It's been a busy month so far, working in the corn and pressing cider. Okay, I only hunted through the corn and waited in line for the cider. But it was time for a post and I've got to go back to work now.

:)

Can you see every step?

Watch that step...and that one...and that one..., originally uploaded by sarah_laughingguts.

Or just enough?

I've been worried about you...

That's what Mr. D said to me a couple weeks ago after staff meeting. After seeing the perplexed look on my face, he went on to explain that so often when he first knew me, I was smiling and laughing. Lately he hadn't seen that glow about me.

Hadn't even noticed. Actually, what I noticed was myself feeling a little better lately. The past couple weeks I had worked hard to be more involved, working and playing harder and showing the spark. Granted, this fella doesn't see me that much, but it brought me down a bit to think that for someone who had appeared so nice and encouraging I was beginning to wither and smile with faded eyes.

He encouraged me to make sure I get out there and have fun, because all work and no play makes Sarah a dull girl...So with a smile I told him of my plans for the weekend.

A week later he was laid off.

How quickly things change, don't they? 'Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may die' is a little bit of the feeling we have when others we grow to depend on (or ourselves) get laid off/fired/given life-altering news.

So I'm encouraged to remember what's important. To act when thoughts come, not just to simmer on them until the outcome is highly likely to be exactly what I desire. Because we all know there's not enough time in the world for all that. So carpe diem. Make sure you take hold of that day you have, figure out what you're supposed to do with it, and do that. And again tomorrow. And again tomorrow.

ArtPrize Grand Rapids

This year I made it to the show at least once. This weekend is the final weekend of ArtPrize, where 1700+ artists are showcasing their best in hopes of being chosen by the viewer to win the $250,000 prize. It's an amazing show. It can be a little difficult to discuss an artist's work while they're right there ready to tell you all about themselves and what their piece represents. The real bummer, though, is that you have to register in person to be able to vote. The first week we have been able to vote up or down for any work at all. The 2nd week each registered voter has only one vote to use for the top 10 finalists. ONE vote!

It's amazing.

Go see!


ArtPrize

Dedicated to Jack Horkheimer

One of the unfortunate things about not watching the daily news and focusing on international news is that some memorable events are missed. Like Jack Horkheimer's passing on, unknown to me until this evening. The Star Hustler hustled me right into awe of the starry night - well, the ability to focus on certain happenings in that starry night, anyway. I watched his last episode and noticed he did sound pretty raspy. But that legendary enthusiasm still shone through.

His epitaph, which he wrote years ago for himself:

"Keep Looking Up" was my life's admonition;
I can do little else in my present position.

Goodbye Jack!

Martin family

My great grandmother Bernice (Weiss) Gable 1895-1976 is mentioned at the tail end of my ancestors lineage in this book. It details Martin history from before coming to New England in 1635 and the Martins who helped found a colony there, all the way to Posey Chapel in Three Oaks, Michigan back in 1840, just shortly after Michigan became a state in the Union!

Alice Martin died at age 91 in 1870. And here I thought we've been living longer and longer. It's incredible to see the amounts of time some of my ancestors have lived. And the amounts of children that they have!

September

Is it really 9 months of the way through 2010? I can remember the days when I thought the 2000s were so very far away. A weird little kid, that girl who wondered if she would see the world at all like Laura Ingalls, who saw the turn of a century, and Helen Keller, who also experience the turn of the century. She actually was born in 1880, just about 100 years my senior. What did they think about the changing world? How would they be coping with such drastic changes like television, internet, cell phones, texting? Would Helen have had that surgery that reconnects your vision to your brain? She was so incredibly intelligent.

There's so much to learn!

Weekend in August

Marisa Jealous Pic, originally uploaded by sarah_laughingguts.

This past weekend nuptials took place in this location. We drove to Marquette, MI then 20 minutes further north and down a dirt road. Then we abandoned the cars for a 10 minute trail in the woods to come out on rocks overlooking the pond seen in this picture.

It was lovely.

Weekend in August

sunset, originally uploaded by sarah_laughingguts.

I can hardly wait

:)

Fear

I listened to the words of a song by Mat Kearney this evening:

Closer To Love

She got the call today
One out of the gray
And when the smoke cleared
It took her breath away

She said she didn't believe
It could happen to me
I guess we're all one phone call from our knees

I wonder if people really think about this? In the quiet moments I find myself dreading a bad phone call that will change my life in one single moment. But maybe it will be a single good phone call. There's this feeling that it's going to happen, probably more than once in a lifetime. Those turning-points can sometimes be pinpointed to one clear moment, can't they? Are you thinking of a moment?

Riding *yawn* Part II

Alright, the story: rode over the mighty I-94 to the PCBP and saw many interesting things, mostly in the people and dog department. So many dogs are teeny-tiny! I don't really think I'd want a super small one. Or maybe I just felt really tall because of zooming by on a bike?

Who knows.

Anyway, I had my helmet with me because when I was 12 I was in a mysterious accident and not wearing a helmet. Went to the hospital via ambulance, apparently, thought I was dying, and repeatedly told my father that I loved him. What I remember is pulling out of school and then waking up the next morning wondering why I was in the guest bedroom downstairs.

So the helmet was with me. Since the ride started out in a slow residential area, I was cool and not wearing it. Until I found myself on a 5-lane highway going 20 miles an hour, I remained cool, then became stupid as I realized how fast I was going and how much faster (and disconcertingly close in spite of a well-marked bike path section) cars were driving by me.

I'm no stranger to crazy bike/auto closeness. My very first bike ride on the road in China resulted in an accident. Not mine, but someone who didn't realize I was a 'laowai' foreigner being careful. Yep. Caused an accident. We'll not go into details now as to how it ended. Not one of my proudest moments. Let's just say I wasn't taken by the police for questioning as I was terrified might happen.

Anyway, I'm now exhausted with a satisfied belly and clean hair!

Riding Part I

I've lived here for too long now to have a good excuse for not having ridden about town yet on the bike. Last year I probably logged 200 miles in the summer riding about the Amish countryside, getting berries, over the hills to grandmother's house. And now it's past the middle of August. Haven't been out on the bike once other than a test ride for possible chain fall-off check.

:)

So this is it. It's a bad post, I know, since not much time has been spent on it, but I'll share with you my favorite pandora radio station, how about that? It's totally free and if you've not been introduced allow me. Type in the name of a couple songs or bands and the station takes off, playing music the system thinks you'll like. You're welcome to skip a number of times, give thumbs up and thumbs down, and the station gets 'smarter' accordingly.

I love it.

You'll hear from me post-endorphinized.

Recovery

Physical recovery is pretty boring work, I think. Sure, there's some exercise you can do, but what I'd like to do is run around town - state - midwest.. Got to put down some more roots though. I know Kalamazoo isn't that difficult. Or maybe I'm just trying to convince myself of that.

