Author: Jess Boctor

  • Remembering

    The following is a Blog entry that I wrote in August while visiting my grandmother in Germany. Paul and I went for three and a half weeks despite it being a financially unwise decision.

    “Get up Jessica”

    “What?”

    “Come on. Lets go for a walk”

    “But its so early”

    “I know, lets go, I want to walk with you for a bit”

    “But Ill wake Paul, and its cold, the bed is nice and warm”

    “Come on Jessica, get up, I want to spend some time with you”

    I fumbled out of bed. I kissed Paul and told him I was going for walk hoping only that he would understand even when I didnt.

    “Where are we going?

    “Ill show you”

    “Why are we going uphill? Its so early”

    “Im taking you to the wild. This way.”

    “I dont know that path”

    “Will you take it anyway?”

    “Where does it lead?”

    “To the place I will show you. To the wild, the place where we can be together.”

    “How far are we going?”

    “Does it matter? We are together, thats all I want.”

    I sat down in the midst of the bramble, my view blocked from all sides. I was in seclusion but I wasnt alone.

    “Do you know why I brought you here?”

    “Because its beautiful.”

    “Here is where I can speak to you; this place is special to you and me. In the wild. Ever since you were a little girl Ive met you here. I heard you cry when you thought you were alone. I watched you laugh as you danced through the wonders Ive made. I want you to know that I brought you here. Stop questioning if you did the right thing by coming, you were answering my call. Remember that this place is special to you and me. Remember when I brought you here.”

    “Yes Lord”

    I know I sound crazy, but this is the walk I had with the Lord this morning. I had been struggling with coming to Germany this year. Financially coming to Germany was probably one of the stupidest decisions Paul and I could have made. Even as I boarded the plane, as we landed in Frankfurt, and yesterday night as we walked through the city, I have been struggling with whether or not I was being obedient and a faithful steward or a selfish girl. This morning God gave me the answerand next to salvation it is the best gift he has given me: the knowledge that right now in this moment I am right where I am suppose to be.

    I took a stone home to help me remember the day the Lord took me into the Wild.

    Now as I look back, I see there was purpose in this trip. I don’t understand why God decided that now was when he wanted my grandmother back. I don’t know why….I don’t know the whys to a lot of questions I have right now, but I do not that God intended for me to have that time with her, and He needed to get me out of the way so that I could enjoy it.

  • Diversion.

    Cover

    Being away from home I have had a lot of time to do more reading then usual. On the flight out I picked up Fortune Magazine, mostly because of its great cover. The article is a really interesting look into how an older workforce views my peers and age group. I don’t think that I fall into all of the descriptions that they gave but it is insightful to know that when a possible employer looks at me they see everything they think that my age group represents as well. You can find the article here.

  • The Legacy She Left Behind.

    These past two weeks have been emotional and physically crazy. As I have been absorbing and processing my grandmothers death I have hit highs that I didn’t think possible while in mourning, and have found myself surprised with lows I didn’t know could exist. As I go through this somersault of emotions all I can do is stand in awe of the amazing women my grandmother was.

    She was a women of strength who raised a daughter on her own, loved her family from across an ocean and lived for laughter. She traveled most of the world laughing at danger of the middle east to travel to Egypt and flying my family out to lay on the beaches of Hawaii. As I listen to my family talk about my grandmother and process through their grief I find each of their perspectives amazing.

    Someone talked about what a bright flame her life was and as we sat in shock huddled together in bed the night we heard the news we realized that it was the only way she could go. There is no way to dim a light like hers but to blow it out quick. As we recalled her life the past few years we realized that with the amount of traveling that she had done it was more likely that she would have passed away on vacation then at home just because of the amount of time she was away.

    I think about the lessons that she taught me and I think the biggest one is the one she lived. She treated each day brand new. I think that she had very little emotional baggage, not because she didn’t have experiences that merited it but because she refused to carry it around. She also lived each day as a great adventure. I am so privileged to have had a grandmother like her.

    I just wonder if I can carry the legacy on.

  • We will miss you.

    Erica Martini
    We will miss you. The light in your eyes will live on always.

    Grandma Erica

    Jess and Grandma

  • Rockin’ Mothers Day…

    I have started a new trend when it comes to gifts for my parents; be it mothers day, birthday or christmas. My new goal is to make them cry with either the perfect card, picture, etc. It may sound cruel but I get joy from touching them so deeply. Dad is a little hard but mom is almost a sure fire. I know it will catch up with me some day when I have sentimentally wicked kids of my own because I cry at everything just like my mom. The point is I think that this year I have gold prize tear jerker gift for my dear ol’ mama. Complete with poetry and visiual affects I think its kicks brunch and a card out of the water any day. Click on the pic and let me know what you think.

    Mothers day

    The poem reads as follows:

    From a mother to a daughter
    While you are young and I am old
    I will take care of you
    Feed, bath, and love you
    My touch will tell you
    All the joy tomorrow brings

    Together
    Then will come the golden days
    A seamless summer haze
    We will laugh, dance, paint and cry
    Our words will tell
    Our joy inside

    From a daughter to a mother
    And when I am old and you are young
    I will take care of you
    Feed, bath, and love you
    My touch will tell
    The dreams that we had begun.

    So go and love on your mothers this weekend!

  • Three good things about me…

    Relational Development kicks my butt. Every week. One of the areas that my group has asked me to work on is being negative about myself. Not only would they like me to stop saying negative things but they want me to be proactive in describing myself. So, in order to avoid the ‘no’ for this week I am writing three positive things about myself that you may or may not know.

    the-living-desert-december-29th-2006-058.jpg

    1. I am loyal. I am loyal to strangers, to the dogs of the earth, to the dark and scary people that no one wants to talk to. I am loyal to everyone.

    2. I am smart. Not so much in a MENSA sort of way, but problem solving and understanding of far reaching concepts comes easily to me (Just read my paper on artistic conscience).

    3. I am creative. It doesn’t matter if you need to have a plan for a party, a poem, or a set for a bunch of screaming eight year olds . If you present me with a problem or question ideas just flow forth in a way that no one (with exception of Martina the galley wench) understands.

    So there is positive in me for all the world to see. Reality: this was like pulling teeth to write.

  • Best Parents Ever…

    My brother is leaving for Iraq again soon…sometime in June is all we really know. Paul and I had been planning on coming to visit him after graduation for a few days because he wasn’t going to be able to make it out here, but due to his expected departure date and the fact that tickets are way cheaper in May then in June we decided to move our trip up.

    I had been checking out various prices on Expedia and travelocity etc and I found tickets around $250 per person. Cool. Paul and I can afford that. Fast forward to one week later when my parents and Paul and I are trying to finalize our plans and suddenly tickets cost $360 per person. I don’t know what difference a week makes but apparently it was going to cost us two hundred dollars more. Paul and I had to face the facts, we probably weren’t going to be able to go–or we were going to have to make my brother drive three hours–each way–to pick us up from the airport. Suck.

    Then my hero…my daddy steps in.

    My mom and dad had saved up a lot of sky miles over the last couple of years and so my dad gets on the computer and checks out his sky miles balance and within twenty minutes Paul and I have our tickets.

    Total cost to us: $20

    I have the best parents ever. Thanks guys, just thought the world needed to know about your generosity.