The day started as would any
other. The billowing clouds packed the sky and the sound of rain dancing around
us stifled our mixed emotions. The now normal routine laid itself out. Ryan got
us going with his favorite quote, “Out of the night that covers me, Black as
the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be, for my unconquerable
soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced or cried aloud under
the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of
wrath and tears looms but the horror of the shade and yet menace of the years
finds, and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, how
charged with punishment the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the
captain of my soul.” To the library, Care Center, Eagle Shield, museum, and
Sobriety Festival were where our team would reach out a hand.
I looked at the faces around me;
they had been engrained in my brain as if for ages, although I had only first
glanced upon them merely six days prior. Tom had talked a lot about fate, or
g-ds plan for us, and somehow, somewhere I felt that some of the people
surrounding me were meant to cross my path. That their faces were so familiar
that fate, or whatever you want to call it, had been tying our strings together
long before we even stepped foot in the same room.
With that in mind, I set out for
the day. We all shot out of home base and went our separate ways. When it was
time for lunch, we all recongregated on campus and as I was scrambling so get
anything meaningful to write into this blog. The majority of our team had spent
the day cutting veggies and preparing for the sobriety festival. One member
told me he had spent all day peeling potatoes. I thought to myself; great,
peeling potatoes makes for a great lesson, but then I was thinking about how Tom
had told us that everything has life and meaning. The potato had a rough peel
that needed to be stripped back to find what all that work was for. The earth
was a mirror image of us. Underneath all of our standing parts, the trees,
mountains, imperfections big or small, there was a fire beneath it all. The
cores inside everyone were quickly stripped away in such a short time that the
thought of having to leave all of these people was upsetting. Everything had
finally come together and our little family of misfits was finally not just in
my head, everyone recognized the special relationships, you know how it is.
Entry submitted by: Natalie Rachman - Highland Park, IL