My work is going well, albeit exhaustingly. Now that I have the internet at home it's going to be easier to go home at closing time but more difficult to let my personal computer continue to be used exclusively for personal and not employment use.

But back to recovery. I went to the doctor on Thursday. He told me that when I find a doctor in my new home it's not likely that there will be much in my chart (which is about 1/2" thick if that) that will be really useful for them. My last visit had been for scabies which had been got in China in 2006. I was so embarrassed at the time. Anyway, pretty much all that bulk was from my medically uneventful and healthy childhood.

I'm glad to have been relatively healthy outside of that little major back surgery thing 13 years ago, but it has made dealing with sickness more difficult - for me, anyway. People who are sick more often have to have learned how to cope better than me! Or they've got to be truly miserable. Since I returned from China in '06 I've experienced facial woes like I'd never had before. It's probably from that fateful day we ate at the fancy vegetarian restaurant where they made fake chicken fingers out of tofu. Just the annoying kind that most teenagers learn to deal with. Never had to wash my face much outside of showering, and I didn't know what I was being blessed with! Now I have to wash with Aquaphor twice a day. And since Africa the allergies seem to have increased too. Hardly ever had hayfever before. Must be getting old quicklier ;-)

One nice thing about this recovery thing has been the 1 month subscription to Netflix. It's been so nice to just lay around watching movies. Scratch that. I've Loved watching the Firefly series for the first time and can't wait to be with friends who love it more than I to watch Serenity.

back again

After 10 years away from the hospital, I decided to make a little visit on a account of a little kidney stone last week.

And still I am recovering! Sheesh. I'm done with this. Hopefully tomorrow will be a first full day of work for the week. Reward? 2 days off. Sigh.

More later.

Spoiled

Moving to a new apartment with a malfunctioning computer resulted in my choice not to get internet access quite yet. Good thing, in a way, because it reopened my eyes to what it's like to be 'net-less at home. The days go by so quickly, and are so concentrated on the here and now, that although I do miss the easy ability to send an email to someone overseas or see pictures of another friend's latest adventure, I don't miss the way it really sucked my life up in blocks of time I didn't even realize had passed.

That said, the computer is pretty much brand-new again and I'm overjoyed that I can get my homework done and keep my music up loud while typing! Once I get it, that is. Another week or two and I'll probably even have the internet again. Dang, it was hard not being able to type my thoughts out - I had to relent to pen and paper methods :)

So I'm sorry, friend, if you have felt I've been gone. I have. Not just for you. But things are falling into place and after my cousin's wedding this weekend in Louisville and the audit next month I am sure things will calm down. I can just feel it.

;-)

The new job

I was talking to a friend last night who asked me if the rest of the world is like our lives in camping-world.

There are yes's and no's, of course. What you gain in having a life outside of your camping life is the need to work harder to build friendships. In camping, everyone (okay, almost everyone) wants to know you - who you are, where you came from, what's your story. But when I left that world (and the world of my hometown) it's conceivable to spend days without significant conversation outside of work. People are wrapped up in their activities, raising their kids, making the paycheck stretch, doing a couple things they like with mostly the same set of people week in and week out.

I thought it was just a small-town problem I had, breaking into the rhythm just about everyone else was already flowing with. But of course, it's something everyone faces who moves.

It just seems more difficult when you have come recently from such a close-knit lifestyle.

Another thing you do get, though, is space to breathe. Time to think outside the 'tyranny of the urgent' as one of my favorite people likes to say.

That said, my job in particular still holds some of that 'tyranny of the urgent' while I'm at work. We still will stop everything to focus on one thing together from time to time, as a catastrophe looms over us. I'm smiling as I think about its similarity to camping, where each day of the summer could affect someone's life for years afterward. This is the start of my 2nd summer outside of that world, but those memories sure are continuing to affect me.

There are so many things I'd like to get involved with now that I have the time and commitment to stay in this place awhile. So many, that I'm stymied in figuring out which one to grab hold of first.

Until next time!

Dad ~ 10/5/1956-4/27/2006

He was such a cutie.

Really?

It seems that writing has become more difficult. When I go on vacation it is easier to set aside time to write. But living in-between makes it more challenging. Lately my focus has been more on finances and fitness.

On the financial end, I am really enjoying managing my funds. What an odd duck. And beginning to see a retirement account rise up has been fun. Allocating, setting aside, watching it grow a little..I digress.

And on the fitness end things are also going well. For several months now I have had an average of 2-4 workouts per week, and last month began running with success. Hopefully the end of this spring there will be a 5K race! Once moved to Kalamazoo, I hope this will become easier to manage, especially since it's getting warm and therefore less hassle to get out and RUN.

That leads us to the writing, however. The writing has got to increase. If this dream of doing something with writing is to ever go anywhere, it has got to become more polished. And I do so hate editing. But not yet will I focus on that. First comes the substance. The actual getting-thoughts-down-on-screen. So here's an exercise...a tidbit on the book I'm diving into currently:

Beneath a Marble Sky (BAMS from here on out) is the text, and I am reading it for a book club. Not so sure I'll finish before we meet next, but here's hoping. After finishing this post that's exactly where I'm going; to get my nose in those pages!

Anyway, BAMS is a fictionalized account regarding the building of the Taj Mahal. I'm realizing what a sucker I am for culturally-different writing. I love doing exactly what the princess has tried to do since taught by her mother as a child: imagining what you would do if you were someone else. And therefore how to act in order to see the results you deem most fitting. I'm not that conniving, of course ;-)

BAMS drove me nuts at first because the point of view is from a 12-year-old princess. But it's written by a man who I don't believe is from India. It seemed fake. But who am I (girl from a small-town who dabbles internationally) to know what really is fake concerning this historical fiction?

So I continued with John Shors' words. And glad I did. Princess Jahanara soon gained a few years and grew into her pretentious speech. I'm only 2/3 of the way through, but it's a bittersweet tale of passion and duty fighting for control in the royal family and the building of the Taj Mahal - well, in the mind of the princess, anyway. It's no longer a chore to keep turning the pages.

Well, I'm off to put my nose you-know-where!

Newses

Started the new job this week! And it took me 4 different sites in a mere 5 days - which could have been 5 had I done orientation this week instead of last week :)

Here's hoping I'm not a new-job-junkie, but I really enjoy being the semi-new gal on the block. It's interesting to note how the energy level significantly drops upon beginning a new venture then increases as the days pass and you get more acclimated.

Reach

Reach, originally uploaded by sarah_laughingguts.

This is the reason for my silence the past week.

I've been out chasing kites on the edge of the Pacific!

Like Dora from Finding Nemo

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...swimming, swimming

And so I'm writing again, although I really don't want to be doing this on a Saturday afternoon. I'd much rather be reading Blood Brothers.

