New-ness

So, there are two "new" things happening in my life - sporty and sappy.

First, I am now on day 10 of running/jogging.  I have gotten up (almost) every morning at 8:00 AM, run a 1.5 mile loop, where I get to see the business elite of Greensboro make their way to work and hungover college students take an early morning smoke on their porches.  I'm starting to really like it.

Second, I used to be the girl who never cried.  Never ever.  Ask my family and friends.  Brief, related anecdote: In my apartment last year, a rock which looked like a heart ended up laying around our living room for the better part of the year.  One of my roommates, cleverly, had brought it home - the irony was just too thick not to.  I was fiddling with it one night and my friend noted that it was much like my own heart - made of stone.  I laughed, he laughed, we laughed together.  It wasn't far from the truth.

But recently, I've become a sap!  I have trouble not crying at the slightest emotional or sentimental action/story/ritual/etc.  Have I really gotten in touch with that part of myself?? I constantly am having this great, overwhelming sense of the shortness of time, of the eminence of transition, of the quick shift of the now.  So when I watch movies or read books or go to a wedding or hear about someone's pain, I get the importance of it all and I have a physical reaction.  It's weird - very different.

Now, I haven't yet cried while I jogged.  I'll let you know as soon as that happens.

I Saw One Today

One day, a few years ago, I was riding in the car with my grandmother and mom.  It was sunny and warm and the car was carrying three generations of women to the grocery store - about 160 years of experiences moving together.  Sitting in the navigators chair (the power chair) Mimi looked up in the sky and noticed a jet trail.  She said, "Whenever I see those white lines in the sky I think of Bob (my Granddaddy).  It's his way of telling me to keep my head up, to keep going.  And that's what I do."

Every time I see one of those I not only think of Granddaddy, but I think of my Mimi who after 91 years of life and 7 years without Granddaddy, has her head upright looking forward.  Life hasn't gotten easier for her frail body, but she presses on with persistence and grace, eager to live and love.  She has hope and sass.  What more does she need?

Sometimes I wonder if I still know God, but I just don't realize it.

Also, if you're interested in means to social justice, especially cross-culturally, I think this article would be of great interest to you:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece

Reread at the end of July

I wanted to catalog this day because today I had this overwhelming sense of excitement for the future.  I was eating dinner with EJ and talking about the frustrations of finding a job, relationships, the summer, and the like.  I don't know what's next.  I have no plans, just hopes.  Nothing is concrete or laid out.  But, goodness, it's thrilling to think of a life of application.  A life consistent with my desires, dreams, ambitions.  All of them being lived out.

This day will fade away soon when I get bogged down again with the unknowing reality, but I just wanted to remind myself that it'll be okay.  It'll work itself out and opportunities will knock. 

Artist: Adam Moser

This is hanging in my living room.  The stencil is of a Ugandan girl.

In other artistic news, I bought a camera from the thrift store.