Reflection: Past, Present, and Future

In addition to warm summer sunshine and a day to honor our fallen troops, this Memorial Day weekend highlighted three significant events in our lives: 1) the one-year anniversary of our engagement, 2) my 23rd birthday, and 3) the realization that we only have one month before our Peace Corps service begins. It was a weekend of reflecting on our past, present, and future, which seemed appropriate to share here.

1) The Past: Joye and I met in our very first class at our undergraduate institution Alma College, became good friends due to our shared faith and beliefs, and soon became mawkishly inseparable. Our formal courtship began in January and then, in May of that freshmen year, we traveled together on a three-week service trip to the Philippines. Having only been dating for four months at that point, we suddenly saw a different side of each other; illness, severe indigestion, rashes, bug infestations and acne breakouts kept us out of our prime, and yet, we came out of that experience closer then ever.

However, our junior year proved to be more straining on our relationship as a series of poorly-timed abroad opportunities kept us apart for a year, give or take a few weeks. I went from summer non-profit internship in Rwanda to an autumn government internship in Rome, only to have Joye study abroad in France for the winter semester when I finally came home. While our experiences abroad helped us to grow as individuals, we preferred to go on adventures together instead of merely sharing them via correspondence. We also learned the lesson of a wise African proverb: "If you want to go fast, then go alone. If you want to go farther, go with someone." Therefore, as our senior year flashed before us, we frequently discussed our options after graduation and increasingly used the m-word: marriage.

Joye and I were engaged on Sunday afternoon of Memorial Day Weekend in 2009, two days after our last week at Alma College. Through patches of cloud, the sun illuminated a small brick-laden fire pit that overlooked a shimmering Gull Lake. Joye was escorted to the location by her parents shortly after flying down a zip line, while I waited nervously with my parents, whom I had secretly invited for the occasion. After a sappy spiel, I attempted to propose in French; my pronunciation was disgraceful, but after flashing her my grandmother’s ring, she got the idea and said “yes.” It was the best 22nd birthday gift I could have received.

2) The Present: Fast-forward to today, and we have been blissfully married for nearly nine months, having gotten hitched last Labor Day weekend. We held our ceremony in the Alma College chapel and processed out to the sound of bagpipes into the bright September sun. Since then, I have been a graduate student, Joye has worked full-time, and I think we agree that this has been the best year of our lives. Between our honeymoon, visiting multiple families over the holidays, relaxing with friends over spring break, and finally seeing the epic finale of LOST, what was not to like? More than ever, we have made time to have fun and enjoy friends, family, and the beauty of Michigan.

For example, this last weekend, to celebrate my 23rd birthday and the anniversary of our engagement, we visited Kensington Metro Park in Detroit after visiting my extended family for a cousin’s wedding. After kayaking to one of lake’s few natural beaches, we laid down in the shallow warm water, floating so that only our heads and toes stuck out. Little blue gills sparkled in the sunlight and darted all around us. We tried to soak in the moment like a sponge, fully aware that moments like this in Mali will be very few and very far between.

3) The Future: In one month, we will be in Mali, and there is much to do before then: finish classes, complete experiments, sell furniture, purge unwanted junk, store valuable household items, bid farewell to friends and family, and pack our lives up in a few suitcases. It’s alarmingly overwhelming when we look at the big picture, but we try to manage it one day at a time. At this point, we believe we have obtained almost everything that we were advised to buy in the US (ie. hiking boots, bug tents, raincoats), and now it is a matter of just packing and moving out.

If all goes accordingly, we plan on leaving our cozy Lansing apartment around June 20th to spend ten days in fellowship with our families. Next, we will depart for Philadelphia, our Peace Corps staging area, to get our vaccinations and be briefed with some general information. While it would be nice to spend Independence Day in Philly, it is likely that on July 3rd we will be on a plane over the Atlantic. From there, it is two to three months of training in Mali before we finally are assigned and then given our site location, where we will work tirelessly for two years. While these next couple weeks will certainly be a very busy time for us, we will do our best to update this blog with more information as the departure date approaches.

Also, look forward to our upcoming blog post announcing the so-called “winners” of our Book List competition on Facebook. If you have any questions or comments for us, please leave them below. Thanks for reading!

-James