Wandering Camels

Ever feel like someone has untied your camel and you're wandering around the desert looking for it? Through the changes of 2010 I identified with Hafiz's poem "Someone Untied Your Camel" as I struggled to find my place in the new life I'm leading. Hafiz promises that when someone has untied your camel and you find your caravan is wandering, he will lead you to the tent of the Beloved. While I haven't been lost in the religious sense to which Hafiz is most definitely referring, I have felt a bit like my life camel took a stroll without me and is napping in an oasis somewhere just waiting for me to show up.

The Army has been good to us and I have no complaints. But over this past year of moving, training and getting Jordan ready for deployment I went through an adjustment period during which I all but swept my goals under a rug. Not having a steady job as we've state hopped left me chomping at the bit and gave me a lot of time to think about purpose.

Many of you know that I've wanted to go to grad school for a LONG time. I would probably be a professional student if I could. But over the years one thing after another has postponed the endeavor.

Well, in 2010 I finally applied. And in 2010...

I got in.

I'm scared to death but more excited than I've been in a long time and I can't wait for the challenge that starts in June. It's a low-residency MFA in Writing program at Vermont College of Fine Arts, which means that I attend 10-day residencies each semester in Vermont and the rest is completed online. The format is perfect for our situation (ever nomadic) and for the creative process in general, as writing tends to be an independent process by nature.

I am thankful for a husband who would support me in conquering the world or, as my dad would say, in "shoveling manure in Gila Bend," if that's really what I wanted to do (though I'm sure he's thankful that I chose school over the latter). He appropriately prods and encourages me to achieve anything and everything, even when I waffle and my Coker stubbornness resists. Thanks for getting me back on track, Love.

That darn camel better be waiting for me when I get to Vermont.