My life is weird. My day job is philanthropy -- private planes. private chefs, PRIVACY. I consider my real calling to be building relationships and seeking justice for the poor. Seemingly related, but in entirely different zip codes. I drive directly from work in Westlake where I'm drinking Chateau Lafite to the home of a refugee on the east side where I'm served scalding black tea. I love both. I love that I am welcomed in both. I love serving in both. I love the room service in one but the community in the other.
My friend Tarik told me when we were in Trenchtown, Jamaica, "Girl, whenever you land, you head straight for the ghetto." Guilty. It's where the best food usually is. But I also am from Dallas and have a Neiman Marcus credit card that I can't seem to part with. People say that my life is glamorous #thanksInstagram, but it also includes a heavy dose of sitting in clinic waiting rooms with refugees with no insurance, which prompts me to do horribly undignified things like scream at healthcare providers for canceling appointments. I sit on the floor and read with kids. I cry with women who have lost their husbands or who are survivors of sexual violence. I try to advocate for people and just find myself stuck between my position of privilege, my friends and the system that seems designed to keep them out. I travel to places which are beautiful, yes, but I also get diseases more often than not. Whether I'm in East or West Austin or traveling somewhere wonderful and tragic, I need help processing it. I realized that 2014 was a year of ridiculous, unconnected experiences that I struggle to make sense of. How can I fly first class and remain authentically broken for friends who can't feed their children? I don't know. SOMEONE TELL ME PLEASE. I've tried to remain squarely in one camp or the other, but that gets me nowhere because there's not a lot of overlap socially or geographically. And there is truly nothing worse than a sanctimonious rich person, unless it's a sanctimonious poor person. All I can say for sure is that God is sovereign and He is everywhere. So I wander within and between both worlds, feeling lucky as hell to be wherever I am. I just hope the food is good.