Fatherly Love

It's crazy how much more aware of your relationships you become when you go abroad. People that meant a lot back home find their place among the very important or time-justifyingly distant. But, when it comes to family there is nothing but awe (at least in the case of myself) for how much perspective you are given on your relationships with them and their impact on your life.

Recently, a distant cousin of my father passed away. Now I have no idea how this works in other families, but for my father, such events mean sending an email with some general background on what happened, and how we are related to the person. So this distant cousin who my sisters and I barely remember got an email. But in this email, my father proceeded to give us not only the history of how we were related to her but also his memory of her. He wrote of her joy and enthusiasm for life, as well as her general goodness to those around her. Simple words; but unendingly powerful.

I have always respected my dad, but today I was brought to tears by that email. That this funny, crazy father of mine, has underneath all of his ridiculousness a deep kindness and caring for those around him. I cannot quite put into words the loving intensity that I found in that simple email. That, upon hearing the news one of his is first thoughts was to take the time to write out a letter to his daughters so that we too, could hear the story of her passing and know that though she my be a relative stranger, a good woman was gone.

His note made me hope for two things. One is to both be and marry someone one day with that depth of kindness. Someone that sees the beauty in the people around them and wants to share it with others. And two, I hope I may live a life worthy of such an email one day. That when I pass on some distant friend or relative upon getting the news conjures up thoughts of my joy and enthusiasm. That I may bring some sort of light to the lives of others and that if nothing else I stand as a reminder to them of some good time and the wonder that is this world around us.

My dad finshed his email to us girls with this thought:

"So--live to the fullest.  Be good and be happy.  If you ever have to choose between the two, be good. 

             love,  Dad"

And that dad, is exactly what I intend. Thank you for the reminder.

'If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.' 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

                                                        

Melbourne draws me back.

Ah so I should have done this blog ages ago I feel. But, I'm glad I waited in the end. Because the story is constantly evolving, and oh a story it is. Remember that time when I talked about the touché God theory? How God definitely has a sense of humor and you can see it best when you take a step back? Yeah welcome to the story of my time in melbourne. 

When I got to melbourne in late august, I was desperately searching for jobs (as you do when you arrive in a large city with close to no money to your name). Unfortunately not much was coming up until I stumbled upon an ad for a telemarketing company. Now, let's be fair. I realize that sounds utterly horrific. I would later discover that it , in fact, was. However, at the time the only things I knew about telemarketing was that it was good money and it was easy. So, when I got offered the job almost immediately....I was on it. Now the people were wonderful and fun, and the job was in fact, easy and paid well. But, having not taken into account how ridiculously soul draining selling people electricity via the phone would be, I soon started to seriously doubt my decision. And so began the week of stress.

After having reaffirmed that I am in no way meant for sales (due primarily to it's requirement that you ignore a persons humanity and instead manipulate them to their core) I began to apply to every possible job available on gumtree and praying like my life depended on it. For those of out I who don't know what that looks like it goes something like this:

What is going on God. I am so freaking frustrated with this stupid job. I literally don't know what to do at this point. I thought I had such a good deal with this job since it came up so quickly, but i really can't do this. If this is where you want me then, fine. Be I'm going to need you to help me make some sales or somehow get through these days. Otherwise I need out. I will take anything else. I just need out. I can't handle the stress and how much I hate life when I get home each day. Fix this....please.

----

This went on for about 3 days of torture. Until one night while hanging out with some lovely people I got a call from an unknown number. It was a woman asking me to come in for an interview at  German Brauhaus. Now before I explain what happened next I need you all to know...if you don't already...that I love Germany. I took German for ages, have been a few times and just utterly love all things German. So you'll understand why having forgotten what jobs I had applied for...since there were a gajillion....I immediately thought this was a joke. One of yay friends must be calling knowing I was looking for a job and thinking this was funny. So, while I wasn't rude on the phone...I more likely than not sounded as though I wasn't taking the poor woman seriously until I asked where it was and she gave me a legitimate address. 

Well, surprise surprise, the job was in fact real...and not only I did the interview go well...I got a trial shift which really just ended up being my first shift, which ended up being a double shift. And I loved it. It is stressful at times, to be sure, but it is exciting, fun, constantly keeps you on your toes and forces you to actually think as well as chat and have fun with people! Woooo! And so I began to picture the smile. 

Not my smile, of course. Mine was definitely visible. But God's smile. That little smirk/laugh one that I assume He gets whenever he pulls something like this. That 'hah, you thought I forgot about you didn't you?' Smile. He didn't. He never does. Exodus 14:14 says ' The Lord will fight for you, you need only be still.' And fight he did. Because let's compare my original checklist to this current job:

1. Customer service oriented...check.

2. Good hours....check

3. Good pay...check....oh wait BETTER pay than the other job what?!

Bonuses! 

1. Something unlike anything i will ever do again

2. Get to speak German

3. Get to wear (somewhat...okay it's a stretch) traditional Bayerisch outfits

4. Meet people from all over the world

5. Utilizes my customer service and organizational skills

6. Free food

7. Don't have to pay for a tram/train to get to work anymore

8. Amazing coworkers

What's that? Oh yeah. Fine God. Touché. You do in fact know what's best and constantly guide me to exactly where I'm supposed to be. Now on to the next adventure. I'll try and trust ya a bit more readily this time round.