Don't Judge A Year By It's January

2011 blew my mind. As it began I was a college dropout without much to wake up for. I was selling cigarettes at a CVS & walking home late at night to save bus fare. A few weeks before the new year I had recieved an invitation to move to Maryland in February & travel the country saving the world through community service. It was an insane idea to me. I continued selling cigarettes.
To say that AmeriCorps NCCC saved my life would sound a tad bit dramatic. A slight over statement? Maybe. I was getting out of bed only when I had to. I never wanted to. I'd been out of school for over a year. I wasn't writing. I wasn't trying to be anything. I had given up. I had almost accepted what my life had become and prepared to live it out. I had nothing to lose. It's funny when you have have absolutely nothing to lose, you find yourself feeling very free.

Reppin' the A as we say in Camden, NJ

February 7th 2011. I took a train to Baltimore, then an hours drive to Perry Point, MD where I stood in a crowded gymnasium of an old VA medical hospital turned dorms. I remember standing there more terrified than I think I've ever been. Little introverted me. I wrote that day in my journal, "I understand now how some people stay in the same place their entire lives, never exploring what's new. It's awfully scary. Today in that gym I wanted nothing more than a rock to crawl under. I'd forgotten why I came out here at all." 


Our dorm building, 9H

Leaving the Point one day

Service is what drives NCCC. I've always wanted to help people & this year that light of mine was able to shine brighter than it ever has. I've worked with American Red Cross and FEMA responding to natural disaster emergencies. I've worked in cities, on farms, YMCA camps, with religious groups, mayors. I've built playgrounds, rebuilt boardwalks. I've tutored, painted, timed swim meets. Tilled soil in the pouring rain and so much more. I've done things in 2011 that I never thought I'd do. In 2011 I can say I did something. X10.



 

The boardwalk we rebuilt. Rehoboth Beach, DE

 

Cleaning 'Bread and Cheese Creek'. In a small town in MD

 

Cleaning & treating a crawl space for mold. Vermont. I'm the one in white & goggles.

Maryland was home this year. I was all over it. Baltimore, DC, Reisterstown, Annapolis, Edgewater, Port DePosit, Havre de Grace and home sweet Perryville and the Point. I got to know Camden, NJ fairly well as well as the counties in northern Jersey. I went fishing at midnight in Alabama, and got a barge to blow it's horn when it passed. I bar hopped University Strip in Tuscaloosa. I heard bagpipes play in Boston. Canoed the Mystic river in Somerville, Massachusetts. I watched the sunset over the Quechee Gorge in Vermont. I walked around Dartmouth in New Hampshire in search of college parties. And failed to find any. In 2011 I can say I've been somewhere. X10.


Carnival in Alabama where I won Hannah a stuffed lizard.



Mystic River, Somerville, Mass.



Passing through the beautiful hills of Virginia



Subway in boston

 

When 2011 began I thought something was wrong with me. Where I come from, I'm the slacker. The screw-up. The one not going anywhere. But in 2011 I made friends who made me feel that I'm right where I'm supposed to be. They've ressurected a part of me I havn't seen since I was 18. A playful part that smiles and laughs easily. They helped me see something beautiful in this mess of me. They were there when I needed them and even when we all disspersed & returned to where we came from they remain only a call away. In 2011 I can say I made a friend. times 10.

Friday Night in Tuscaloosa, AL

 

End of the workday. Kayam Farm.



 

Paintballing. For America.

 

Our last days together. At the Point.

 

The night we realized it was ending. Our awards banquet.

 

Saturday night, Somerville, Massachusetts :)

 

Our prom. It was Zombie themed.

2011 was the best year of my life but not because of all the things I've done, places I've been or even friends I've made. Since the very 1st time I used a power tool at Kayam Farm in March I've been doing things I'd been afraid to do my whole life. I found my voice. I blew myself away the 1st time I spoke up for myself, not afraid to say "Hey, I don't appreciate this." I'd never ever done that before. All of a sudden I'm doing things I'd have been terrified of last year. One being telling someone how I feel, be it a boy or a superior. Take me to an old house that was flooded in Hurricane Irene and I'm the 1st one crawling through the dark, tiny crawl space beneath the floor. Put me in front of a crowd, I can speak. 20 degree weather? I can sleep in that. 100 degree weather? I can work in that. Emergency? I'm certified to handle those. Someone dosn't like me? I can handle that too. Wine bottle, no cork screw? Give me a boot. I'm not saying I'm Indiana Jones all of a sudden. But I'm a bit braver than I used to be. A tad bit smarter, & a bit more equipped to handle whatever is thrown my way. In 2011 I can say I've grown. X10.



 

Hosting our pirate themed unit meeting.

 

On the Ben Franklin Bridge. Between Philly & Camden.

2012 finds me in a very similar place 2011 found me. A bit lost in the sauce. Back in my Waiting Place. But I'm a bit more hopeful this New Year because I know now not to judge a year by its January. It may sound dramatic of me to say that NCCC saved my life but it kind of did. It turned me into someone I've always wanted to be. Someone still changing. Still growing. Someone no longer willing to accept a life of selling cigarettes at CVS. Right now I'm in a rut, transitioning back to real life. But soon 2012 will find me writing, running and returning to school. 2012 will find me learning to drive and learning to cook. And if 2012 is as good to me as 2011, my relationship with AmeriCorps NCCC is not over yet. But before we really kick 2012 into gear I just wanted to take a blog to acknowledge all those in the heavens & on earth who made 2011 all that it was and say, Thanks!



 

Class 17 - Atlantic Region - Raven Unit



 

Raven 4. 4evermore.
The End.