I've got some laundry in the wash and am getting ready for a quick little trip to Portland, Oregon. It also happens to be in my top-5 list of places in the US I would live if one could be chosen based upon how much I like the area. Portland, unfortunately, is situated 4 hours' plane ride and 2.5 hours' car drive away from most of my family in Michigan. And it's cloudy there a lot. Those are two big negatives in my mind. But on the positive side, it's not too far from the ocean, it's in the mountains, a few of my most favorite people live there, and the cultural scene is simply fantastic (Powell's, anyone?). It's definitely one of the most cycle-friendly cities ever; I am also a huge fan of the great job Portland has done on public transportation.

And the hunt for a home in Kalamazoo continues. I'm a little gun-shy since the longest I've lived in any area since graduating high school is 1.5 years and at this point I have been living in southwest Michigan now for a year. So buying is definitely not in my sights.

Will I bolt? No, probably not. But I'll definitely be hard pressed to not dream and scheme of ways to go away again. Here's to finding a healthy mix of travel, study, work, play, community, and solitude!

Preview - soon to be renamed

My next blog is going to be about processes.

I like to think that I'm all spontaneous and change plans/adapt at the drop of the hat. And it's true, I do think, that I will flex pretty easily. But more and more, it seems, plans need to be made (which are highly-open-to-be-adaptable) which take much longer than a few hours.

My current plan in place is one of caretaker independence. Every time I leave my hometown I get this sense of incredible glee.

And yet again we are on the cusp of one such occurrence. In a few weeks I am moving an hour's drive north to the great city of Kalamazoo. Each time it has been different, but each time including growth. Even the moving back to the hometown, slow as I am to admit it, has included growth in its experience.

So more to come on that note. I'm too tired to carry on tonight in this vein of thought.

:)

Practice, Practice, Practice

I've always wanted to 'be a writer'. And I decided long ago that I'm really not. I listened to those people who said you either are or you aren't. If you don't have the need to write... the feeling that you'd simply not be able to exist without writing, then, you're not a writer. No need to think further.

And so I discounted myself. Sure, I have abilities in the writing area. It's usually pretty easy for me to BS my way through things with writing. Or to answer questions in thoughtfully written prose. But actually being dedicated to it, spending time to research, to creatively write, and that dreaded word: EDIT are not things I would like to dwell on if I had the opportunity.

Because let's face it, I've had the opportunity. I lived in the upper peninsula of Michigan for one very long dark and cold winter, on the edge of a protected bay 8 miles from town. What did I do? I read. MEL was my best friend. In fact, he just may be my ticket. Maybe I can convince the State of Michigan's program developers for MEL to hire me.

Well anyway, regardless of what happens in that department, I am going to be more dedicated to writing at the least on this blog. One of the things Steven King wrote in his book On Writing was the importance of practice.

So if there's something that you want to do, my friend, go and do it. And don't be discouraged that you're not great at it from the start. If you enjoy it, then, at the very least you've found something you enjoy. Take it from a beginning runner: you can't run a mile at the start. But after a month or two, you can.

I have.

On the move.. again!

It's still hazy, and the way is treacherous, but the way is up and there has got to be a top to this mountain!

The last time I made a big move was over a year ago now. And I didn't intend this 'pitstop' to be quite so long. After returning to the states after being gone for a couple months (and sort of missing the whole economy fall-apart and unemployment skyrocketing) my own lack of employment brought me up to speed pretty quickly.

So when I got a decently (albeit part-time) paying job in employment services, I was just glad to have a job. Then I was very pleasantly surprised to see that my main employment goal (a great work environment) was also met. Then I was so glad to find out I actually enjoyed what the job was. I helped people with minimal unemployment questions, pointed them in some directions toward employment, and directed them toward skills for getting said employment. Can anyone say computer skilz? Yep. I taught basic computer classes! Networking! And introduced many to the wonders of indeed.com.

So when my mother had some big health issues come up, I was glad to be near enough to her to not have to stop everything I was doing to go help. The part-time and very understanding employer gave me the time needed to be present for her needs too. And the past couple months we've been on the upswing toward wellness.

Then comes today. After months and months of searching online for jobs for other folks, I found a couple that I wanted to jump after myself. And through some naturally forged connections that the job made possible, I landed a good one.

So next Friday we're having a breakfast party (one of my favorite kinds!) and my dear coworkers are saying farewell as I move to the office up the street. I'm looking for a place in the Zoo and looking forward to helping a new set of people. This time they're mandated to come to me for case management, and since most of them come from generations of low-income city families, it's going to be quite the learning curve for me to come to a place where we 'get' one another.

Bring it.

Social Networking and Online Branding for Joe Shmoe

This is the title of my employment readiness workshop. Lately in my spare time at work (hah!) I have been surfing around a bit on LinkedIn and BrazenCareerist to understand a little more about this networking business.

Sure, I've been doing it for years through minimal blogging here, keeping up a photo site, and emailing; but really, I just started wading into the waters, reading blogs (from friends, friends' friends, and the generally interesting blogger) and occasionally commenting.

So I put it out there myself.. If you were to present to a group of dislocated workers (probably in their 30s-60s) a discussion or presentation regarding social networking, what would you do with it? Hit 'em with a lot of facts? Show them what a personal page or online professional profile looks like?

Trees

IMG_4966, originally uploaded by sarah_laughingguts.

Oh, how I love beautiful trees. In my symbol-loving mind, when I think about trees, I think about interconnectedness, the need for light to grow, and the beauty of creation.

Which makes me think about where I want my own tree to grow. There has always been in me an awareness of root structure. Where your base is, your roots grow.

And the more you replant, the wider and shallower your root system. My roots are based in my hometown and the places my extended family lived while I was growing up. But my roots have branched out widely, dipping into China, Tanzania, the Upper Peninsula, southern Ohio...

Now, it seems, we come to another branch growth. Where to spend the next period of time's focus? Knowing as I get older, it might get harder to leave?

Questions aside, I still revel in the beauty of the tree. Those unexpected branches, those twists of vibrant persistence, that healthy above-ground vision that hides an intense network of undergrowth deep down.

(o:

A favorite.

Pop White died this week. 88 years young. I don't think he really liked getting older. Especially when they told him he simply must cut back on salt intake. Goodness, the stories.. He left behind 10 children (two sets of twins!), 41 grandchildren (maybe some more twins?), 63 great-grandchildren (more twins??), and even a great-great grand-kiddo here.

What a legacy. I can hardly imagine having that many descendants while I'm still alive. Certainly would not be able to keep track of all those names and ages. Because really it's more like double those numbers. Because that doesn't include his 3 brothers' and 3 sisters' families, or all those spouses that had a hand in making all those little ones make their way into the world.

What I can see for certain, though, is this outlook, printed in his service folder:

My life is not
a journey to the grave
with the intention of arriving safely
in a pretty and
well-preserved body.

