Number 21

This past week I crossed another item off my 35 by 35 list!! I went to Bard on the beach and crossed off number 21, see a production of Hamlet on the stage. The production was mind blowing! I have seen many film versions of this tragedy and am well acquainted with the nuances and plot struggles but seeing it live was like seeing it for the first time. The level of energy brought to the stage by the actors was incredible. I always love going to Bard on the Beach and am so happy to have able to have the time to do so.
I love this tragedy because it is a struggle on all fronts, when we first meet Hamlet he has lost his father to an unexpected death and his mother to an all-too-hasty marriage and his crown to his pernicious uncle. He looses the loyalty of friends and faces the death of the woman he loves. His whole world has been taken from him and he struggles to find clarity and sanity and he loses. He was a noble prince and as he draws his final breaths his country is over run and all is lost. It is a bittersweet reminder that life is short and no one ever really has full control. I think I love it because it is a pain that I can identify with, I have lost friends and dreams and have watched as elements of a life I may have wanted slip from my fingers.
There is not an ounce of hope in the whole play which I suppose is why I like it, because it reminds me of the role that hope plays in my daily life and that even a broken and wounded heart can live out a redemptive story. I like it because it reminds me of the power of story. For just as Horatio is left alive and charged to tell Hamlet's story it reminds me that we are to learn from the positive and negative turns of each others stories and propel each other into living a life of intention and understanding.
It is a beautiful tragedy and one that will probably stay with me for many years to come!

This photo is for Vanessa! She attended the play with me!

Cruise ships...

A few months ago I decided to challenge myself and create a 35 by 35 list. It is a noble goal and many of the items on that list are no small undertaking. Number 14 was to get a job on a cruise ship and sail the world. I sort of based my whole list on my confidence to achieve such a job, hence the amount of travel to far away places. I was going to end up on a boat going in one of those directions and cross items off my list one by one while getting paid to go there. It was a brilliant plan if I do say so myself, I was pretty proud of my resourcefulness, after all have you checked the cost of flights from Prince George to Europe and the great beyond lately?? Also, have you checked the amount of holiday time hairdressers get these days?? Sheesh, too much money and not enough time to get there...

So, I figured I was pretty brave, I submitted an application and a head shot and waited and waited and waited. I started saving money for flights to an interview and worked out how much I would have to work and save to make enough to pay off my debt and fly to London for training. I thought and thought about what I would have to say to the managers at my salon when I had to ask for the time off to go interview for another job and how I would give my notice and be fair to them without burning too many bridges. 

Then, it happened. I got an email invitation to an interview in Montreal. I was so happy, I had to send another photo, my resume and any photos of any tattoos or visible piercing that I may have. I started to price flights and asked friends if I could stay with them. I started counting down the days, the days till my interview and the days until I could pack my bags and shake the dust of this town off my boots as I flew over the Atlantic to my favorite city!! I planned my good bye and was genuinely happy to leave behind a few people that were cluttering up my life with false niceties that I was genuinely over. 

And then, the next morning I got the email I had been waiting for, the one that would confirm my spot and the interview and would turn all my planning to reality. But the email read differently than I had expected. Instead of the sound of the open ocean calling my name I heard the sounds of thunder and walls crashing around me. I had been rejected. They regretfully informed me that they were unable to offer me an interview. Why? I had done everything right. Because of my tattoos.

Because of those things right there. When I protested that I understood that they had to be covered at all times and was aware that the make up required to cover them would come at my cost they still denied me. I was heart broken and I honestly cried for a few days and contemplated giving up and throwing my 35 by 35 list away and never stepping out of my comfort zone again (I know this is mellow dramatic but this has been a dream of mine for a few years and I only recently learned that their recruiting office is only a 30 minute bus ride from where I used to live in Montreal).

But then I realized just how much I love my tattoos and how their purpose is to remind me everyday to walk by faith and to trust the Lord and then I realized that maybe covering them up would stop me from remembering the Lord's grace and that everyday is a choice to glorify Him and those are things that I need not forget. And anything that causes me to forget just how far the Lord has brought me and just how far I have yet to go cannot be a good thing. So, thanks Steiner (the agency that hires and places hairdressers on cruise ships) for the reject, you may have saved me from some compromising decisions when I was far away from home and far away from believers who would help steer me in the right direction in the face of temptation in its many forms.

I also came to the conclusion that any dream worth having is a dream worth fighting for, and if a dream comes easily then what did I learn in the process? Probably not much and something I didn't fight for would probably become just another memory taken for granted.

So, there you have it. I tried for that job, but I didn't get it. So instead of crumpling up my list and tossing the baby with the bath water I have decided to replace my number 14. However, I don't know what I will replace it with. A year of volunteering abroad? Six months of travel? Joining a missionary orgainzation (I hear Mercy Ships takes hair dressers...)? What will it be, any thoughts??