I have discovered that I want to blog! I don't know what is with this new revelation, but it probably has something to do with my need to keep my memories! As the end of the term is fast approaching many SOs are getting sappy as they are the ones about to leave Grenada and move on...their two years (or three in some cases) have past and they are going to rotations. They are making me ever so conscious of how precious and fast my time here is!
Yesterday, Michelle Nanney, a great SO, gave a talk on her "Retrospective View of Grenada." She had a slightly different focus than my own, but it was insightful and inspiring none-the-less. She did not give us a to do list, but instead talked about her "to-done" list as I called something similar a few posts back. She has kept great records of her time in Grenada, made great relationships, and amounted to what she believes is the best (though she crazily thinks she could have done more!) time well spent in Grenada. The reason she keeps a list of everything she does is both for memory purposes, but also for future jobs. If someone looks at her résumé and says, "why do you have a gap of three years of unemployment here?" She can respond with the story about her husband went to medical school, or she can respond with the opportunity of how she ended up without the ability to work on a tropical island and instead logged __ many volunteer hours, coordinated with ___ many non-profit organization on ___ many projects. She watched ___ webinars covering the topics of ___. She pursued her second or third masters online. She attended ___ many talks, presenting ___ many of her own. And what's great about Michelle, the motivation wasn't to fill in the blanks. The motivation was her own self (and selfless) interests. The result is an impressive résumé.
So back to my blog subject: blogging. I have a purpose with this blog and it is a little so that those back at home who may not get the chance to talk to us regularly can know that Mark is still studying and I'm keeping busy. But the main point is so that when Mark and I want to reflect on our time in Grenada, Mark can know he didn't "bring me down" (as a lot of students with SOs feel), but he gave me an excuse to quit my job and live my life. And I'm going to make sure I remember it! The ups, the downs, the silly details, and all the moments that count.
