Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Joys of a Spring Vacation

Amber "surfing" at CWS last year while moving our luggage about.
Yes, it's that time of year again folks!

It's time for Christian Workers Seminar!  Once again in Pigeon Forge, TN, we will be having a ridiculous and rollicking time.  Of course, I can't speak for the people actually attending the event, but I do know that the little ones who will be in my group will.  I am in charge of child care again this year with Amber, and this year we're adding Shelby Upton to the mix.  Should be a hilarious good time.  Our kids will be learning about God, eating snacks, doing a lot of coloring, watching great movies, and generally just having a great time as kids should at things like this.  Parents won't have to worry about where their munchkins are, and I won't have to worry about being bored or about how long I will be busy or anything else.  It will be a lovely little vacation.

I leave on Sunday.  I cannot wait.

I miss Amber and Kimmie and Garble and everyone, so CWS will be a good way to spend some time catching up as well as getting some sight seeing or just general running around it.  Plus, I get to celebrate both Jake and Amber's 21st birthdays with them while we're there.  That will be hilarious and great.  Kimmie and I are taking them out to dinner on their birthdays.  Plus, Jake is bringing Munchkin, so we'll have games to play.  I seriously can't wait.

After CWS, I am going down to Atlanta for a few days to move the rest of my stuff out of the apartment.  That makes me a little sad actually, but at this point, I'm not seeing me heading back to ABC to finish.  Not any time soon anyway.  On the plus side, I will get to spend time with Regina, Marcus, Jack, Mitch, The Cheat and the rest of the family and the ABC crew.  I'll be making a Felini's run as well.  I miss that place.

Conor.  :)  What a stud.
Then, the last leg of my trip will be spent in Ohio where I will be staying with Amber.  Hopefully I'll get to help with some wedding stuff while I am there, and, what I'm most excited about: I'll get to meet my nephew, Conor!  I haven't seen Nikky since she and Yan's wedding last August, so it feels like forever since I've seen her.  I can't wait to see her and meet the little man.  The pictures of him are great, but I want to get to hold the real deal, and have actual face to face conversations with his lovely mother.  It's hard to live so far away from them.

This trip will be such amazing things.  Exactly what I need to shake up my bizarre sense of complacency and start something new.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Tap. Tap. Tap.


                Tap.  Tap.  Tap.  Read a few more words, write a few more words.
                This is the same story I have written a million times before.  The Post-It notes, the scratch paper, the nailpolish covered notebook paper, the snippets typed into my computer in the middle of the night.  It is always the same story. 
                And the story starts like this…

                Once upon a time there was a boy.  He was handsome and witty, but the world didn’t see him that way.  No, the world saw him as shy and withdrawn.  Attractive, but not attractive enough to called upon as gorgeous.  Here we enter a girl.  This girl was a little too loud when she was tired (which was all the time) and found it easy to find the best in other people. 
                Here they meet.   Somewhere in the middle of life they run into each other.  Maybe it was a school thing, a college thing, a work thing, a church thing, or they were connected by a brother and a roommate being in love; who knows. 
                Suddenly it becomes interesting; our girl suddenly finds herself ridiculously attracted to our boy.  For some reason he finds her easy to talk to and opens up to her in a way that he typically avoids.  People around their blossoming friendship take notice.  Mutual friends/acquaitences are quick to point out that Boy never opens up like this; he doesn’t spend this much time with anyone let alone a girl he isn’t dating.  Girl brings out the best in Boy.  She sees him for the man he actually is and people begin to see a change, at least when she is around.
                And the mistake is made: Girl takes these whispers, snippets, conversations to heart.  She begins to believe there is something there, that there is a reason for the boy’s attention and friendship, maybe something beyond just friendship.  This is a bad choice.
                I have written this story so many times.  I’d like a new story line.

                I want the story to read like this…
                Once upon a time there was a girl.  She was a little too loud when she was tired (which was all the time), but she found it easy to find the best in other people.  Unfortunately she didn’t always see it in herself.  Here we enter a boy.  He was courageous in his own way, kind, honest and loyal.  He believed in using his strength for the betterment of others. 
                Here they meet.  Somewhere in the middle of life they run into each other.  Maybe it was a school thing, a college thing, a work thing, a church thing, or perhaps it was simply that they kept seeing each other at a favorite book store; who knows.
                Suddenly it becomes interesting; our boy suddenly finds himself ridiculously attracted to our girl.  For some reason he finds her easy to talk to and finds her opening up to him in a way he didn’t expect.  He gives her courage to be exactly who she is meant to be and she gives him strength to be the man he needs to be.  People around their blossoming friendship take notice.  Mutual friends/aquaintences are quick to point out that Girl never taken pride in her goodness before and that Boy seems to be fighting for something.  They bring out the very best in each other.  People begin to see changes in them both, and they’re both growing.
                This is no mistake.  Boy realizes that Girl is exactly what he wants to fight for, and Girl realizes Boy is who she wants to give strength to all her life.  This is a good choice.
                They are in love.
                This is the story I want to be a part of.  The first one is a vicious cycle that causes nothing but brokenness…it’s time to get off that train and find a new track that will take me to the second story.  The second story is where I belong.

                Where do you belong?