I'm hugging the mountains. And to my utter surprise, they hug me back with so much gusto! I never had this kind of warmth in my city work before--only in the breezy mountains. Work here is a breeze. I can't help but cling to the trees and the shades they so lovingly provide me when I need some comfort zones of sort.
When one is displaced to an unknown territory, a level of stress will begin to consume the soul and the body will show this. For instance, hosting a program was peanuts to me when I was in another institution. I was frozen to bits when I did my first assignment to host a program in what could be the smallest public high school that I serve in my entire 15 years of teaching. I stammered for reasons even I could not figure. There, I totally got whacked. The second program I hosted was a little better but was way below my expectation. I didn't quite measure up. That got me nuts--again! But always, always, I had people to turn to when I need some salvation. And thank God, I am not alone.
Right now, I content myself with smelling the mountain dews, the fresh tree leaves, peeking the stubborn fog, spying at the quiet thickets that I normally watch at a distance in between moments when I take usual glimpseS through the small wooden jalousies in my small classroom these days. Aaahhh, the mountains.
Embracing life here and loving what you do, not because you got to (or else, it only becomes a nasty obligation), but because you really do makes anything (under the same sky I'm sharing with everyone else) oh so beautiful.
