I talk about the significance of this year; I become old, squatted for longer than expected and thinking about whether I should squat longer.
***
This year is a very significant year for me. It became significant by accident actually. In fact, if I were to have it my way (and God knows what a disaster that would be) this year wouldn't have been significant at all.
This year is the year that I have been in Australia for 10 years. It is one thing to say that you have spent 18 years of your life in the country growing up, but it is another thing to say that you have lived in another country for a decade. So many things have happened in those 10 years, both good and bad, periods of growing in maturity and times of just pure foolishness. I have never expected to stay here this long. To think that I would stay here for 4 years, max 8 years, is exactly what I was expecting. But it turns out that life had other plans and has initially dragged me, kicking and screaming. But here I am nonetheless, at a place that I wouldn't have seen in coming in a million years. And I have to say that I like where I am now. As I have said to some people, the last 6 years was necessary for the development of my character. I needed to be broken into, to get through the thick skull of pride and immaturity. My extended stay here has taught me a great deal of things and I am glad for it.
This year is the year I will be as old as when Jesus began his ministry. My peers have called it a milestone, much like when one has turned 18 and 21. As I pondered on this, I think I am afraid that I do not see it as a milestone. We use the word milestone in our lives the same way we use it for what it was originally intended as, a measurement of distance, as if there is some fixed distance to some event in this thing we call life. I think a more meaningful way is events. Or if we go by things that we see on the road analogy, one of those "You are now entering
This year is the year that my temporary visa will expire at the end of the year. It has also been impressed on me that I should decide what should I do with it. A big part of me wants to go to some other place, somewhere I can start again. But the rational me thinks that it is too risky to put all my hopes in one basket and should look to nesting here for a little while more, or at least the possibility of it. It's like signing a contract for another few years and this is not something that you would take lightly. This has moved up the prayer list significantly as well as intensity. I can trust where God will be leading me to, I just need to know where am I going.
It would be almost poetic if I did get what I want for this year because that would hit all of the significance I have outlined this year, but I wouldn't count on it. It would be awesome though. I suppose one can dream...
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it's also the 10th anniversary of your blog writing! now that's a milestone, surely!
I can hardly think that writing for 10 years with content only marginally better than monkeys typing on typewriters be considered a milestone.
When the blogging does end, now that is a milestone.