At 6 a.m. on Friday, January 1, I was among a beach crowd watching the first sunrise in the world of 2010.
Wrapped in goose bumps, sitting by Matt, a random drunk who was still carrying around his celebratory box of beer and raving about the New Year’s music festival he’d attended, I anxiously awaited the first ray of light. I’d woken at 5 a.m. to witness this moment and now the ocean waves had entertained my wait. Each rhythmic wave brought to mind the many blessings I have enjoyed in the last 365 days.
One week before my arrival to this beach in Gisborn, which is the first area in the world to see the sun rise and it happened to be the biggest New Year’s Eve musical festival in the country (I did not attend the festival and instead celebrated the start of a New Year with the locals in the town square with a live local band, free ice cream cone, and a full moon over the ocean.), I was blessed to be in Nelson Lake celebrating Christmas with the Rainey family at their holiday home.
After I arrived at the big blue lake house tucked in among trees and forest on the 23rd of December, I enjoyed six days of holiday leisure, lots of food, boating and swimming. My first Christmas away from my family was also my first bathing suit clad Christmas with sunscreen, turdukin (Joe Rainey stuffed a turkey with a duck with a chicken), and a midmeal swim.
At moments, especially after a few phone calls home, I was nostalgic about the Ohio festivities and family I was missing, but as my mom put it “I have a lot of distractions to prevent homesickness.”
The distractions of travel absorb my attention, but knowing that I am loved by my family and friends at home and believing that they too know how much I love them prevents me from feeling detached from the familiar.
I'm blessed to have support near and far from those I've known for years and those I've just met on a beach over a beer.
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