Doings

So every now and then,

and then again now,
and now then again, 

I feel restless.

Like I want to be DOING something.

Like learning how to snowboard, walking across Andorra, writing an epic song, purposefully getting lost in an unknown town that speaks an unknown language, and creating fantastic hair-brained ideas for my friends and I to try. 

And then a lot of the time I need to just recover from all the hectic frenzy that is my "boring" life as a student. And as I recover I think, "shoot, I want to be DOING something." It's an interesting cycle.

So as I sit here, recovering from the quarter that just hit me like a wave and went out with the tide, I'm deciding to take some time to reflect on some of the more exciting "doings" that I have done this last year. Because really, I got to do a lot of neat stuff. 

~I visited a continent I'd never been to before and was responsible for providing all the  morning and evening worships for a two-week mission trip for about 30 high school students. I had never done so much worship programming, nor been the main person in charge of any element of a mission trip--a big step outside my comfort zone. But wow, what a fantastic experience!

~I made a couple little movies with my friends. Yes, they are dorky. Yes, they are not super planned. Yes, they were a ton of fun to make.

~I lived completely by myself for the first time ever: turns out that living alone really isn't a lonely experience.

~Oh and while I lived alone, I was nocturnal. It might not sound like it, but it was actually a pretty cool experience once I got used to it. Instead of feeling like a splurging junky for staying up to all sorts of odd hours, I was a legit working adult, pulling the night shift an average of 5 days a week, and I can now add that to my list of life experiences.

~I wrote a 30 page research paper about 2 verses of scripture in the span of 10 weeks. And I absolutely LOVED it.

~I visited Palouse Falls for the first time and sat right at the edge of where the water meets gravity. Such a terrifying and absolutely exhilarating experience. So heart-pounding incredible!

~I started a band. We are awesome. Be jealous.

~I went camping in a quaint little clearing directly between a campground, the road, and someone's backyard.

~I wrote a booklet about the dying process for the local hospital to use. This sounds really morbid, and well, it is a bit morbid, but it's a gentle tool for people to use when their loved ones are fading and they don't know how to handle it. I was pretty proud of this accomplishment and glad to put my writing skills to good use.

~I was called Pastor Katelyn for the first time. Not as a joke.

~I had a lot of wonderful late night/early morning conversations about life with amazing people.

~I had a picnic in the snow in May. I was in shorts and flip flops.

~I was paid to speak at a little 5-person church, up north in the middle of nowhere.

~I had a front row seat to watch a number of people realize their value and potential and make incredible life changes. I'd like to think I was an aid in some of that, too.

~And I got to love a lot of people. That is always an incredible experience.

So yeah, I guess I did get to do a lot this year. A lot of really awesome things. And you know what? I know I'm going to do a lot of really awesome things this coming year, too. I may not know exactly what my fantastic doings will look like yet, but you can bet I'm going to do them.