Is there anything that makes my heart sink more nowadays than reading or hearing something followed by “used ChatGPT” or “used AI”?
I’m sure I could find a few, but this one is just really bothering me lately.
I’m about to get up on my soap box, bear with me.
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It’s my “anniversary” today.
Two years since I saw headlights coming at me from the wrong direction.
Two years since strangers helped pull me from the wreckage of my car.
Two years since my dear friends rescued me from the side of the road and cared for me at both hospitals and homes for weeks on end.
Two years since I was miraculously delivered from death.
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(Photo: On the road to Sejong, South Korea)
I have been struggle-busing a lot lately. The time-consuming tasks at work, the day-in-day-out confrontations that drain my energy, the endless chores, the inability to get true rest, some personal matters that are weighing heavy on my heart – it’s all adding up to make a grumpy Ali who is finding it difficult to get up and get to work every day.
Maybe it’s seasonal depression, maybe it’s because it’s eight months into the school year and we’re all sick of each other, maybe it’s Maybelline.
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(Photo: Gongju Gongsanseong Fortress)
“Ms. O’Leary, we lose all!”
It’s one of my favorite memories of my students in Malaysia. My friend Shelby was leading a group of her students back to class after one of their basketball games and one of them saw me coming down the hallway across the courtyard. He had the biggest, happiest grin on his face as he announced his team’s failure.
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(Photo: The heavy snow outside my school in Daejeon – absolutely vanished the next day)
For everything, there is a season.
Familiar words and yet, no one warns you of the day that you suddenly just can’t do things as naturally any more.
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(Photo from my hike on Gyejoksan Trail (계족산 황톳길) a few days ago)
Lent always sneaks up on me. I knew it was coming up soon and so I looked it up the other day and saw to my surprise that it had already started. With a sinking heart, I started berating myself that I’m such a bad Christian, that I can’t even keep up with one of the more important Christian seasons, followed quickly by the thought that, “Well, it’s too late to do anything now, so why bother?”
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Ma’s Donuts.
The picture sat in my inbox. A picture of an old recipe, brown with age, short on detail, ending with an abrupt: Roll out 1/4 inch think Fry.
Comical spelling error aside, there was only one short message sent with the image: It’s cold here!
Sent December 22, 2024. Not from my ma. Nor indeed from her ma. But from my dad’s ma, my Nana.
A donut recipe passed down through generations and one that we – my extended family and I – were all keen to make sure was passed down to us. Nothing was quite like the simple potato donuts, spiced with nutmeg, and fried to a golden brown.
And we all knew, though we didn’t say, the one who made these magical treats wouldn’t be around much longer.
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“It’s like they were building you a little shrine, even though you’re still alive,” my friend commented in the aftermath of my telling 2nd grade that I was leaving the school.
And it really was – I’ve never said goodbye to so many little people at once and their reactions were so heartbreakingly touching. 2nd grade took it upon themselves to start giving me whatever precious treasures they happened to have on hand. This included half-finished bags of candy, a handful of crunchy noodles, some stickers, a piece of cardboard with a drawing on it, and a rock.
They were just one of the eight classes I visited to tell them that I was leaving Malaysia. And then there was the aftermath of the middle schoolers finding out and forming a circle around me as they chanted “Don’t leave!” – one girl asking, “What in the summoning circle?” while another responded, “We are casting a spell so that she can’t leave!”
Have you ever said goodbye to 100+ students in one day? It is exhausting – I think I went to bed at 8:30 that night.
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“When are you coming back home?”
It’s a question I get every time I return home.
What’s different about it now is that I get it from two different places when I return.
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