summer recap

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything. But as the summer faded and my time at the park was coming to an end, there were so many emotions inside me that I didn’t have the words. Now that my summer in Kings Canyon National Park is in the past, I can turn around and see my summer just a little clearer. My summer was one full of growth, of change, and of new friends and new experiences.

When people ask me how my summer was, I have a hard time answering them honestly. I will give them a “it was so much fun” or “it was great”, but there’s too much to say in just a short blurb as I’m passing a friend on the way to class. My summer was fun, yes, and it was great. But it was hard, probably one of my most difficult seasons in life. I got a taste of life much different than my own. I was stripped of comforts. I was working a lot more than I was ever used to. And I yearned to just be outside- to explore the park and enjoy God’s beautiful creation, but I felt trapped inside the gift shop. And then at the end I had to say goodbye to people that had become my neighbors, my roommates, my coworkers, my friends.

And that was really hard.

I remember driving out of the park for the last time with tears streaming down my face, quite surprised that I was actually crying. I had anticipated my leaving to be easy; I was really to leave and ready to go home. But it took the passing through the park gate for the last time, things all packed in the back of your car kind of leaving for it to finally hit me. I had built deeper relationships than I had anticipated. I already missed the mouse attracting space of cabin one. I was actually sad that my trekking up the Wormwood hill to get back home was over. And I was especially going to miss worshiping and praising God among the world’s largest trees.

I had gone into the summer with certain expectations. While some felt unmet, God certainly surpassed my earthly expectations. I grew to lean on him when I was feeling out of place or uncomfortable. I got to share my own culture (like making s’mores) while learning about so many new ones from my international coworkers.  And I had the opportunity to share the love of God every single day in a national park, which is pretty awesome. People from all over the world came to see the largest trees, which gave me opportunities to interact with so many different people who had different languages and life experiences than my own.

So if your were to give me a minute to explain my long answer to you, I would say my summer was a life changer. It was full of new experiences and a lot of hard change. But it was an incredible experience that I do not regret signing up for. It shaped me to be more dependent on God, more comfortable around people that are at different walks of life than I am, and overall more appreciative for my life and the places we learn to call home.