Surprises

Tonight was a blast. Today was frankly odd.

I wore my "Where's Waldo" shirt - red and white stripes, so I knew it was going to be a good/interesting day.

The day was long, as most days are at work, but it was good. The energy in the office was good and I had some good conversations with contacts, but only one contract ended up coming in. At about 3:00pm, my teammates and I ran straight into a wall. We were at our wits end. Iowa is making me crazy, Canada is making Cody crazy, Kaitlin's wacky contacts are making her crazy, and Zach is always crazy. We were laughing until we were crying because we just couldn't handle it anymore, so our regional manager, Adam, comes over and suggests for us to go outside and run around. We do. It was great.

Then tonight at about 5:oopm we are instructed to go grab dinner, bring it back, solve a riddle, and go to where the riddle indicates. It's Mt. Soledad and it was gorgeous, especially at sunset. We played running charades at the top and just enjoyed each other.

Then we go to Mission Beach. Our regional managers and the rest of the Movement staff are waiting there for us with a bonfire raging on the beach. We all gather around after mingling for a bit and sit around the fire.

Tom Shadyac is there. Tom is a good friend of Invisible Children's and is a big Hollywood director - he has directed Ace Ventura, Liar Liar, Patch Adams, and Bruce Almighty just to name a few. He spoke about truth and apathy and how to face what happens after this wonderful experience. He was real and honest and confronted a lot of the fears I am harboring for when I am finished with these five months. He is the type of man I would like to share a bottle of wine with or grab a cup of coffee with and just chat about how we are products of our environment. How we worry about bills and security and living up to expectations because that's what is dictated to us by society, our parents, our grandparents. He emboldened us to do what we do now, not to wait to accomplish those things or face those things, but be great now.

It was an interesting day to say the least. One I will remember, for sure.