From the source

Sometimes there are things that make you grow up a little more.

The short of it is that when I post this, it will be from Arizona. The reason I hurt my knee. 

The longer part.

 During my senior year of high school, screwing around after football practice, I knew that I hurt myself.  I felt a pop and I just knew something was wrong.  A few short weeks later, I was on the operating table.  The silver lining to what had happen is that nothing was injured too bad. Ever so often my knee would hurt or get sore from different things, change in the weather or greater work load.

I cannot say exactly how I hurt my knee this time. Before I departed to Peace Corps Zambia, current volunteer said, “anything that you bring will get beat up, Zambia is rough on stuff.”  I guess “you” can be added to the list of stuff that will get beat up. During training, I biked… significantly more than I ever have before in my life, I would play soccer with fellow trainees, and just walking. The best way I can say it is that Zambia is different, and those different stresses got to my knee.

Why home?  Because that is where my support network is at. I could have experience medical care in South Africa, but I cannot say that surgery in a foreign country is on my bucket list. With input from my family and friends in the states, I decided that home was the best place to tackle this twist.

What is next? One question that I keep getting is “will you come back?” Right now I cannot say. I want to deal with first things first. So I want to make sure that my knee is 100% then worry about the next step. It could be back to Peace Corps. It could be Zambia, or a different country. It could be something at home. I do not know. But it will be first things first.

Mayer's Class of '13

Mayer Class of 2013,

I Wish you the best in everything. I do want to express to you a few words of wisdom that I have learned, both from you while teaching and from my brief experience here in Zambia. This is not easy. This "life" thing it gets more challenging. No one is going to hand you a perfect opportunity. Nothing great ever comes easy, it takes work, work that I know each and everyone of you can do to find your definition of success. This is the "last" year you have to be a kid and make mistakes. Do learn from them but do not take advantage of those countless opportunities and the people who give you that chance. I can no longer be as great of an advocate.
Remember that there are your highs and your lows and the time in between. No one wants their lowest of days of times to go on forever. The same can be said about your highs. Learn to just be content.
This year like all years will fly by like I said a few short years ago. At times a grind, the next moment you will blink and a week will end. This year is the last year you will ever be together as The Graduating Class of Mayer High School 2013. Enjoy it. Make sure you are a part of it.
When differences arise as they always do, think, will it matter in a month? A year? 5 years? Is it worth a friendship?
Do not ever doubt what you have. Right now I do not have running water, electricity, Internet, even a toilet to sit on I crap in a hole. And the list could go on and on. Zambians call this home. I know that after my time here in Zambia, I will go home. Back to these conveniences , but what I care more about are not the things rather the people who I miss the most; Mom & Dad, Brothers, sister in-law, niece & nephew, my girl, and countless amazing friends. I know these relationships will have changed, that is okay. Relationships do change. Will it be hard yes, but so worth it.
When the I have the chance I will Skype in, until then remember;
Time is equal to everyone, everyone gets the same amount it is what you do with it that helps to define you. Value your time...
To understand the value of a year ask the individual who had to repeat a year in school
To understand the value of a month ask a mother who had their child a month premature
To understand the value of a week ask the editor to a weekly news paper
To understand the value of an hour ask the bride and groom before their wedding
To understand the value of 5 minutes ask the poor soul who missed their train
To understand the value of a second ask the person who avoided the accident
To understand the value of a millisecond ask the winner to the silver metal.