Soul Soother

Music is powerful, huh?

For the last few weeks I have been harboring that horrible, sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that you get when something terrible is around the corner or you know you did something really, really stupid.

The last time I remembered seeing my ipod was on our plane ride home from Florida.

Devastation was near. I thought I had seen the last of it. I asked Jered to check and double check and triple check his luggage after looking anywhere else it could possibly be.

If it weren't for the message that Beth had found my beloved piece of technology, I would have collapsed into broken-hearted sobs after a far-fetched call to the airport to inquire about any found ipods.

Where would I be without music?

Even now, I am watching the newest rendition of Mamma Mia. I can't help but hum or sing along to every song that begins to play, and I am slightly ecstatic whenever one of the songs come up on our 70s station at work. My love for the soundtrack is closely rivaled by my love for the actress who plays Sophie's Aunt Tanya. I loooove her- she always has me in stitches from laughing so much.

I love how music can suit my mood, or even change it. I can sit and wallow listening to music, or I can be forced into uncontrollable movement. Just today, I was dancing to Michael Jackson while catching up on some filing and hoping I would hear anyone who walked by before they saw me.

Well, have no fear friends: my ipod is currently in transit. Jered mailed it to me today.

As I say farewell tonight, let me also beseech you to watch Mamma Mia if you haven't already, and pay careful attention to Tanya. You'll probably add years to your life by laughing hysterically.

Rethinking my Career Choices

Last month I came to a conclusion. Had an epiphany, if you will. I am in the wrong line of work.

This revelation came to me while we were in Florida for our family vacation.

We stepped out of the van and smelled the sweet, salty air of the ocean. After checking in, we decided against the idea of climbing the nineteen flights of stairs to our room. (I was all for doing them at least once a day, but everyone else disagreed.)

We stepped into our suite, and you would have forgotten that we were all in our 20s and older. We ran through all the rooms, squealing and exclaiming how amazing it was before running out to the balcony that overlooked the beach.

A change of clothes was an immediate necessity. The swimming suits came on, and we were out the door. We hurried down the nineteen flights of stairs, for the first and only time, stepped out the back door, walked down a short wooden walkway, and plunged our feet into the soft, white sand for the first time. It was still warm from the sun of the day and felt magical sifting between my toes.

After semi-clumsily making our way down the beach, we rushed right into the ocean. (I'm not sure we ever really acted our age on this vacation.) We laughed and coughed as we choked on the bitter saltwater. My eyes burned as I tried to rub it from my eyes. We swam and floated over the waves, and my insides squirmed as we went deeper into the water and it became dark. Stupid shark week...

If I told you about our entire vacation like this, I might as well have written a short novel. I'll simplify.

Our mornings started out nice and slow. Katie and I would roll out of an incredibly comfortable bed, meet the boys and Mom and Dad in the kitchen, and begin with a delicious breakfast of our choice. We spent most of the morning and the beginning of the afternoons at the beach. We rolled out sheet, stuck our newly-purchased beach umbrella in the sand, and unloaded our beach paraphernalia: beach pails, shovels, a net, a Frisbee, goggles, a camera, and sunscreen.

We spent the time playing Frisbee, basking in the sun until we were so warm we needed refreshing, and hunting. I'm not sure how many hours we spent ducking under the water, digging our hand into the sand or feeling across the top of it, to lift up hand fulls of small crabs and sand dollars to add to our bucket, which was crawling.

Jered, our mighty hunter, also spotted a sting ray several times, tracked a black and white striped fish, caught three comb jellyfish, and a seagull. I know... impressive, isn't he? Some evenings we went down to the beach with a flashlight to catch some rather large crabs.

We all watched the season finale of The Bachelorette. Yes, all of us. I told you I was sucked in for the season, and I'm pleased to say she chose my favorite bachelor. The other nights were often filled with Shark Week.

We ate out several times, and most tried new seafood. (I admittedly played it pretty safe in the food decisions. One oyster, and I was done with those.) We had some delicious Grouper and shrimp.

One night, Katie, Jesse, Jered, and I rented scooters for a few hours. I was a nervous wreck, but it was so fun to ride up and down the beach road at night, seeing all the lights and hearing music playing from all the outside restaurants. We walked around the tourist mall for a few hours here and there. Katie and Jesse went through a mirror maze.

We bought all kinds of souvenirs, and picked out the most touristy T shirts we could find.

Jered woke up at the crack of dawn to watch the sunrise with me. Are you as shocked as I was? We saw the dolphins swimming much closer than at any other time of the day.

So what does all of this have to do with my career choice?

Although, due to the sand and the heat, our days were peppered with several more showers than usual, we never got tired or annoyed by the hassles of the beach. Although we each got sunburned at least once, we never dreaded the sun. Although the salt burned our eyes and throats, we never shied away from the water. Although we watched Shark Week every night, we never stayed out of the deep for long. Although our calves were sore from walking through the sand, we never got tired of walking on the beach.

I've decided that my calling in life is to be a beach bum. I would be really, really excellent at it. I can play and run and soak up the sun for hours on end, and be completely content. Thinking about it now, I am yearning to be back on the sand.

