The Prodigal Taj Returns

Well hello there, blogface! Good to see you again!

It has been quite a long time since I have felt self-important enough to post my thoughts online. In fact, it has been almost exactly one year. And what a year! Indecision, intrigue, other words that don't start with "in"... There is so much to tell, it makes one wonder where to start? How about a whole life summary? If you are new to this blog and do not know me, maybe you willll get some background. If you already know me, maybe you will learn a bit more. And if you are me, maybe summarizing my life will help you get some perspective.

I was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in April, 1984. I still do not actually know where. I think the hospital was somewhere near Philadelphia.

I lived in Bensalem with my parents and older sister for five years and then I decided to move out and make it on my own. Just kidding. We all moved to Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, about one hour northwest of Philly.

At our seventeen acre plot of homey goodness we had many animals over the next thirteen years. I spent a lot of time outside playing with donkeys, steer, sheep, turkeys, dogs, etc. I also spent a lot of time inside doing things such as homework and playing video games. I despised weeding gardens. If you knew how many gardens my parents have, you would have disliked it as well.

At school, I was a smart kid. I was in the gifted program. I may have been self-righteous about this fact, and I am pretty sure I was somewhat snobbish to other kids. I began getting fat in middle school. This was due to my family's strong tendency to eat portions large enough for three people and my decrease in outside play time, as caused by increased homework.

Somewhere along the line I began going with my sister (her name is... [oh wait, she is worried that if I share her name on here that I might embarrass her or that the wrong person will find out very secret information about her, so I will call her Grizelda for the sake of this blog,] by the way, and I am Taj. Actually I am Jesse, but I much prefer Taj. Thank you.) to Zion Mennonite Church. The first time I visited, people handed me canned goods and I got to walk them to the front of the church for some sort of collection we were doing. It was awesome. I had fun. I loved it. I was hooked.

That is how I began going to church.

When I hit high school, I was fatter, more musically inclined, less confident, and a terrible dresser. (These days I am less fat, even more musically inclined, more confident, and still a pretty bad dresser.) Somehow, though, along the way I picked up quite a great and diverse group of friends and acquaintances. My closest friends, I would say, were the ones I had through Youth Group at church. I always felt more popular, more comfortable, more confident around this group. They loved me and I loved them and we all knew we were strange. Who else would go on a smurf hunt? Have a chinese firedrill with added snowball fight in a blizzard? Dress up in goth wear and walk around the mall to celebrate someone's birthday? Only Zion Mennonite Youth Group.

Okay, I will attempt to skip details. They could always be filled in later. Maybe someday I will create a timeline of my life. Would not that be interesting? Well, it would be for me, if not for you.

AAAAAAAAANyway... I became scientifically inclined (to help balace out my musical inclinations and despite my claim in 8th grade that I would never do anything science related) and went to school at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan to study biology. I was not sure what career I might want to pursue, but for the time being, when asked, "What are you going to be?" I chose to respond with, "A veterinarian." I loved animals, I was good at science. Seemed like a good idea.

One thing you will notice about my college is that Grand Rapids, Michigan is not very close to Birdsboro, Pennsylvania. While I had the option to attend a much closer school (Penn State or Virginia Tech), I went to the school that combined my beliefs in God and Evolution and was ten hours away: Calvin College. (I am Calvin College!)

I made some new great friends at Calvin, and found out that I had no desire to work hard enough to beat out the strong competition for veterinary school (Did you know that it is harder to get into vet school than med school?). After graduating, I moved to the nearby "city" of Kalamazoo (well, actually Paw Paw. More hick town than city) with the hopes of still having my friends from college to spend time with. I took a job in research. I learned that relationships are transitory, and one must learn to be ready to let them go when life changes. How did I learn this? Most of my friends either a)moved far away or b)became too engrossed with their own lives to maintain a friendship. That is normal, sure, but it was still a bothersome lesson to learn.

Over the next four years (wow! Four years? Really?):
I was promoted at work.
I began an online business.
I was forced into a different department at work.
I voluntarily moved into my preferred position at work (I loved the training department!).
I moved to Portage (still near Kalamazoo).
I began going to Threads Church and joined the worship team.
I was laid off (right before Christmas).
I was unemployed for one year.
I began substitute teaching (very challenging some days, very fun and rewarding other days).
I took a job as a part-time teller in a bank (making about one quarter of what I was making in research, and less than I made from unemployment).
I made some amazing friends through work, business, and church.

And that brings us up to December 2010, which is when things got a little bit... how you say? Crazy.