looking around, I am so blessed

The celebration began last night at midnight as Kelli, Guancarlo and I celebrated the first minutes of my birthday.  They sang to me, one in English and one in Spanish, and I blew out a single candle on the delicious pineapple-upside-down cake that Kelli made for us.  We shared some Inca Kola while we dug into the cake.  My first birthday in Peru!

As I sit here this afternoon listening to Kelli play the guitar and gathering myself together before a full evening, I find myself wanting to share this day not only with my roommates and Peruvian friends, but also with all of you!  I’d like to share a short reflection on my birthday that I wrote in my journal yesterday:

“My ambition is not to achieve but to love.  Coming on 23 years in this world, many young people from a similar background would be just beginning a career, eyes on opportunities for advancement and promotion, thoughts directed toward completing tasks and projects, emotions swirling around marriage and settling down with a family.  And what ambitions am I realizing?  I am, or at least I like to think I am, continuing my search for love and truth.  But where this search is unlike a typical “ambition” is in the fact that it will never be achieved by looking forward; it can only be achieved by looking around.  That is to say, it is only found in the present moment. …  The real challenge is to be authentically ME in every moment.  By looking at this as a goal to be achieved, I will never be content, and I will never achieve it.  In each moment, I must ask, who am I?  And then I must lovingly answer with a smile on my face, this is me!”

Tonight I will be attending reconciliation and adoration before Mass, and following that I have Confirmation class.  I made some M&M (Chin Chin, as the Peruvian brand is called) cookies to share with my students, and afterward some of our friends are going to come to the house for more pineapple cake and dancing!  Kelli, Marcelle, and I made a picnic lunch earlier and took it to the park/zoo/forest to enjoy together.  This morning Kelli made me an omelet with toast and coffee before we spent the morning baking!  I opened a few wonderful cards and gifts and received several phone calls from friends and family wishing me a happy birthday.  Every moment of this day has been uniquely full of joy and celebration!  I am so grateful for all that has made this possible.

I would also like to share with you all some of the quote that Kelli wrote inside her gift for me, a Spanish Bible.  It was written by aIta Ford, aMaryknoll Sister who was martyred in El Salvador during the Civil War, to her niece on her niece’s birthday in 1980:

“…What I’m saying is, I hope you come to find that which gives life a deep meaning for you … something worth living for, maybe something worth dying for … something that energizes you, enthuses you, enables you to keep moving ahead.  I can’t tell you what it might be – that’s for you to find, to choose, to love.  I can just encourage you to start looking, and support you in the search…”

That we may all support each other in this search to find that which gives our lives meaning!