But rather,
I will skid in broadside,
thoroughly used up,
totally worn out,
and loudly proclaiming...

Wow! What a ride!


...and they finally opened the gates !

Hrm.

Well not so much happened in the 'figuring out last year' end of things this week.

BUT there was an upswing in mood. FInally! Praise the Lord, dark feelings don't last forever. It only feels like it might possibly while in the midst of it :)

In sad news, there's Haiti and the many families stranded from loved ones, both permanently and temporarily in this world. There's a part of me that feels guilty for being glad the family and friends of the people I know live way over in Ouanaminthe.

The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. I know it sounds crazy. :)

Goal

This week, I intend to examine the past year. From that information, I intend to plan for the year to come.

Glad the 'holidays' are over. Except today I heard a commercial for Valentine's Day. Oh dear.

Remember.

NO man is a failure who has friends.

Thanks It's a Wonderful Life.

How long will the deferral last?

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Proverbs 13:12

Time for a good picture.

sometimes i wonder

Sometimes in my days, in particular the last few, that is:

I wonder if a manic bipolar state is ever permanent for anyone. How in the world can folks refuse to take their medicine if it causes them extreme delusions like those I've seen? And I know I've not seen the worst.

God bless those who work in mental hospitals, on psychiatric units, and daily with those living through grand and terrible psychoses.

Purple Flowers: a world through rose-colored glasses

It's the imagined title of a book I sometimes write in my head about the story of an only child of a bipolar mother and a late father who yearns.

Someday :)

Terribly Exciting!

So what's new? Not much - more cleaning and researching what to learn next! Language? History of a region where I might move to in the next couple years? auditing a college course for free on oercommons.org??

Until I figure that out, though, when not reading Middlesex (awesome website, by the way, gives you one place to look for lots of different reviews and compiles them) or Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles (this one is a social networking site for readers and gives short reviews from Joe Shmoe) I've been spending time learning personal finance and how to invest. Knew I'd be opening pandora's box, but there it is. 25 and getting a handle on retirement/investing/saving/paying off school debts!

There are SOOO many places to look. It's kind of fun to research at the library. I've never really looked into something that was current where I had to do research. Whereas in literature you're looking at old reviews in books and literary magazines (the way I researched anyway, and I didn't really have a penchant for it...I like just reading the text and discussing it in person), in this case the research is on websites and current popular magazines as well as what I'm used to. Add in the fact that my library and I are at odds currently (they say I have fines for not letting them know I renewed MEL books on my own before they went overdue) the only time I can use library materials is in person rather than checking more out. Sigh. If only I didn't have to be somewhere else during most of the hours they're open!

So my favorite picks so far: hard-copy of Money which assumes for the most part that I have a lot of money, Get Rich Slowly which doesn't assume, The Simple Dollar a good starting point, and even Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan which was a quick leaf-through but definitely helpful with question/answer sections from a proven expert in personal finance.

Yep. That's what I'm up to. Figuring out whether to head toward max-out contributions for Roth-IRA and 401k and how much, exactly should be set aside as an emergency fund. Still trying to understand possible investing past retirement funds. Maybe I'm too poor for that just yet. I'll stick with my INGDirect savings account at 1.3%!

Cleaning

From 2000, age 16... My personal favorite is my view of what my mind, parent's mind, friend's mind, and teacher's mind looks like!

What is the first thing you remember learning?
tying my shoelaces for my kindergarten teacher

If you won the lottery guaranteeing you $1000/week for life, how would you spend the first $1,000?
Rend a car and take some friends around the country. Use rest of money for gas, food, and accommodations.

Complete the statement:

My mind is like a... rainforest, wild with unexpected treasures (memories) hidden throughout
My parent's mind is like a... prarie (rich life in the grass)
My best friend's mind is like a... secret door
My teacher's mind is like a... window

If you ever wrote a book, what would be its title?
Remember When...

If you could change your first name to any other name, what would it be?
I wouldn't change it. Stay Sarah

What's the hardest thing you've ever tried and actually accomplished?
Tried out for a high school play and got a good part.

What are two goals that you would like to accomplish this year?
I'd like to get a job and find out what I'll do after HS.

Who do you trust the most?
God

Which of these ideas is the most important in your life today:
Love, truth, time, change or freedom?
You're nothing without love. Love is the biggest reason you could have for living, whether it be being loved, loving others, or loving yourself for what you are.

smile

Whew

I've been neglecting much writing of any kind lately. Not that I've been particularly busy; I don't know quite what it is. Except that it's probably not depression. I know some people mark their happiness or unhappiness by how much they're writing. And I've been writing in journal-form since about the age of 10. But there are phases. Heavy-writing and non-heavy-writing. I used to think it was linked to happiness.

Now, rather, I believe it's linked to sunlight and community.

My community as of late was been my workplace crowd and the bits and pieces of scattered friends and family around the globe. The friends and family one has been lagging. Always the one to be good at keeping in touch, it's odd not to be that person. Just got exhausting and maybe some self-esteem built up for myself. No longer do I need those connections to feel secure in myself. It's nice to mature sometimes. If indeed that's what it is.

Sigh.

Although not written down, there have been a myriad of thoughts swirling in my brain. About the near future, about the friends and relationships changing, about the distant future. So many are getting married. I hope, hope, hope, that they don't follow the route more than half the population in the US is following, and divorcing. But being real, there must be some that will. My people are not an exception to the rule, no matter how I hope. And so I'm wondering who will be having kids then divorcing, remarrying, divorcing again. And who will divorce before children. Talk a out a downer.

Then there's the thought, what if this generation is will act differently? What if, because of war and young men and women dying overseas as the norm, 9/11, economistic woe, and a general negativity toward marriage, makes us more likely to be committed to marriage relationships (when and if we do finally dive in) than our older examples?

Maybe I'm just trying to justify my hope.

:)

Things

The memory of what happened around this picture and this picture makes me very, very happy.



Hunting for beachglass in Kenosha and giggling at silly kiddie pictures of Ryan and Catie in Milwaukee... And to top it all off, dessert of the best apple pie in America with Susan in Chicago.

Doesn't get much better than that. Unless you add what happened this weekend!

MEL Books

I have a date with Michigan Electronic Library yet again tonight, with special guest Amazon. Amazon helps me choose the best dishes, and MEL serves them up like an excellent chef.

Tonight I have a hankering for Julia Child specials. Julie & Julia and My Life in France, for starters. Then we might delve into some necessary studious vegetable options regarding Parkinsonism. A little less delightful than The Joy of French Cooking, but it is what it is.

Speaking of books, here's the last and most delightful one I bought, being devoured by the most handsome 2 1/2 year-old dude I know:

My family

My great aunt has 5 children, 20 grandchildren, and 20 great-grandchildren.

I have an Uncle Doc. He's great.

One of my cousins is having twins.

My grandparents have been married over 60 years.

