A summer well-loved!

On living the season my 19-year-old self prayed for.

Side note if my life here had a soundtrack it would be that ABBA song “Slipping Through My Fingers” - so please think of that song while you’re reading this. Get it? Got it? Good.

If you told me two years ago when I signed this job contract that on my second weekend in Dublin I’d find myself drinking Czech beer, eating handmade lasagna, olive bread (called “cake” in France, apparently), and finishing the night with an affogato in the house of an Italian mother of three alongside a crew from Canada, Italy, France, Spain and Ireland, I would’ve never believed you.

I’ve grown particularly fond of a group of friends who lovingly call me their “American stray,” have gotten quite used to walking 10+ miles a day within the same building (I think I’m basically qualified for hyrox now) and have more-or-less figured out the art of waving down a bus.

And in life’s funny little way, my life here feels worn-in, well-loved, and somewhat familiar. The silence here sings the same way it did last summer at Covecrest, summer is starting to freckle its way across the right side of my face, and weekly family dinner nights feel like something I wish I could box up and bring home to Virginia with me.

The voice-memos I’ve sent home gush about how this is the most rom-com-ish summer of my life - I’ve grown so fond of this place and its people that the United Airlines countdown on my lockscreen has become one of my least favorite glances.

On the list of things that contribute to the plot of this movie, I’ve already (1) been recognized by a hotel guest I served breakfast to while at a pub on a Friday night, (2) been shocked by the graphic imagery on the side of cigarette packs, (3) nearly broken a rib on the yellow bus stairs (look up Dublin bus on instagram reels for reference…), (4) found out Ireland can fit inside of Arizona 3x, (5) corrected some lovely coworkers in letting them know that Colorado is, in fact, NOT a city in Arizona, (6) seen one of my sorority sisters while working the front desk (shoutout MGK!), (7) finally learned how to properly use a knife and fork… maybe, (8) had my world expanded to the glory of half-pints and sea saunas, (9) developed my frontal lobe to the point of actually appreciating nature, (10) grown to kinda like football?, and (11) learned you CAN make it on a Ryanair flight with 20 minutes to boarding, unless you thought you were flying AerLingus instead and wound up at the wrong gate with 4 minutes to spare (still made the next flight though, thank you, half-marathon training).

All in all, this summer has affirmed that my current life has been wholeheartedly and carefully articulated by the Lord himself. It’s funny to think about what could’ve been. The clearest moments that come back to me are of Pi Chi Em S., who was sitting in a movie theatre pre-recruitment two years ago when she received a job offer over the phone that she almost didn’t accept (thanks for the shove, Dad), the Emma who had a “gut feeling” to switch colleges in 2019 that ended up leading to four of her favorite years of life, the at-home-Emma on her gap year considering a semester abroad to be an au pair - and here I am now.

But I keep coming back to one thing in particular this summer, and that has been a fondness for the “all in” faith that I had as a senior in high school. I can recall the journal entries where I handed back blessings to the Lord and asked him to reveal to me where I really should be. I think of the limerence with which I loved Him - with allowed me to recognize and follow a series of soft tugs on my heartstrings that led me to where I am now. And in the depths of my daydreams this summer, I take myself back to the place where I wrote those pages, and I think of how this summer reminds me of myself then. Because I think I am now living a very particular chapter of life that high school me prayed for. And this hindsight has been teaching me that it is not only okay, but admirable, to often follow blindly.

Throughout the summer, there have been gentle waves beneath me. Decisions to be made, fulfillment of prayers. And through it all, I can feel my steps steadying and beginning to following the path that the Lord’s peace is paving for me. A path that only I will know, and only I will be able to wholeheartedly love.

And I wish she could see me now.

And to think that there is even more than I could ever imagine coming.

What a gift.

All in all, I feel very blessed to be living a life in which I feel well-loved. I pray that this summer is bringing you all the same. My home friends, I miss you dearly, please send along a voice memo! Let me know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I’ll send along some secrets of my own! All the love!