Author: Trish

Happy in my Homesickness

Trish1 Comment

Yesterday I was feeling especially homesick.  It was a combination of things: listening to Dallas radio stations online, seeing blue lights at a metro station that reminded me of a movie theater in my hometown, talking with friends from several places I call home.

I told one friend:  “I’m occasionally feeling homesick.  I think I’ve been here too long and I need to travel somewhere.”

She wrote back: “It’s funny that your reaction to homesickness is ‘go somewhere else.’  You are a very interesting person.”

I hadn’t considered that my feelings were kind of weird, but as soon as she confused me, she gave me some answers.  “Maybe you need to travel to regain your excitement for being away from home.  And then when you do get back to Athens, it will feel like home by comparison.  Maybe.”

She was totally right.  But it got me thinking…so what happens when Athens DOES feel like home? Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About … Aliens (BONUS CONTENT)

TrishLeave a comment

with Elizabeth

And now for something completely different!  LOL just kidding; Elizabeth and Tricia are obviously not yet (and probably never will be) finished talking about aliens.

Fair warning:  If you don’t like curse words that start with “f,” you might want to give this one a pass, since our recurring joke relies on it. Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About … Aliens (Part 1)

TrishLeave a comment

with Elizabeth

Screen Shot 2016-04-19 at 7.43.56 PM

Last time they talked about Tom Hiddleston.  This time they talk about a theology of aliens.  Elizabeth and Tricia’s friendship truly covers the heights and depths of the human experience.

Elizabeth:  I was just thinking this morning about how having the image of God allows us to be individuals.  God made all of us humans in his image, and to our finite minds, that would seem to make us all the same.  But to God – the infinite God who rejoices in every sunrise (see G.K. Chesterton) – the multitude of ways in which we bear his image as individuals is a continuous source of delight.  We don’t have the capacity to appreciate each and every individual, but he does.  And if we realize that, it can help us see people as valuable individuals when we meet them out in the world.  They are enough.  We are enough!  I have some basic level of value, not just as one of many image bearers, but because I bear God’s image in a way that nobody else can, and God sees that and is delighted by it.
Tricia:  I think this is a good argument for the existence of aliens.
Elizabeth:  You really want to finish the alien co-blog, don’t you? Continue reading →

Letters Between Friends: THE PUNISHMENT

TrishLeave a comment

LettersBtwnFriends

Yikes!!  Lindsay and I are seriously slipping.  First she was late in posting a letter, and now I am too.  Hopefully a good ol’ fashioned punishment/challenge will help us reset everything!  Read my letter to Lindsay on her blog, Wild Ginger.

Lindsay's Blog Logo

Sunday Summary #26: What’s on the Internet

TrishLeave a comment

Articles

1|  “Things I’ve Learned About Heterosexual Female Desire From Decades of Reading“…the title says it all, but here’s a quote anyway.

“100% of women want to have sex with a man who embodies the fox version of Robin Hood from the cartoon Robin Hood, but most do not actually want to have sex with a fox or a man dressed as one.”

2|  Mallory Ortberg (famous Christian John Ortberg’s daughter) gave a hilarious and insightful interview entitled “Toast’s Mallory Ortberg on Death, Faith, and Why It’s So Easy to Make Fun of Christians.”

Videos

1|  “They will be replacing renowned Indian stabber Andrew Jackson…I’m sorry, Native American stabber Andrew Jackson, on the twenty dollar bill, with Harriet Tubman.”

A Week in Greece #15: A New Friend, First Week at HD, and Apartment Furnishing

Trish1 Comment

A New Friend

Luciana is the second Day Program volunteer.  Normally she will work just one day a week, but since our first week was abnormal, she’s been coming more often.  She’s from Brazil, she’s athletic, and she’s studied sociology, counseling, and social anthropology. She’s engaged to a Greek guy even though she’s a year younger than me, and she’s lived in Brazil, Portugal, and Northern Ireland.

