Personal Archives - Page 8 of 12

Returning to the Quiet, part 2

Thea van Diepen

The very last thing I expected to hear at the age of nine while having a casual conversation with my family at the supper table were the words: “We’re moving”. I had just been telling my parents about a conversation I’d had that day with my friends at school about moving, and how I’d told them that I wouldn’t move until after grade nine. This wasn’t because I’d actually thought I’d ever move, but because grade nine was the highest

Returning to the Quiet, part 1

Thea van Diepen

Exactly a week ago today, I woke up at 5 am to go to the airport so that I could fly to visit a friend for six days who I’d only ever interacted with via the internet. I was nervous as heck, and not just because the U.S. customs people are always super intimidating. Let’s back up a bit. About six months ago, I was talking with my friend, Emily Rose, who I’d met four months prior through a series

Valentine’s Day: Happy, or Not?

Thea van Diepen

My Valentine’s Day this year has been spent like this: In the morning, I went to class and wrote a midterm. Of course, today was also the random day of “Let’s Lose My Pencil Case!”, which meant that I had to borrow from a friend. On the plus side, this particular friend is always ridiculously prepared for everything, which meant that I ended up getting two pencils, a sharpener, and a big, white eraser. The test went rather well, but

Surviving a Lifetime of Shyness

Thea van Diepen

When I was really, really little (like, younger than four), my parents took me to Sunday School for the first time. I went in the room, saw the group of kids, freaked out internally, and hid under a table. This happened for a few weeks, my mom dropping me off, me hiding under the table, her coming back and getting me. I wasn’t hysterical, I just was frightened of all these kids that I didn’t know. Well, after a while

2012: The Year the World Didn’t End

Thea van Diepen

I’ve seen several people reflecting on their blogs about what went well/not so well the past year, and I rather liked that idea. It seems a more productive thing to take a moment to see where you’ve been and then organically growing from there than it is to just decide where to go next. Context allows us to see more clearly what’s needed, and can give us ideas for how those needs can be met. At the very least, context