“These places, and the experiences I had in them, were mine and mine alone. The senses of solitude, ownership, and place that I felt on these trips were creating a private world that, by definition, was impossible to share. Nevertheless, I tried. I took photographs and posted online albums of my trips; however, the images failed. They were unsuccessful because they were removed in time and location from what I went through to be in the place at that time. To a person sitting in an office or a living room, a picture of a mountain is just a picture. To me, it was the experience of taking the picture.” pg. 95-96
Re-reading books has become a habit of mine, so it shouldn’t
be surprising to those who know this about me that this passage comes from a
book that I first read about 2 years ago and am currently re-reading for the
third time: Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston. As I was sitting
in my living room after a day at work reading this book that I’ve read multiple
times, I realized how fitting it is to my life right now. I’ve already
disclosed in past posts that I’m terrible at blogging, and just journaling in
general, but I’m coming to realize that it’s not because I can’t write about “the
every day”, it’s because in order to fully convey the significance of my
experiences I would have to dedicate so much time to writing my blog that I
would be missing out on things that are making my JV year so valuable. And even
if I did spend all my time blogging in an attempt to have everyone reading my
blog understand how instrumental this year has been, I still wouldn’t be able
to paint and accurate picture of JVC Nashville. There is no way to put into
words the uniqueness of each of my community members and how their quirks make
stories and moments that much more memorable; or how great it is to come home
to a group of women that not only is interested in how your day went but can
relate to the challenges you face, or even how awesome it felt when we finally
felt like we’re finding our place in this city.
I can’t even begin to put into words how working with men
who are dealing with drug/alcohol addiction and homeless has challenged my way
of thinking and has begun to change me. When I started at Room In The Inn I felt
like was just “Brian’s replacement” since the majority of the guys in the
program entered Odyssey when he was the JV and I was the new person taking over
his responsibilities. While I have since formed my own identity with the guys
in Phase III, it wasn’t until the end of October, when the new Phase I group
entered Odyssey, that I felt I found my place. The 10 men who entered the
program just over a month ago have only ever known me as being the JV, and
getting to see them from the very beginning was something I missed out on
before. I got to spend a month seeing them interact in Pre-Odyssey and witness
friendships form before they even moved in and then see the excitement and
nervousness on their faces when they moved in on October 29th. While it was a chaotic day for me, running
around making sure things were going well, I’ll never forget how one of the men
put one of his shirts on one of the few hangers we had (we hadn’t had the
chance to run to the store to purchase more yet) and exclaimed to one of his
new roommates “This is the first time I’ve been able to do this in 15 years” as
he hung the shirt in his own closet. It was at this moment I realized how much
of an impact my job is having on these individuals, and how much I take for
granted. In no means has this past month been easy, but it’s little moments
like that that remind me that the stresses are worth it and of why I chose to
dedicate myself to a year of JVC.
Long story short: I have fallen love with Nashville. To all
of you sitting at your computers reading this post, the stories that I share
are just glimpses into my life here and the pictures I post online are just
pictures; but to me, these stories are becoming defining moments of my life and
the pictures I’ve taken are reminders of the bonds I'm forming.