I recently found out some of my great (7 greats, that is) grandparents were Isaac Martin and Phoebe Webb Harland, Wendelimus Schneider, Matthew Adams and Mary Undersee. They all lived in the mid-1700s.

The familial saga continues.

Make note of the first, second, and third sketch; then notice how the first and second, third, and fourth photo mirror the first images!

Uploading to YouTube

Finally, after half a year and more, a few of my videos are coming up on YouTube.

Like the monkeys.


Looking at little Binti dancing in Amba's kitchen, taking another tour of her house, even looking at some old college videos has me smiling with delight. It's so wonderful to look back and remember what great times I've already had with dear friends.



For instance, there was this one time all my classes for the day were canceled due to hail and ice. Of course I had already walked halfway to my building before hearing that...but I was able to capture the sparkle since my camera was always with me!

And there was another time friends at Cedar Campus filled the camp van with more people than I had thought was humanly possible.

I've worked with some great people so far. I hope the next 25 years brings even better memories! Some people claim that the best times of their lives were high school, or college, or right after. I hope that I'm not able to say the same. There's a lot of living and a lot more to do with the wisdom and experience that are yet to come, I'm pretty much sure of it!

Surrounded!

It seems I am surrounded by people getting married or having babies (or both..)

Which is normal, given my 20-something age. The odd thing in my thoughts, however, is the fact that so many are becoming younger and younger. A tad frightening.

They all look so happy in their cute little facebook pictures, and gush so prettily. And I'm happy for them. I am! But I am also so not there.

The exciting thing in my life right now is trying to figure out when I can make my way south to Houston and visit cousins, or east to New York and visit Ambakisiye. Good place to be in, if you ask me!

In some ways, travel becomes more expensive - since you have to book plane tickets for two. But if you're driving, it's cheaper, because you can cut the cost in two. You also don't get the quiet and the ability to belt out those songs on the radio, though (you know, the ones where they keep changing the words you're sure you knew...)

The fact remains, though; I'm surrounded by matrimonious relationships and babies. Singles, don't all leave me in the dust, please!

Yesterday

Spoiler: This will be a rather lame post. I'm really just delaying my need to get dressed for work this morning. And enjoying having time to breathe before getting in there, like last week. Starting the workday at 8am is harsh for Silly Sarah.

Yesterday I had a fantastic time doing absolutely nothing except surf and watch a season of sitcom on dvd, a good way to recover from a day with the extended family and their friends, a combined reunion/birthday/anniversary/birthday/independence day celebration.



The biggest task now? Figuring out which weekend goes where - PVM, C+C, Chicago, Detroit.. but the weekend of August 7 is sorted out! I'm one of the happiest passengers to Portland, OR for a delightful little wedding in the west and introduction to a new member of the family.

Hills

I rode up the steepest hill today. Just about killed me. I had to get off the bike halfway up and walk the rest of the way, it was so long and grueling. Made me feel like such a twerp of a rider. And as I was walking, still getting out of breath, I was deciding that this hill would be nice to come down but I was never, ever, ever coming back this way again. The hill just wasn't worth it.

But when I got to the top, there was an equally satisfying descent.

And all my plans changed. I just might have decided to go that way every time, because even though there's great cost to my fragile little ego in the climb, there's incredible reward in the 30 mile per hour + coast down the other side.

Seems to me that might just be the key to enjoying fitness. For me, anyway, the tougher it beats me up and pays me back, the more I appreciate it.

But tomorrow I might just take a break from riding...

2nd time

So today I hop in the car without my sandals on because I left them in the back seat earlier this weekend.

I drive to work, glad to have free feet (it's easier to shift without those particular sandals on.

Get to work, look behind me, and no sandals.

But...joke's on me (yes, for the 2nd time) since they're under my blanket back there...

HAH!

Status

I don't quite know what to do with myself when there is unscheduled downtime. Unless it's read a good book...

And after this week's over-read night (I got to sleep after 3:30) I'm taking a break from reading.

Can't even go out for a ride - there's no sun out there and after 3+ hours walking in the Relay for Life last night, biking probably wouldn't be a good idea :)

Maybe I'll...organize my book collection?

Goal

I'm pretty sure I haven't blogged about this yet, but since biking around at Cedar in the summer/spring/fall, I've decided that this form of physical exercise is very enjoyable to me, mostly for the following reasons:

• Cycling is much better for the knees and my metalrod scoliotic back than running
• Since I shouldn't really be running but still like being cooled by speed, walking isn't enough but biking is way better
• You can go farther biking and feel more accomplishment. A long ride for me right now is 20 miles
  
• It smells so good to be outside (unless allergies drive you inside, I really have a hard time understanding why people choose the gym)
• Even when it's hot out, if you're biking it feels cooler!
• As a form of transportation it's much cheaper than driving, especially around town. Problem is nighttime...

And now the local fresh strawberries call. More later!

Only 5 pages in!

And already I have a favorite line. In the book Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart, Gordon Livingston talks about Kindness: "This most desirable of virtues governs all the others, including a capacity for empathy and love. Like other forms of art, we may find it hard to define, but when we are in its presence, we feel it."

Food for thought.

Naturalization

She has her books...

I had my books, stacks and stacks of them. I kept them beside my bed, hauled them and myself to the library on my bike, and read there for hours until I felt as if I'd emerged as a distinctly different person from the one who had parked at the front door. You could disappear there; make sure your old self never came back. --Daughter of the Queen of Sheba by Jacki Lyden

You know, I think the outdoors can be like a library as well. Sometimes, when I'm riding through the countryside. The places those smells, those sights...they just take hold and sweep you away sometimes, don't they?

I was sorry to see the spring slip away from me, but glad to find that the coming of summer brings more delightful scents.

And those great Midwestern USA thunderstorms!

It was jean day at work today. I had to pay $3 toward Relay for Life in order to feel like my normal casual jean-wearing self.

Felt great.

How long can I submit to this culture, though? (Probably quite awhile.)

Good thing it becomes bike-time and play-in-the-pool-time and sweatshirt-culture outside of work!

New Ground

I'm in a place I've never been to before...

In a job, in a place that I could realistically imagine staying more than a year or two..

There was college, volunteering, part-time jobs, doing the camp thing for over a year, then traipsing about the world a few months!

Which brings us to now. Now, in a job where I'm not the youngest person present nor the lowest on the totem pole of staff. I have a computer, a desk, a personal phone number, and responsibility! Most of the people I work with have been there for years. Not working in my hometown is a nice change of perspective.

Kalamazoo is a bigger little town than I've given it credit for. I feel a bit landlocked here, but with the opportunity to maybe work my way up to biking to lake Michigan this summer, the water feels closer even if it's not. :o) I've gone 20 miles a couple days this week, we're getting there slowly but surely.

