You can go home again...

Living in Tucson, AZ I don't see a lot of rain.  Excluding the monsoon season, which is full of semi-regular torrential downpours, the number of gray days and rain is pretty minimal.  Don't get me wrong, I really do like it, but having grown up in the Pacific Northwest I'm pretty used to rainy and gray.  So the days in Tucson that are gray and rainy I feel a bit grounded.  Thinking about it now, it makes a lot of sense - it's part of who I am.  When I lived in the PNW I grew frustrated with the number of baseball games that were rained out, got sick and tired of walking to school and getting wet, and just grew to expect that there would be a little bit of the wet stuff on a regular basis. 

I've been back home in Washington for the past couple days and true to form I've seen my fair share of gray days.  But, you know what, it's been great.  It's what we do up here in the PNW and it just feels right.  As I was flying into SEA I could see the clouds and got a little excited.  I knew in that moment that when I was here they became second nature, but now that I've been away for some time I kind of forgot what it was really like. 

I found some of the same feelings when I went and got a warm Starbucks coffee.  I grew up north of Seattle when Starbucks was making it's rise to global coffee dominance.  I took for granted every venti irish creme mocha I drank when I lived here.  The no longer carry irish creme and I'm still miffed, but that's another story (it's one of the holy grails of coffee flavorings, I'm just saying).  I've been to many Starbucks elsewhere (they're everywhere) and the coffee is good.  The one I got here in the cold rain of a PNW morning this past tasted just like it was meant to be!!! 

Much of that can be said for our daily personal and work life.  We grow so used to the daily routine we forget to find or see the things that make us happy and content.  The fact of the matter is that it's there all along, but we allow it to get lost in the monotony.  We charge along through life and fail to recognize that within every daily ordinary are many of the things we find extrodinary if only they occured in another situation or setting.  Those warm fuzzies you get mean something, but you could be experiencing so many more if you just let yourself go home again.

A lot of times we take for granted some of the things that are everyday occurrences in our lives.  Going home helped me realize some of that.  I have been missing some of the things in my life because I just cast them off as the normal or the routine - but guess what, they are part of who I am.

It's not me, it's my communities - a global thank you.

This morning I had the chance to speak with an RA from a school I used to work at, she was struggling with some issues regarding her choice of internship and her "career path".  When the conversation was over she let out a huge sigh of relief and simply said "thank you so much for listening to me and helping me in my journey".  It was one of those moments that just gave me the downright warm fuzzies. 

After processing the discussion and her heartfelt thanks to me I realized - it's not me, it's my communities.  Any time I've been given the chance to impact someone or a group of people and they take the time to thank me I need to stop and say - it's not me that's been of assistance...it's the me generated by the wonderful community of people I associate with.  In my current position I don't get as many chances to have those impactful moments, but when I get them, boy do they feel great.  As a younger professional I would bask in those moments as if me, and me alone, just did that...as I've matured a little bit I've realized it's not me, it's my communities.  So the real question is when someone says thanks how do I say don't thank me, thank my community - the answer is that would be really awkward.  But I can take the time out of my morning to send a thanks out to the communities who have helped shape me and have blessed me with the opportunity to help others.

Professionally I need to give a big shout out to:  My AIMHO peeps (yes it's a real region).  They have been my professional home as long as I've been a professional - can't beat that consistency.  My ACUHOI peeps and my NHTI Alumni "support group" - who knew there were so many others out there just like me.  The greater #sachat community (both their website and on twitter) - thanks for opening my eyes to the broader horizon and giving me an avenue to discuss ideas with a large audience. My colleagues and staff from all of the places I've studied and worked (Eastern Washington University, Montana State University, the University of Arizona) and going way back to my time as a young "buck" growing up and working for the Concrete School District.

Personally I need to give a big shout out to: My wonderful partner in crime Melany (@mdcrews) - she shares the same passion for the profession so knows that warm fuzzy feeling all to well.  On the flip side she also knows, all to well, the struggles and frustrations of the profession.  She keeps me grounded, keeps me modest and keeps me moving forward towards being a better professional and person.  My family - my labor of love has led me to jump ship and travel around the country, taking me far away from them.  Fortunately they understand my passion for what I do and know that it's a must.  The distance from them is tough, but the connection I still have with all of them is just as strong as when I lived down the street.  My friends - they have no idea what I do or why I do it, but they still are there to give me a laugh and keep me sane.

I guess the goal of all of this is say that when I get a warm fuzzy feeling for helping someone out I need you all to know that you deserve to share in that - so let this serve as my warm fuzzy thank you back out to you.

My first musings

I have been thinking about setting up a blog for a long time.  I've known family members who have had one to keep people posted to what is going on in their life.  I've also known friends who have had them for the sake of randomly getting out information.  It hasn't been until recently that I've realized that I have a lot to say and want to find a way to get information out there.  I'm not saying that the information I'll be putting out there will be monumental or earth shaking but hopeful people will find it useful, thought-provoking, funny and enjoyable.  I've grown a lot as a professional through the dialogue created by blogs such as The Student Affairs Collaborative and the ACUHO-I Blog.  I've also found a lot of enjoyment by stopping in on other peoples blogs just for some of the humor that presents itself through their "verbal vomiting".  I guess my hope is that this blog of mine can do a little bit of all of that for those who read it. 

I guess the other hope is that I find a way to be consistent with blogging.  I usually start projects such as this and then slowly fade away as other shiny objects take my attention, but maybe this is the kind of shiny object that will feed my ADD in the other realms of my life.

Here's to hoping!