Beginnings...

     This is going to be my blog for the Spring 2012 voyage of Semester at Sea.  I won't be setting sail until January, so there isn't much news to post at the moment...  Except that I am still waiting for my visas to arrive and staring out the window intensely does not seem to be speeding up the process.  So, until I have more exciting news, this is a poem I wrote for my Poetry Workshop class.  It seems like as good a way as any to introduce myself.

The Life of a Military Brat

I come from fried chicken and ice cold lemonade,

quilting circles and no secrets.

I come from grass skirts and luaus,

where we ate lobster caught just hours before.

I come from oranges and alligators,

beaches and water gun fights.

I come from crab cakes and mornings at the Smithsonian,

Black-Eyed Susans and Old Bay seasoning.

I come from climbing shoes and chalk bags,

multi-pitch routes and scaling Seneca Rocks.

I come from homeschool meetings

and the brown and green camouflage that I wear every Memorial Day.

I come from a German who became a slave

and an Indian princess who became a Disney movie.

I come from the art student captured by paint

and the Marine with his boots on.

I come from ruined soles and two thousand miles

of mud and strangers who called me Owl.

I come from jagged rocks and swollen river crossings

that almost stole my shoes.

I believe in people watching in airports,

and that staying still makes life too boring.

I believe in family Thanksgivings of eighty-six people

and carrying a book with me at all times.

I believe in six months long backpacking trips

and ice cream, preferably chocolate.

I believe in snowboarding down mountains as fast as possible

and making snowcream after a heavy snowstorm.

I believe in crying over the deaths of fictional characters

and bookshelves so tall they require a library ladder.
I believe in messy hair, the smell of a new book

and wearing pajamas whenever possible.

I believe in the silver cross I keep hanging from my neck

and being woken up in the morning by Golden Retriever tongues.

I believe in calling friends from the tops of fourteeners

and getting as many miles on my feet as I can before it’s time to go.