I've never been in this place. People here, as a whole, are settled. I think that's the difference between what I experienced at PVM, Cedar (school and camp in general) and here. People come and go, yes, but Summer and Winter aren't so drastically different people/socially. I lucked out and still am working on summer programming, although it's less than I've worked on 'summer' things for over 7 years!

Happy day to you too.

Weekend!

This post is dedicated to the weekend and thoughts of how wonderful it is to be on the water in springtime with a friend.



Ilene and I walked on the riverfront this weekend, and that just makes me want to live in a city all over again. We visited an amazing place which popped up on our walk, ate incredible Indian and Middle-Eastern foods, and I loved the fact that I got great coffee for 25 cents because it was world fair-trade day.



Didn't even matter that it was graduation weekend, because we discovered the 40s station on Sirius.

Dad would be proud

So many things are going well at the moment. I'm soaking it up.

Tonight the only thing that's wrong is my most recent book was a huge letdown when I finished it last night.

On the good side, though, I have a bike to ride. Hopefully the old one is still seeing some good action up north at Cedar. It's very good that I have a bike now, because this is going to be my main mode of exercise and town transportation for the summer. Might even be my means of travel to work some too!

Today was a beautiful day and I was able to keep the window down and let the hair fly on the way home from a long day at work.

Willow and Silla only bark/jump a couple times when I come in the door now. They're growing on me. Being a cat person, I at least tolerate dogs but definitely prefer the quietness, purring, and independence of cats. These gals are good ones.

But what dad would be most proud of is my management of finances. Of course I can't go into much detail with it because I'm too private for that, but doing well with savings, insurance, income, and the paying off of those darned school loans are going great!

All this in the face of the people I work with - many who've lost jobs and many who are losing hope for a new job soon.

I'm blessed not just because things are going so well - but all this stuff adds together to make it easier to help others.

3 years

Today marks 3 years since my last day oncampus as a student of CMU. Three years ago my plans were to work my butt off for the 4-day weekend and finish my heart-attack of a paper, attend a wedding shower, and somehow write and edit a monstrous amount of pages in a ridiculous amount of time.

But I woke up to a policeman practically beating my door down. And down with the door came news of my dad's sudden death.

Home I went. Adrift I went. Moved ahead with plans to travel and study in China for 6 months that fall. And returned again to finish that dratted paper, finally. Before the finish, I began to work at Cedar Campus as an intern. I ended up joining staff later and staying through two summers. It was a good place to heal, apart from the many memories left behind in my hometown.

A delightful detour to Africa and Europe, then I came back to this place. This house where my father lived the last 22 years of his life.

After a couple months of confusion about immediate future (thank you economic depression) I'm feeling back. I've got a job, a couple friends nearby, family, and it's finally spring in this place!

One little life, but God's brought me through a lot. There's still life after loved ones depart. I still miss him most days, even wonder if that car outside is him getting home; but missing 'em is one of the proofs that you love 'em isn't it?

Older and wiser, I hope. Wonder what's going to be coming around the corner?


Bring it!

Confession

I know that many people are annoyed by dog-eared books, and it's considered rude to do this to books which are not your own. But for myself, I don't mind. I less than don't mind; a dog-eared page to me is a sign of a treasure-hunt. Much of the time dog-earing is done only to hold the place for a page, but I always wonder - is it for some other reason? Was there a great line on this page? Especially if the dog-ear is not on the upper right side. Particularly if it's the bottom of the page.

So without further ado here are a couple of the memorable moments I deem most notable from books 5 and 6 of the Lord of the Rings. Otherwise known as The Return of the King!

The first one comes when Sam and Frodo are in the land of Mordor, and the darkness increases moment by moment as they come closer to the fire and the end of their barely conceivable mission. Sam sees a white star twinkle. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. I can see a direct corelation to some of the things we see here on earth and the way I view goodness and God's love. It's something that only seems a twinkle at times. But it can't be winked out by something like hunger, family heartache, or war. Massive problems, yes, but bad as they are, there remains light.

And the second one comes after the ring has perished in the fire and Sam and Frodo are being honored by all the warriors. Sam had dreamed often of the idea that someday songs would be sung about the war of the Ring and their part in it. But I don't think ever thought it truly would happen for his ears to hear! When Sam heard that he laughed aloud for sheer delight, and he stood up and cried: "O great glory and splendour! And all my wishes have come true!" And he wept. And all the host laughed and wept, and in the midst of their merriment and tears the clear voice of the minstrel rose like silver and gold, and all men were hushed. And he sang to them...until their hearts, wounded with sweet words, overflowed, and their joy was like swords, and they passed in thought out to regions where pain and delight flow together and tears are the very wine of blessedness. What an idea. I know lots of people have said it before, but the thoght of pain and delight flowing together and the tears that come are blessed. There's sadness, yes, but great joy. I'll just leave it at that.

Oh. And the confession? I sometimes dog-ear particularly splendid passages of library books.

I think it's okay, though, because I pay for the library to buy lots of books with my overdue fines!

Walking into Summer

I stepped out of the house this morning, and it happened.

For a couple weeks now, we've been dealing with the smell of rainy pavement (a smell I love) but today - well today it was the smell of summer in the air. Morning, wet, summer air. And I was tempted not to sniff, it was so tantalizing.

Such good memories, of so many days spent in summer air doing campy things! But those days are not present days. (Somebody's been reading of Middle Earth recently)

Today I was headed to the office, and it's an office in which my chair does not face a window, or even spin around to easily face a window!

I don't know how people can spend years working in offices like that.

And I am determined not to be one of them. It's simply not possible. My mental state just won't take it. For those of you living 9-5 in a windowless cubicle, goodness, I'm impressed by you. I don't know how you do it.

Bring it, summer! I think I need to go camping. And soon!

Red River Gorge, here I come...

;-)

It's ccccold

Not quite as bad as this was, though -


What I would give for a sauna to jump into right about now!

Lions and Lambs

There's a part of me that wonders if March will turn out to have been warmer and sunnier than April.

Scratch

Winter reared her increasingly unwelcome head again yesterday.

Snow.

aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Spring has Sprung!

Birds chirping me awake every morning, snow disappearing,
Outside ice is a thing of the past,
How I've missed it.

I don't know if I can do this winter in Michigan thing again next year.
Seriously.
If not for the gray...maybe.
And the way spring is SO very welcome...

Well we've got a few months before need to decide that anyway.

:-D Spring is here!!!

Straightening it out

Unless you have seen me in a bathing suit or I have had the pleasure of telling you my awesome story about the cool scar and shown you how metal can be felt underneath the skin (say that 10 times fast!), it is likely you don't know about my body's fight against a straight spine. The curvature when first discovered (I was 12) measured about 55 and 60 degrees. They start doing surgery when curves hit the 40s. Less than 6 months later I was on the operating table and being given 2 inches of vertical height in 8 hours.

