Skip to main content

The Final Days


For the last few days I was in Ecuador it wasn't really sinking in that I would be leaving so soon. It didn't hit me until after school the last day I was there - after saying goodbye to everyone. Or at least thinking I was saying goodbye to everyone. We went home and there were so many clues I should've caught on to... but as we know, I can be rather oblivious at times... So Eli and I went for coffee. She talks about how it'll be a nice last, relaxing family dinner and what all we can do this evening. We get home. Nathan is sitting on the couch in the dark. "Hey, Shaneen, guess what?" "...What...?" "SURPRISE!!!" Everyone jumps out from their hiding places. "Are you surprised?" "...Uhuh..." I was not expecting that at all... We had a great time. Mexican, cookies, people piling on top of each other, people piling on top of me, everyone making fun of me mercilessly. Ah, good times... good until we had to say goodbye anyways.

I spent a few days in Texas on my way back to Canada. It was good getting to see Daniella, Ryan and Meghan and spend some time with them.

And now I'm home.

How did my trip end so soon? I swear it was just last week I was telling everyone I might be going down to Ecuador. Maybe. If it worked out. And wasn't it just yesterday that I was freaking out, trying to get everything packed, and wondering how on God's green earth everything was going to fit into those suitcases? And now I'm home?


"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." -Dr. Seuss


I've been doing an awful lot of both... it's such good advice, but so very hard to follow...

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Best Week of Your Life

"The Best Week of Your Life."  It's the tag line for Young Life camp, and it truly is not an exaggeration.  Last year was my first time at RockRidge Canyon (the camp in Princeton, BC where we take our group of teens every summer), and it far exceeded my expectations.  Everyone can tell you that RRC is the best place on earth and that camp is the best week of your life, but it's a completely different thing to experience it first hand.  My first time at camp I remember as a total whirlwind of activity and adventure.  It was a week long party and I loved every second of it.  I was excited to go and excited to be there and somehow my excitement/energy level remained at 110% all week. This year though, was a bit of a different story.  Being on a Summer Grant with Young Life this year, I was working on a lot more of the behind the scenes projects, and saw how much work truly goes into a week at camp (as well as the other duties of running the ministry at...

Storm Chasers

Another non-fiction writing course composition. This project was a revision of the manifesto we did a while back. ( http://shaneenstravels.blogspot.ca/2016/01/new-year-new-adventures.html ) This is based on a true story - one of the greatest nights I've spent with some of my best friends. The night we chased the storm. The Greatest Adventure Story The night was enticing and full of potential. A storm raged outside, a call to the heart of an adventurer.  However, the young band of heroes curled up safe and dry in their lair, where the sounds of the wind and rain could not reach them.  The adventurers were taking a night off of their usual daring deeds, choosing instead to idly watch the night pass them by.             The hero of a great adventure story must be more interested in experiencing life than they are in merely passing the time.  Excitement comes far more easily and frequently to the active adventurer...

New Year, New Adventures

My last writing assignment of last semester was to write a manifesto.  The topic could be as broad or specific as we wanted - topics chosen by my classmates ranged from general advice on how to live a good life to enjoying rain to internet trolling...quite the range of characters we have in that little class. Honestly, this assignment was giving me a lot of issues, and I still am not happy with the way it turned out.  There's maybe two lines in this whole composition that I'm mildly proud of.  However, the message behind it, I am entirely supportive of (obviously, or I wouldn't have made it into a manifesto).  So, here it is, my manifesto for adventure. Manifesto for Adventure                 Nowadays, people are focussed on all the wrong things: money, status, acquiring material possessions.  People are surviving and thriving, but no one is really LIVING .  As residents of t...