I know there’s not going to be a way to fudge the numbers on this so yes I will come forward and admit it is a few days into November and I am just now posting this. Also Hayden and I are currently racing to see who does this last. (Update- it was me.) Let’s dive into another poem shall we?
O- is for Oh shoot Jacob and I almost caught Ashley’ house on fire
C is for Can we please go to the Food Lion at Lake Gaston???
T is for The big NUT statue in downtown Raleigh some refer to as Nutzilla
O is for Oh so now we are the kind of friends that work out together?
B is for Bald caps on All-hallows Eve and bOnus Jonas
E is for Everyone shows up late to class sometimes! We’re only human
R is for Really good blue grass music
Somehow this month is one of the longest in the year yet it went by like a blur. I think that is a good thing? You tell me. I’m gonna try to sum it up for ya though. Outside of all the supa fun activities we did (Giant swings @ the fair, come on somebody!), this month had a lot of depth and a lot of layers to it. Here is what I mean- Fellows is like drinking out of a fire hydrant, except the fire hydrant is full of like the best stuff you can get. Like, there is just so much information and goodness thrown at you constantly. You just try to be a sponge and soak it all up. Something I am soaking up right now is waking up to things that matter.
October felt like waking up. Waking up to other people around me. Waking up to myself. Waking up to God. Like somehow I have been a little bit asleep my whole life and I am just starting to notice. One way this is unfolding is through Neighbor to Neighbor, which has easily become one of my favorite parts of Fellows. This after school mentoring program in downtown Raleigh helps provide a poorer area of the city with tutoring for kids of all ages. I love my time here. It has forced me to see things I can’t un-see. There are kids here struggling to read, add and subtract, and just learn. Education is a gift and these kids deserve it. Getting to invest in them for an hour or two every week, whether that be tutoring or fitting 6 people into a jump rope swing, fills me up. There have been kids like this in every city I have lived in my whole life, and just because I didn’t see them, doesn’t mean they weren’t there.
Another thing I am waking up to is just the people in the city as a whole. Our Just Leadership class taught by David Spickard (David if you ever see this, you’re wonderful and ily) has been one of the most eye opening and thought provoking things I have ever encountered. We are covering all kinds of topics from biblical justice to racial tensions to cultural competency- you name it! One really incredible thing we did is take a field trip over to the Raleigh Rescue Mission, a non-profit right downtown. They are actively serving the homeless population of Raleigh. Not just handing them a $5 bill or a granola bar, and not just a bed to sleep in for a night either. They are teaching and equipping these people to have competency and skills to have a well-paying job and setting them up to be successful when they exit their doors. Why? Because they believe everyone has inherent worth in Christ Jesus. THAT’S POWERFUL. And yes, these folks are “experiencing homelessness”, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. There are so many people who find themselves in extreme poverty in Raleigh and now I am alot more inclined to ponder them!
Last thing I will mention is I just feel like I am waking up a bit to myself. Through an enneagram class and a Myers-Briggs class, I have had multiple hours poured into figuring out why I am the way that I am. Finally I have language to describe my motivations, thinking process, desires, problem-solving, basically what makes me- ME! I have felt so encouraged by this and can already see the fruit of understanding myself and others better in the group. Our Genogram (Family Systems Theory) weekend really was also eye-opening. Turns out your family has a big part to do with how you are who you are. I felt shocked that it applied to me. I feel, now, excited and nervous to dive deeper into asking my family important questions about themselves and their families, which will in turn help me learn a lot about myself. So yeah, in a way, I am meeting a lot of parts of myself that were always there but I am just now bringing to the light!
I can’t really go back to sleep after all I'm awake to now! But I don’t really wanna. Thank you October for showing me the truth about the issues and struggles that I and the people around me are facing. As painful as it is to see my neighbors who have been glossed over, it feels good to know a little bit more than I did before, and it feels encouraging to know there are ways I can help. Noticing this isn’t as light-hearted as I intended but that’s okay! Until next month Raleigh Fellows BL00G!
-Kayley