Even though I had to say goodbye to my professional aspirations of gymnastics, soccer, softball, and basketball fame for a year after the surgery, (which also put a kink in my thoughts about serving in the military) having rods along my spine hasn't stopped me from doing most things. Running after small children, teenagers, and college students at summer camp for 5 summers, namely, as well as hiking in China, Tanzania, Morocco, France, and Luxembourg. And it did stop me from mandatory high school gym, since my hips really hurt from running. When I found out your grade was determined in a large part by how fast you could run the mile, I went running to my doctor and pleading for a note. The only unfortunate thing about that was I spent the next 3 years wondering if they'd determine phys ed wasn't too hard for me and not give me a diploma..



I've been reading some horror stories about scoliosis, though. Like people's instrumentation corroding, losing the ability to work, losing an average of 11 years of their life because of the scoliosis...sometimes I do wonder where they really get those statistics. And it's interesting that there's only one site that sounds legitimate when I've looked around a fair bit.



With the amount of people that have this surgery, I'm glad to see that there's been progress online to educate and give support to those involved. But I still am not content with the amount of information for post-surgery folks. Unless you count those few months afterward, when people formulate their youtube informational videos (which I appreciate!) and document that moment in time.



Then, it seems, we move on and it's no longer a part of our lives. Understandable, when there are so few of us, really. I've never met someone who had the surgery. Only ever heard of a friend of a friend's daughter/niece who might be having the surgery and offered to share should they be interested.

One thing that concerns me is the future of us post-ops who don't have the now obsolete Harrington rods we know that these rods have snapped on people and a lot of the negative press you can find on scoliotic surgery is because these rods were used. But there just aren't patients who have had these other rods long enough for us to know. I'm finding out the my type of rod, Cotrel-Dubosset first came out in 1984 which means it wasn't used by lots of people until the late '90s and testing had determined they were worthwhile. So I join the millions of patients around the world who have had procedures done not knowing how it will affect their long-term future.

Will I turn out like that horror story website says, and in another 10 years have the same pre-op measurements because the surgery's effectiveness disappears after 22 years? Will I be legally disabled when I'm only in my 40s because of complications from a surgery I had at age 13?

Just some thoughts for a rainy day. And those certainly aren't around this week! Wahoo!!!

Lookin up

Yep. I didn't anticipate it taking until mid-March for me to feel like things are settling into place, but it has and now that I'm here I'm glad that I'm not back there in January or February. Or even the whirlwind of the end of December, saying goodbye to international travel buddies and a quick hi/bye to some special Kentuckians.

We're on the brink of true spring! Yes, the roads are flooding, and it's gloomy but warmer and almost not snowcovered everywhere!

Which brings me to books. That's always where I end up anyway, isn't it? I just picked up Stone Cold by Baldacci, and am sadly almost finished with books I and II of The Lord of the Rings otherwise known as The Fellowship of the Ring. The Fellowship was just broken as Gandalf fell into shadow. And lamentably I don't have the book with me to write down the most memorable line (for now, for me, in this moment).

Now if I could just have my voice back, please, customer service would be so much better...

Here. Have a Frangipangi.

Work on Crew!

So, granted, I am loyal to two dear summer camp programs. Pleasant Vineyard in SW Ohio is where I spent 3 blessed summers. I began as an unschooled young'un of 19, counseling my first summer away from home (the longest I'd ever been out of Sturgis, as I was going to a community college and living with my parents the first 2 years of college.) And by the last summer, I led the Junior Staff program. God knows how deeply I love and miss that place. Ever since the first summer, I haven't gone longer than a handful of months before finding myself there again for some reason or another, whether it's helping out with a weekend program or just seeing some of the friends who live nearby while taking time to walk the trails prayerfully. Both for people who have walked them in the decades before me and for the ones who will walk it in the years to come.



My second camp is actually a camp and conference center, Cedar Campus, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I spent the last 2 summers there and the seasons between them too. Still not quite sure where I've spent the most time, if I were to count all the days at both Cedar and PVM. It was at Cedar where I began not quite as a newbie, as I'd already put in 3 summers as camp staff, but a newbie to the area. At Cedar (as opposed to PVM), I was an adult although one of the youngest on staff. I had my BS in English and was fresh off the plane from 6 months in China. This made me appreciate the international crew and guests so much more, as I had had a taste of what it was like to be a stranger in a foreign land. There was also the added plus of rubbing elbows with InterVarsity staff from all over the midwest, many of whom I had met through involvement in CMU's chapter.

At both places I have been brought to both temporary and long-term meaningful friendships, and greatly increased my EQ (ala Susan Vaal, that's Emotional Quotient). Before working at a summer camp, I had always thought it would be amazing work. You get to be outside all summer (when it's not raining, anyway), you get to do great and fun things with kids (and some tough things, but still good), you become more fit because you're playing with kids, it looks great on a resume, and you probably make some incredible friends along the way.

Now, it's true, the types of camps I have worked at aren't the ones you go to in order to make a lot of money, and I worked my way through college with loans, some of the money from camp staffing, and employment while at school; but even though it's cliche, the experience working at a camp and giving of yourself for others is priceless.

Consider summer camp staff!

It still gets me

Somehow, I don't know why I just don't get it through my head.

A couple weeks ago I was filling out the forms to substitute teach in the state of Michigan, and in several parts of the application, it clearly stated that you must have all these materials and extra paperwork filled out and present with you when attending the orientation session. If not, you can't be signed up to substitute teach and your application will not be considered. So of course like a good rule-follower and desirous of a position as I am I tried to cross the t's and dot the i's as required.

One thing I didn't do, though: I was supposed to get fingerprinted before going. And realized it late the night before orientation while re-reading the directions. But in one place it led me to believe that fingerprinting results are sent directly to the agency. So there's no form I must have with me at the session. So the morning of orientation, I woke early to drive to the sheriff's department. Because I'm slightly neurotic. Couldn't find it, though, since the meeting was in a another county and I was running out of time. So I went to the meeting hoping it would be alright anyway, and that they wouldn't say I couldn't go to the meeting and have to wait another month till next month's orientation session.

Out of six attending new substitutes, who do you think was the only one able to turn in their paperwork? Yes, you guessed it. Here I was freaking out about not having done everything right, and the other five had more undone than me! I really should lower my expectations of myself, I suppose. Oh, and no one else had been fingerprinted either.

So many times I have gone into a situation thinking I don't have everything as required or needed to make a good impression. I should have more self-confidence than that! Because again and again, it just so turns out I have been more conscientious than others. I have paid more attention to details. I have been a perfectionist. But is it still a perfectionist when you see there are many things you have let slide in the spirit of just getting it done because time was of the essence? I really do not think that's perfectionism or detail-orientation.

What do you think?

:)

There and back...

I've been to kingdom come and survived.