Early in the week, we both stayed late to do some work, and I “kindly” told her “helpful” things that were really just me bragging about how I had been there longer than her and knew more than she did.  I went to the bathroom, realized what I was doing, and came back into the office.

“Hey, if I’m ever being obnoxious, it’s because I’m intimidated by you,” I said.  “Before you came, I had a very specific role that no one else in the office could fill.  But your talents  overlap mine, and I’m worried that you will replace me.”

Just like that, the jealousy went away.  Speaking our grossest feelings has an amazing ability to dissipate them.   Continue reading →

ART THERAPY REFLECTION | My Life as a Tree

Trish2 Comments

One of the classes that I lead at HD is called “Boom Team.”  It’s meant to be an arts and crafts time, but I’m a counselor, so I turned it into art therapy.

Project:  My Life as a Tree
Draw yourself as a tree,
with the roots being things that give you strength
and the leaves as things you want to change.

The cool thing about HD is that we are meant to participate in the recovery process with our girls, because even if we haven’t been trafficked, we all have our baggage that we need help processing and overcoming.  I won’t share “A”s tree, because that is her story.  But I will share mine!

IMG_0413

My “roots,” aka things that give me strength:  Continue reading →

Brief HD Tour!

TrishLeave a comment

On Saturday, we invited all the staff, board members, and volunteers to come to HD and see what they had invested in.  On Tuesday, we invited nine pastors to come to HD and pray in every room before the girls move in.  Since some people have had the opportunity to tour the house, I figured others might like to see it too!

Note:  I filmed this on Saturday.  By Tuesday things already had changed!  I might try to film another tour in a couple weeks when things are even more home-like.

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

TrishLeave a comment

18798983I thought this book was a retelling of A Thousand and One Nights, but I just saw that the book jacket actually says it’s “inspired” by the classic Middle Eastern story.  That makes much more sense, because the plot of “woman saves her life by telling the wife-killing king a story every night” only lasts for, like, three nights.  Then they fall in love!!!

Which is my main problem with the story:  too much insta-love.  Khalid, the ruler of Khorasan, apparently falls in love with Shahrzad at first sight because she is honest.  And, okay, whatever, maybe I can believe that.  But then Shahrzad, whose only purpose in becoming his wife is to murder him and therefore avenge her murdered best friend, falls in love with him!!  After only a couple weeks!  Because she realizes he is secretive rather than a total monster.  It just didn’t fly for me.

But the world was incredibly interesting, and even though it was unbelievable, the dynamic between Khalid and Shahrzad was super compelling.  So after a few chapters I just decided to accept the fact that they were entangled in a forbidden love and enjoy it….and I did!  It’s a very enjoyable book about murderous plots, curses forcing good people to do bad things, and Love Conquering All.  Sometimes you just wanna turn your brain off and enjoy a good emotional story.

It’s a series, though, which I didn’t know going in.  I honestly don’t know if I’ll read the second book.  It feels like even more Forced Obstacles will be thrown in their path, and I already got what I wanted out of the story: confessed love and cute kisses.  Who knows!  By the time it comes out, maybe I’ll be ready to suspend my disbelief again.

I do know I want more Middle Eastern settings in books, though.  More desert royalty and extravagant costumes, please!   Continue reading →

Online Dating as an INFJ (aka Tinder Update)

Trish11 Comments

About a month ago, I wrote about my half-hearted attempt to try Tinder.  Since then, I have kept my account…quarter-heartedly?  Eighth-heartedly?  What I mean is, I open the app every couple days, swipe left on everyone, and close out again.

I know I’m not doing it right.  I’ve tried prioritizing different things:  first I opened everyone’s profile to see if they wrote anything about themselves.  If they didn’t, I automatically swiped left.  If they did, more often than not it was something like this, which also resulted in a left swipe:

  • “I’ll Channing your Tatum.”
  • “All kinds scorn SEX they is CRIME.”
  • “My last tweet was longer than my last relationship.”
  • “Pigeon King.”

Continue reading →