Oh Liz... thats so you!

I think the most odd thing about being back in Tucson is people "knowing" me. I mean, while I was abroad I kept in touch with some people and all, but in the past few days I have heard more "only you would do that"s and "I'm so glad you're back, that was missing from our group"s that I'm kinda thrown for a loop. It's not a bad thing, not at all. In fact, I rather like being well known and established, but it's weird.

In England I was mysterious... well... sorta. Different to say the least. I wasn't English and anyone could easily tell. My sayings, actions, thoughts, and accents were all different. I wasn't predictable. And perhaps that is to some extent what people mean here too. I am, by nature, a rule bender (if not an outright rule breaker). I am spontaneous and pretty laid-back. And I suppose that if a person is those things enough that those out of the ordinary, crazy-type things do begin to define them.

Today I was telling someone about a conversation I had in England. When I had finished they smiled and said "you know, only you would do something like that." And I began to think and wonder if I have been pegged here. Tucson is comfortable. Maybe that's why it bugs me. I can fall into a pattern here. And the most exciting things about being back have been those few times that I have been placed in a position I wasn't expecting. Being thrown into situations where I don't want to be, where I am uncomfortable, where I didn't know what to expect or what to do have been the best ones thus far.

I think one of my favourite (and I must spell that one the English way) memories abroad was where I was talking to strangers about Jesus with Bernard (my Nav leader in England) and he introduced me as a girl who had come from America especially to meet them. I was shocked. I hadn't been warned. I was thrown completely under the bus. I am an extrovert, true, but this was a whole different level of extroversion than I am comfortable expressing. But I did it. I ended up talking to them about... something. And, obviouslly, I lived to tell the tale. And what I took from the situation was that meeting new people probably won't kill me. I had met new people before then, but it was on my own terms. This time I was flexable. I was out of my comfort zone. And in the end I loved it.

"There is no comfort in the growth zone and no growth in the comfort zone." - wow. What a great quote to describe my life.