20-Something
During My Senior Year of high school I was spiritually asleep, floating along in life instead of praying about important decisions. Specifically, which college to attend after I graduated.
THE DUTCH CALLED HER "NEW AMSTERDAM," Washington Irving dubbed her "Gotham," Frank Sinatra sang, she's "a city, that doesn't sleep. " And on my first visit to New York City at age seven, I called her a dream.
My accomplishments were not mine; they were evidence of the strengthening of my relationship with my true Father-Mother, God. After I graduated from college, I thought I knew everything there was to know.
MY DAD, MY TWO SISTERS, AND I LOADED UP THE CAR. I had just finished my freshman year, and my sister Darcey, her senior year, at the same college.
"WHAT WILL YOU DO NEXT?" As a college senior, that's a question I'm asked frequently. The truth is, I don't know yet.
AS A CHAPLAIN CANDIDATE FOR THE UNITED STATES ARMY, I attended chaplain school at Fort Jackson in South Carolina last summer. The six weeks of instruction were part of the final stage of military training necessary for becoming an active duty Army chaplain.
BEFORE I ARRIVED IN ZAMBIA FOR A YEAR-LONG RESEARCH fellowship, I carried with me two images of Africa. One image that I grew up with was the Western world's portrayal of Africa as a destitute continent, and the other was of a unique and beautiful place I was learning about through my studies at university and from my communications with people who lived there.
ONE AFTERNOON LAST APRIL, I pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store and began to get out of the car when a man approached me. He had a knife and forced himself into my car, making me switch to the passenger's seat.
AT SUMMER CAMP WHERE I WAS A COUNSELOR, at least one night a week I would lie on the tennis courts and stare up into the limitless Maine sky to search for shooting stars—and just reflect. I clearly remember coming back to camp late one night a few years ago, still wide awake after a rewarding day off.
WESTEN MUNTAIN NEVER ASPIRED to become an artist. "Smart people," she jokes, "take one look at a career in the visual arts and run the other way!" Ever since Westen picked up the French horn in fifth grade, she thought she would become a musician.