Not a Tree

A wonderful friend of mine sent me this picture this past week.  It made me laugh at the time, and it still does.  As much as I love and adore trees and all they do, I am glad I am not a tree.  I'm far, far too restless to be a tree.  

I love my life.  I love my hilarious, quirky, brilliant, insane, warm, thoughtful, talented family (including David's amazing Kelsey), and I really am dreading being far away from them.  At the same time, I know that who I am right now is not going to serve anyone at all.  I am becoming stagnant here.  If I were a tree, I would be flourishing, but sadly, I am not a tree.  Instead I'm a little more wild, a lot more quixotic, and, most important, I have legs.  It's time I learn to stand on them.

Today I have begun the arduous task of packing.  I realize that as I am moving two weeks from today that I probably should have been working on this long before, but I'm a procrastinator, especially when I'm frightened or overwhelmed.  As a result, I have been making some serious to-do lists.  I wrote one for myself this morning before church because I figured if I went ahead and made out a list I might be more inclined to accomplish something.  It seems to have worked because when I got home today I immediately started putting things away and pulled out the first box to fill.  As of this moment I have all but a few last books packed.  When I am finished typing this up I will start going through my cds and hopefully have all of them packed up within the next hour or so.  After that, I am not sure where I will head, but, with luck, my momentum will carry me through a couple more boxes and I will be much closer to be finished that I was when I woke up this morning.  

Today also began a line of plans to do some visiting with people.  I will be going to grab some Chinese with friends at my favorite Chinese restaurant in Freeport on Tuesday night, and might be hanging out with a friend on Thursday as well.  I'm sure there will be many more last minute visits over the next two weeks.  

So now I begin my deep breathing, continue with my constant prayer, say a lot of thank you's, accept well-wishes and blessings, and start walking.  God didn't make me to be a tree, so it's time to move on.

Lists and other wonders of the day

Favorite things of this very moment (6:45pm CST):

• Finding a copy of a book I've been wanting to buy for 25 cents at a used book sale.
• Knowing my tuition payment went through without any problems.
• Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
• Jonny Lang's "Lie to Me" cd
• Toothbrushes
• Owning a laptop
• Wireless that's free from the Public Library
• Not owning a blue-tooth related anything

As I was walking across the street to go to the library tonight, I saw 2 black dogs. They were pretty big and one of the looked a little older. They both had well-worn collars with shiny metal name tags, but they were obviously lost. I don't know who they belonged to, but I wish I did. They took off before I could figure out who they belonged to. It made me feel kind of guilty too.

I don't know how silly that sounds to most people, but I'm real sentimental and I feel concern for animals on a regular basis. Especially if they seem to be lost pets. All I could think when those dogs took off was I hope they don't get hit by a car. It just really bothers me to think that something could happen to those dogs and I should have been able to do something. You know?

I prayed for them. Even if that does seems childish or superfluous or whatever. They were living breathing beautiful creatures, and I just hope God protects them and gets them home safely tonight.

Also, they planted new trees. The dogs didn't (don't be such a smart alec, I know you were thinking it!), but the guys from the "city" (aka the "village") planted new trees. I left for school this morning and there was nothing, but when I came home from work there were at least 2 new trees on my block. Not little bitty ones either, we're talking hardy looking saplings that should provide me with shade in another year or two. Despite the sarcasm that you might be thinking you sense, I'm genuinely excited about these new trees. More oxygen for everyone around.

As I've been typing this, I've been talking to my friend, Amber's boyfriend. He's been wandering the library. Justin said he wanted a book. He's having trouble finding one. Then again, he also said he doesn't have a library card. I told him he should probably go get one. I mean, he lives just down the street, like I do. Currently he's at the circulation desk with my mother and Mary trying to figure out how it's possible to have fines for a book at has disappeared but was returned that he's never heard of and can't imagine having a reason to have checked it out years ago if he did. Bizarre.