Tough Love

Easter weekend my good friend Jaclyn came to visit. We've started our own little Easter tradition...the first year both traveling in to Boston for the weekend, last year I visited her on Cape Cod, and this year she came all the way from Providence, Rhode Island to visit me in Dayton, Ohio. It just so happened that that same weekend Liz was home from Graduate School, and my friend Brittany was celebrating her birthday. So, I was able to spend time with many of my good friends all at once. Here are some pictures of the weekend

At a park overlooking Cincinnati.
Liz and I sitting on the wall
Same picture with everyone else
Jac and I hiking in Yellow Springs

Celebrating Jaclyn's Birthday!

A few months ago, in the heart of Winter, I was planning a ski trip with some of my friends. Not a big trip, just a night of skiing at a local Mountain here in Ohio. Okay, okay, it wasn't exactly a "mountain" but you get the idea. Anyways, the more we talked about and planned the trip the less and less excited I became. And this isn't like me. Usually, I'm excited for everything. Literally, EVERYTHING. Plus I love skiing so I became frustrated at myself for not being excited which just made the vicious cycle worse. So I called my Dad. Mostly because he knows me so well and can tell it like it is to me. He listened to me complain about having to teach people to ski and how I wasn't going to get to even do any runs and how it wasn't going to be any fun and on and on and on. Then, he said to me: "So what? It's not about you, Ash, you're going to help your friends learn to ski. Go. And have fun." That was it, he had put me in my place and he was right, it wasn't about me. So, we went skiing and my friends learned to ski. I did have fun. And I even got to do a couple of good runs.

Sometimes tough love is all you need. Someone who knows you and isn't afraid to put you in your place so that you can recenter yourself and move forward. Someone who isn't afraid to tell you that it isn't about you, because, if we're honest with ourselves, most of the time, it isn't. I've skied down a mountain hundreds of times. But never with those friends on that mountain. My Dad helped me realize that it was more about being there, for my friends, being in the moment having fun and not getting so worked up about myself. And he helped me to remember that I want to live a life that isn't always about me. He showed me that tough love is always necessary.

In my short life, I've already been given some of the best friends anyone could ask for. Friends who aren't afraid of tough love. Who tell me like it is and put me in my place when I need it. Friends that, like my Dad, help me to remember the person that I want to be. And even more than that, they are friends that I can laugh with, who aren't afraid of adventures, and who constantly inspire me to see more and do more and experience more. They inspire me to be better, everyday.

I appreciate tough love. Even when its hard and I don't want to hear it. I needed to be reminded this Winter that a night of skiing wasn't about me, it was about my friends and it was about making memories and having new experiences together. And I need to remind myself often that I want to live a life that isn't about me, it's about serving and helping others.

Broken Hearted

Does your heart ever break for things that you see happening around you? Do you ever watch something on the news or hear something awful that breaks your heart for others?

This happens to me, and time and time again, my heart breaks for children and hurting people all over the world.

I had the opportunity to hear Greg Mortenson, the author of Three Cups of Tea, speak last night.If you haven't read the book, I highly recommend it. To sum it up very quickly, Mortenson sets out to climb K2-the world's 2nd highest peak-in memory of his sister. Putting it lightly, things go very wrong on the 70 day climb and the seasoned mountain climber finds himself lost, disappointed, and recovering in a tiny village called Korphe nestled in the mountains of Pakistan. Throughout his time in the village, Mortenson not only forges a bond with the Pakistani people, but finds the children of the village teaching themselves with sticks in the dirt, without a school and without a teacher. To thank the village for their kindness and generosity, he promises to return to Pakistan and build them a school. Holding true to his promise, he returns to to the U.S. with a single-minded drive to raise enough money to return to Korphe and build his school. So, what began as a simple quest to repay 1 tiny village, has transformed into a humanitarian effort to provide education for the children of Pakistan and Afghanistan, specifically focused on educating girls, and promote peace through education.

As I sat listening to Greg Mortenson in the auditorium, so full that people were viewing live-feed video from other rooms on campus, my heart was breaking. It was breaking as he shared stories of the number of un-educated children in these countries and the tragic effects that that lack of education was having on their society. It was breaking as Greg shared stories of the many trials and tribulations he had faced in bringing schools to such a controversial and war-torn region of the world. And it was breaking as he shared stories and statistics on the lives of children and young girls all over the world.

But beyond the heartbreak, I was completely inspired and filled with an overwhelming sense of joy for the children whose lives were being changed because 1 person decided to make a difference. One person. Who took a broken heart and did something with it. And that "something" not only changed the world, but changed the lives of many children around the world and gave them opportunities that once seemed like a distant dream.

Greg Mortenson is inspiring and he has used his life to make a profound difference in the world. He is proof that one person, with a lot of passion, can make a difference.

I want to be broken hearted. I want to hurt for those who hurt and feel for those who struggle. And I want that broken-hearted spirit to lead me on to find my own way to make a difference and impact the world around me.

I want to be inspiring. I want to make a difference.

And because I haven't shared pictures in a while, Here are some from my first "official" photography session-Senior pictures of my good friend Brittany who is graduating next month with her Bachelor's and her Master's degree from the University of Dayton.

I know you can't see her very well in this one, through some books in the library, but I like the laughter you can see in this picture!