My next project

I'm going to do it, finally. All these years of reading books and seeing noteworthy lines, my brain has been telling me I should write these down. Yes, it's true I write them down sometimes; but that's really only every 20 books or so. It helps that lately I have taken in some great literature and am therefore urged more strongly to put the plan into action.

So I'll be writing them down here in blogger as a way of also sharing them and dialoguing with you fine folk about some of my favorite lines.

To begin, I'm sending those interested on a hunt. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society has my favorite line on page 211. It begins with a D. But really, people, you have no idea what the lines are trying to convey unless you've read at very least the 10 pages before it as well. Preferably the whole thing. Often in a book, a line can be drawn out of context and you still can take away meaning from it. In this case, I don't think so. But if you've read it or are reading it, I love this line because the anger, frustration, and inability to do anything to change the situation are fully felt there. It's exactly what I would have done, and Juliet's words are my words; the book draws you in that well!

Secondly, I'm reading Rabbit, Run which Jamie, I really think is going to depress me. At least there's good imagery and description. At one point, Updike likens a couple's held hands as they rush to their car to a starfish jumping! But the book feels similarly to Native Son, with Rabbit just having this sense of not fitting in. I still have trouble believing that people therefore feel subconsciously licensed to do idiotic things when they're already in a precarious position. But what can I say, I'm only 40 pages in. The line I like, though, is a moment which stops the book and is one of those times you can take the line out of context safely. In fact I'm certain Updike meant for this to be so. It's page 28 of my first edition, where the elderly gas attendant with some whisky on his breath says, "The only way to get somewhere, you know, is to figure out where you're going before you get there." That line just screams, take me out and put me in your brain! doesn't it? :)

Granddad always said

It's easier to get a job if you have a job.

You can take the girl out of the country...

What, you may ask, am I doing here? It's simple, really. I am merely using what I have available to me for some light housekeeping (is it still called housekeeping when it's on the outside? Maybe it's maintenance..). We have some ice that's actually a lot of ice weighing our roof down. Correction: We had some.. Now it's gone, thanks to this lovely thing most often used as a closet rod. Being on the second floor, I didn't feel exactly comfortable stretching the upper part of my body out the window to take down the ice.

While talking on the phone with Kim (who knows my quirky problem-solving ability has brought me to shoot geese out my window in the country as well) the thought came to me and made a good story.

Maybe I should be a mechanical engineer. Anyone hiring?

:)

The Fam in Loui'

The Fam in Loui', originally uploaded by sarah_laughingguts.

This is one of my few recent-ish pictures with McGarys. Taken 2 years ago, it's toward the end of one of my whirlwind travel trips which took me to west Kentucky for Christmas, then St. Louis for the Urbana student conference, then a pitstop here in Louisville for another cousin's wedding and to see these guys, and finally in the Cincinnati area to see old camp friends. Whew. Even writing it is exhausting!

I often wonder what to do with all these opportunities I have had to see things and to be near to people I love. One of my friends who is now married and a mother says that now is the time to enjoy my independence and ability to pick up and go so freely. Because time will change, and things will just be different when I'm more settled.

So these memories I have, of picking up one day to spend 5 days in Nashville in order to be alongside family saying goodbye to their wife/sister/mother, are memories that for now I will fight for and not regret.

I'll miss Lynn, one of the absolute best examples of a godly woman whose love for God and others fairly shot out of her, blessing all she met. But the pain of cancer is past her now; and I'm a tad jealous that she's now seeing her Lord face to face and sharing in the company of other loved ones: my father, uncle, and grandparents.

She knew deeply incredible love and every moment lived out of that deep well. Often people speak of those who have died as though they were better or more loving than they actually were. But I really don't think it's possible to do that in her case. I hope to take the memory of her love and convictions with me wherever my travels find me.

The goings

Gone - flitted away,
Taken the stars from the night and the sun
From the day!
Gone, and a cloud in my heart.
~Alfred Tennyson

He captured my feeling at the moment so well. Each time someone leaves, whether it's just until who-knows-when or their soul leaves their body, it's like another cloud forms in my heart.

It's a good thing there's a strong sun out there. When it shimmers through those clouds, the sensation is glorious.

But still, I would rather the clouds didn't have to come. There is so much more of this lifetime that I have to then experience without them, the joys as well as the sorrows.

The day I ruled the world

It happened to look like this:

Sensory overload does crazy things to a person. After months of limited internet access and accumulation of fine photographs, my self-control is nil.

So you get to hear about my world domination. It happened while wearing my favorite brown pants, which were on my legs a grand total of at least 28/30 days from Morocco to Germany.

Oh dear. Goodnight.

In Remembrance

This was written in my friend's service folder

God's Garden

God looked around His garden
And found an empty place.
He then looked down upon the earth,
And saw your tired face.
He put his arms around you
And lifted you to rest.
God's garden must be beautiful
He always takes the best.
He knew that you were suffering
He knew you were in pain
He knew that you would never
Get well on earth again.
He saw the road was getting rough,
And the hills were hard to climb.
So He closed your weary eyelids,
And whispered "Peace be thine."
It broke our hearts to lose you
But you didn't go alone
For part of us went with you
The day God called you home.

Holly died at the age of 25 in her sleep, probably from complications with type 1 diabetes which had always been difficult to regulate.

Just Chillin'

IMG_9672, originally uploaded by sarah_laughingguts.

This was taken in Barcelona. It's the entrance to a free temporary exhibit space. FanTastic wall!

Their Song

It's not often that I actually pay much attention to people's 'songs' but this one that was my parent's song makes me laugh every time. And until last week, I don't think I actually paid much attention after the first couple lines and the chorus. This one's a keeper, though. If you knew them, you can see the hilarity. Especially based on the way dad used to be - definitely the partyer who doesn't listen to common sense in driving!

Hope you enjoy the story:

Friday night I crashed your party

Saturday I said I'm sorry

Sunday came and trashed it out again
I was only having fun
Wasn't hurting anyone
And we all enjoyed the weekend for a change

I've been stranded in the combat zone
I walked through Bedford Stuy alone
Even rode my motorcycle in the rain
And you told me not to drive
But I made it home alive
So you said that only proves that I'm insane

You may be right
I may be crazy
But it just might be a lunatic you're looking for
Turn out the light
Don't try to save me
You may be wrong for all I know
But you may be right

Remember how I found you there
Alone in your electric chair
I told you dirty jokes until you smiled
You were lonely for a man
I said take me as I am
'Cause you might enjoy some madness for awhile

Now think of all the years you tried to
Find someone to satisfy you
I might be as crazy as you say
If I'm crazy then it's true
That it's all because of you

And you wouldn't want me any other way

You may be right
I may be crazy
But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for
It's too late to fight
It's too late to change me
You may be wrong for all I know
But you may be right

You may be right
I may be crazy
But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for
Turn out the light
Don't try to save me
You may be wrong for all I know
You may be right
You may be wrong but you may be right