier promise for more posts on what I am studying in seminary.

For now, I have only questions... some of which are:

If being a Christian requires a radical lifestyle, then how can the status quo comfortably claim to be Christians? When Jesus was a revolutionary, how have the powers at be distorted this to make Jesus a capitalist and a proponent of wealth?

How am I living out my faith? I am constantly pulled towards gossip, slothfulness, and unloving behavior. How can I reorient my mind and challenge myself to be more loving than I am now?

In a world full of fallibility, how do I live a life in line with my morals? How do I genuinely follow my values to their logical end points without becoming a hermit in the desert?

How do I balance my needs with the brokenness of the world?

How do I counter my own ego and pride when constructive criticism is awkward and not valued? Can I hold the mirror up to myself without a community around me to hold me accountable? Or does that defeat the whole purpose of what I want to do with my life?

What does it really means to welcome someone who has hurt you or who might hurt you? Caution and fear are both important and impediments... how does one love all of Creation while maintaining necessary boundaries?

Is living alone selfish or an important part of my spiritual life? Can one really create community while not having to live and struggle in it?

Speaking of, at times like this I do miss my p'fac team... can we go to Bang Bar and talk about my life please??? With this in mind, I gathered several of my favorite pics of our time together in Thailand. Allison, Alvin, Lukas, and Sam--love y'all so much. :)

this will go under the "do not miss" category

The caption to this on Lukas's album was "Allison died."

Illegal motorsai ride :) 555

mmm landfill

Some of my favorite men :)

BANG BAR!!! kitteung mak mak ka!

Festival to celebrate one of the local guardian spirits in Sriskaket called "Chao Paw Pu Den." Apparently the ancients loved whiskey, cigarettes, and beetlenut (chewed like tobacco, with red teeth/spit as a result) so the participants have lots of the above. 

Cheese was such a precious commodity.