Happy Monday folks!
The picture above might look like nothing or pure and utter chaos but for me it holds memories of my most happy times. For the longest time I´be been organizing youth garthering in different capacities. And one year I happened to help out a friend by volunteering at his youth choir project – which started as a favor to him has turned into the absolut biggest blessing for me and my life.
Finding pictures to represent my memories has been impossible as they are so many. On Saturday I went to drive a girlfriend of mine to that same choir project and I expected to find happiness in seeing all those wonderful people – what I didn´t expected was how at home I felt. How deep and complex, in a positive way, my feeling and memories are. Walking through the building and yard at night brought endless memories of walking from our temporary shared bedroom to the bathroom with my toothbrush in my hand, thinking about the food that I was to cook the next day for 80 people or trying to remember things that I still needed to organize before going to bed. Endless amount of hugs and conversations with good friends, shared tears and worries, the feeling of responsibility and the joy of working endlessly but so freely with your closes friends – finding common ground and realizing how utterly different you all might are.
This table holds one of mine and now our closes friends. When sharing responsibility for 2 weeks for 80-120 young people, not much older than you are, while organizing a choir convention, while also cooking for everybody and figure out by learning by doing how to have it all run smoothly and not end in disaster – something happens. You learn to trust that person without any reservation, while also have them see you at your absolute worst and best. You learn how important communication really is and how absolut vital it is to find a way to communicate in a way that leads to deeper understanding and not more argument. You simply learn about yourself, others and if you like about love and trust.
Organizing these gathering have brought me happiness not just by the pure joy it bought those young people participating and how it might have impacted they life but mostly by the absolut multi complex joy it has brought me. It has given me the most cherished and trusted and beloved friends. It has given me an opportunity to put my gifts to used and further sharpen them, it has given me the experience of working not because someone makes or gets money from it but just because everybody, for different reasons, believes it is worth to work crazy hours for and last but not least it has given me a place and an experience where when I was at my worst I still felt valued, cherished and loved. And nothing is more priceless and that!
So with that – imagen me walking here, with my toothbrush and towel to a bathroom “over there” and then falling a sleep in a room full of people who if I could I would spent every minute of every day with. There is nothing quite like it. But for two wonderful weeks that was my reality and even after a few years those memories still warm my heart and soul!
Love,
Madita