when I hit the road three times in the space of two weeks with great people and emerged with great pictures and great memories to reminisce on after.
when I had the best ever homemade toasted sandwich on a hillock overlooking the city lights. Oh how blessed I am to have such an amazing view just down the road from where I live!
when I reflected again and reminded myself about turning moments into monuments.
when I whooped for joy and unbelief looking at my results for microecons, which reminded me of the love and prayers of my amazing bunch of prayer warriors, without whom I probably wouldn't have scored 90 marks. 90, no kidding. I still cannot believe myself sometimes.
when I realized, reading from John Eldredge's Walking with God, that I do not need to take life's many bulls by its horns, because I have an amazing God who wants to do it for me, only I've not really let him.
when I felt truly liberated, probably for the very first time since coming to this new land flowing with milk and honey (or rather wine and Farmer's Union Iced Coffee!), knowing that I do not need to well, struggle with life's bulls if only I'd learn to be intimate with the one and only who deserves it.
when a very special girl came from Gibraltar and became not just a good friend but a great blessing to many, in just the space of two weeks.
when friendships were strengthened. By a drive-in cinema, chicken rice, road trips, piano-playing, my China Today class and peach chicken, all happening only because of a visit from Gibraltar.
when I laughed. So much it gave me a stomachache/s.
when I learnt Spanish. ?Te amo con todo mi corazon. Eresla estrella de mi vida".
when I taught BM. "Bob, kamu busuk." "Takpeeee, aku nak makan kamu."
when I realized how much my fingers have missed caressing ivory and black keys in the presence of wonderful singers in an atmosphere of camaraderie.
when I felt like there was no way I wouldn't enjoy everyday of this new semester, warts and all.
when I threw every ounce of self-control out the window and smiled like an idiot for multiple hours a day staring at my screen watching how i met your mother, which is only so awe, awe, wait for it... some!
when I reminded myself I am encouraging, cheerful and brave amidst romantic candlelight with a great bunch of girls I dance, laugh, scream at supermario wii and bake cupcakes with.
July oh July, how you have reminded me what it means to live and and to live well. May this spirit not be confined just to moments in the past 31 days, but become a monument that stretches on into the horizon of the next two years and beyond.
