has been an excellent day. I got up on time to make it to my 8 am class today, which I didn't on Monday. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Really I didn't have to get up early, I just had to get up on time haha. It was actually really nice walking to school this morning. It was crisp but not chilly, and the sun was already out. It was a really pleasant way to start the day. Usually I'm running late in the mornings, so I begin my days by frantically tearing around my apartment desperately trying to get out the door on time while still having hot coffee and not looking like too much of a mess. Most of the time it's not extremely frantic, I just have to move quickly, so I have no time to reflect upon my day as I'm beginning it. But today was different. I had a whole half hour with nothing going on, nothing to do but walk peacefully and talk with God, so I got to start my day by reflecting on who and what I was living for today and why, which started me off in a really good mood. I also started thinking about how blessed I am. It sounds cliche, but there are children in Africa that walk much farther than I do to get to school every day. My friend Sara told me last weekend that when her husband was in college he had a Nigerian professor, and there are was a boy in his class that didn't have his textbook because he didn't have the money to buy it, and the professor said,"You'll buy new sneakers before you'll buy your textbook?" He wasn't trying to make him feel guilty, he legitimately did not understand why someone would buy shoes before they would buy a book. I was thinking about this this morning and about how lucky I am just to get to go to school. I get to go to college. In the last twelve years I have been taught english, history, all kinds of math and science, French, and some Spanish, and I get to continue learning! What's walking 30 minutes when I have such easy access to more education than more people in the world will get in a lifetime? It sounds odd, but losing my car for just a few days has taught me how blessed I am and given me a strong new appreciation for the things I do have.
Also, since my sociology class is over at 8:50 and my next class isn't until 10, I usually drive home just to eat breakfast and relax for a little while. Obviously, today that was not an option, so I picked up a free copy of the New York Times from one of the stands at school and sat in the library and read the paper for most of an hour. That actually turned out to be much more relaxing than driving home because I didn't have to worry about getting back on time. And I've been wanting to have some time in my day to sit down and catch up on current events, and there it was. I think I'm going to start doing that from now on.
Not having a car has really slowed down the pace of my life, and I needed that. I didn't even realize how much, but I want to try to live at a more moderate pace once I get my car back instead of always being either doing something or resting cause I'm tired from doing so many things. I hope I can find a way to make that happen.
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