overnight oats and avocado

As one of my cohort wrote earlier this week, we have been at our placement sites for one month.

I thought I would take some time this week to think of this past month, process what has happened, and reflect on my time here in Philadelphia.

I have been vocal about my desire to leave North Carolina, move to a different location, and live in an urban setting. I never imagined that location would be Philadelphia.

Philadelphia is a city of contrasts.

I live in North Philadelphia, an underserved community that witnesses disproportionate impacts of police brutality and lack of healthy and affordable food, but bursting with life and strong community.

I work in downtown Philadelphia, one block from city hall. Center city is rapidly changing, with new high rises and skyscrapers blocking out historic districts, forcing people onto the street, and municipal, state, and federal governments not taking housing and food insecurity seriously. Two different environments that I bear witness to every day.

I graduated from UNC in May, and this is the first time I am not people I know intimately well. There was a group of at least twenty people that I attended elementary, middle, and high school with, that attended UNC as well. In Philadelphia, I knew one or two people here when I arrived in August. I am enjoying the process of building community and infrastructure around myself, but I never realized how taxing that work would be when you also have a forty hour work week in the church.

I have been resting in this period of joy and isolation. I have grown stronger within, building my self confidence and introversion, but I crave the nights where I would eat loaded tots on Franklin Street or Tuesday night dinners with my grandmother and aunt.

This is life, full of heartache and love. I am learning to embrace the good and bad, learn from my mistakes, experience all I can while I am here, and trust that I am never alone, because God is always leading me on.

That’s all for today folks.

As Always,

He Climbs Mountains.