Ummmm...Future Libby, were you lonely living in Shangri Llama? After all, all your friends and family were far away...or dead :unsure: ...and the monks of Shangri Llama were strangers at first. What was it like adjusting to their culture and traditions? How did you spend your time at first, before you started to really become a part of the place?
FUTURE LIBBY: ^_^ Ya, Shangri Llama was a bit of uh...whaddya call it...culture shock? at first.
But to tell ya the truth, the monks were really comfortin' after everythin' I had just been through. I mean, in a couple of months, I lost my family, my home, and all my friends. I thought my two best friends were dead or abandoned, and I felt like Sheen's fate was all my fault. Surrounded by new people and new faces, it was easier to forget about all of that.
For a long time, though, I was really miserable - and incredibly lonely. I remember sitting up alone at night, looking out the window while the soft breeze fluttered the curtains. Everything felt so empty. I cried a lot, but I pretended to be happy so that the monks wouldn't feel bad. After all, they had taken me in.
After being told day in and day out that things would work out for the best - well, I guess I sort of adopted the monks' sense of optimism. At any rate, thinkin' good thoughts about the future certainly beat out thinkin' sad thoughts about the past. So, I poured my energy into becomin' part of the community. I became friends with the girl monks, and I started takin' lessons with Chen-Yu and a few of the others. I learned to sew, make jewelry, and make a feng-shui garden. I started...how did the monks put it... "cultivatin' my talents".
It wasn't till my first Christmas at Shangri Llama that I really felt like I was part o' the place. None of the monks had ever celebrated it before, so I taught them all of my family's traditions...like decoratin' the tree, wrappin' presents, singin' carols, and makin' cookies. ^_^ At first I missed everyone even more, but slowly I realized that, as long as happy traditions like those were kept alive, all the good stuff in the world wasn't really gone forever. I guess the spirit of the season rekindled my hope a little, as corny as that sounds.
And anyway, I made it my goal to see the good in life from then on. And I think things are finally comin' full circle.
~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =
