Shuffle

     I apologize for the amount of time it has been since I last wrote on here. There have been a few extremely defining moments that have occurred since my last post. While I don't care to write the specifics, I will say that recently I have been working through the illustrations of destruction in my mind. Pictures from my past shuffle in my brain, intermixing with pictures I have seen of the devastation that has been occurring in Japan.
     While I realize the pain and confusion I have been dealing with is minor in comparison with that of an 8.9 earthquake and massive tsunami waves, the pain is nonetheless real to me.
   I have not lost my home, but I have lost something that I found comfort and familiarity in. I have not seen buildings crumble, but I've felt the shake of something I thought was solid. I have not been swallowed by water, but waves of emotion that one second seem easily conquerable, can in the next, seem overwhelming and unmanageable.
     I am not alone in these thoughts. So many others on campus are hurting as well. Day after day I overhear conversations about losing loved ones, about the workload that seems too overwhelming, about the personal struggles people are trying to make sense of.
     And all I can do is pray for a firm foundation.

Hamburger

Walked up to a girl sitting by herself in my night class tonight. As I set my books and laptop down on the desk next to her, I asked her what it was she was eating. I assumed it was a West Coast Chicken Sandwich from the cafe here on campus, because it is a sandwich I get regularly and am particularly fond of. I was surprised when she answered it was a hamburger. It definitely didn't look like any hamburger I had ever eaten but I decided not to press the issue further.
I feel bad admitting the fact that I have sat next to this girl for about the past five classes, and tonight was the first night I found out her name. When answering, her eyes shifted nervously from me to her sandwich, as if I was going to steal it from her.
Shelby.
I smiled expecting her to ask me the same question back, but she never did. After waiting a few seconds to be sure she wasn't going to say anything, I took advantage of the opportunity to go to the bathroom before our three hour class started, and left Shelby to devour her hamburger in silence.