Maybe I should look into working at a beach side resort...

Beautiful

So this is two weeks overdue. "The Flinkmans" now accurately describes my wonderful friends, Jeremy and Kelly. The most appropriate description I could find for the weekend of their wedding was "beautiful."

The setting was beautiful.

It was a beautiful time with friends and family.

Kelly was absolutely beautiful.

The couple shared beautiful vows.

Jessica and Beth's song was beautifully punctuated with the rumbling of thunder during the most powerful part of the song.

The boys sported their beautiful curls.

Carmen was a beautiful flower girl.

The mothers were beautiful.

If I've left anything out, I'm sorry. There were just so many beautiful moments. One of my favorite things was watching the excitement in the faces of Jeremy and Kelly as they came together to face the reality of becoming husband and wife.

It was beautiful.

The Importance of Geographic Knowledge

About a week ago, my good friends, Megan and David celebrated their first anniversary.

This means that just over a year ago, Pallory(if you've kept up on reading this blog, you will know what I mean by this), Jered, and I travelled from the little town of Mendota to Muskegon, Michigan. And this, is where one of those memorable stories begins.


Jered and I met Pallory in Mendota the night before and enjoyed a fun evening with our long lost friends. We then got up and moving early enough to give us about an extra hour to eat and get ready on the way to Muskegon.


It seemed like the longest car ride ever.


We finally broke the barrier and entered Michigan. We "ooed and awed" and the scenery and the cute towns like Holland. After a couple u-turns we pulled into the church parking lot, ready to go apply make up, change clothes, and freshen up our hair. We were surprised by how many people were at the church an hour before the ceremony; we had been thinking we'd pretty much have free reign of the church for awhile.


Some friends from TIU made their way over to our car as we stretched and began pulling out our necessities. The following is a close rendition of the conversation that followed our initial greetings:


"I don't want to alarm anyone... but the ceremony starts in 15 minutes."


"No, it starts at 4:30."


"Yes, yes it does start at 4:30."


"Ohhhh my goooosh. Time change! There's a time change!"


Chaos ensued. Mallory and I ran for the restroom, looking unkempt after hours in the car and a late night/early morning combo. Wearing our scrubby clothes, we dodged all the people who were wearing their finest for the wedding, and burst, arms full, into the restroom. We applied the only the absolutely essential make up and changed clothes at lightening speed.


We made it to our seats with moments to spare, and sat in disbelief at our mistake. We laughed later.

After a lovely wedding and reception, we spent the night at the homes of some gracious hosts. The next morning the four of us packed up our belongings and headed for the beach. With just a short time to dawdle, we soaked up a few rays, and tried not to let the boys pull us into the lake.

Our fun-filled, nearly disastrous weekend had to be rushed because someone had to be home for work that night, but it certainly was memorable. It is stories like this one that make me miss my friends mightily, and quite anxious to see them again.

Words to Live By

Words are our most "inexhaustible" source of magic. They hold both the power to hurt and to do immense good.

The above is my paraphrased version of the thought of a very wise person. I feel this same basic message is shared by many, and is even in God's Word.

I've heard horror stories of what kids have said about and to other kids. Sometimes about people they claim are their friends. Things we think only happen in cheesy, teen movies. You know, the rude, snotty lines that cause the listener to run to and cry in the bathroom, becoming a regular Moaning Myrtle.

But then, I slip up too. Usually, it's completely unintentional. One of those moments where something pops out of your mouth, followed by the sudden urge to clasp your hand over your lips before you say anything else. Sometimes I'm just mad.


Since words hold such immense power, I have a desire to learn to use them in the most uplifting, edifying way possible. In addition to doing good with my words, I want to do well with them. I long to become the most eloquent writer and speaker I can possibly be.

I suppose my first steps should be to keep writing on here, keep reading, and to really think about what I say. Before I say it and not after.

Do You Remember...

Did I ever tell you about the time...

It's occurred to me that I really wish I had started blogging years ago because there are some hilarious stories I wish I could have relayed to people right after they happened. You know, when they were still fresh in my mind.

I think I would have written these in short story form... like something I would have turned in for Fleming's creative writing course. Here are some of the them:

The time Ashley and I returned from Christmas break to find a dead bird, and a birdpoo-covered dorm room.

The time Jered opened up the ceiling to try to catch the creature residing in our dorm room. Ashley and I had been listening to it living above us for months.

The time Jered and I met for the first time.


The time someone laughed so hard, she wet her pants.

The time a bunch of us went out for milkshakes and Jered completely fell out of the car when we got back to school.

The time Katie and I got in a legitimate wrestling fight, were rolling on the laundry room floor, hitting each other, and would have been hit with the iron because it almost fell off the ironing board.

The time Jered had me take him to the hospital because he smashed a finger.

The time Jesse accidentally shared the wrong information from Katie's ipod.

The time, wait- every time Katie took five minutes to get a joke.

The time Ashley and I didn't know what to do with our newly colored hair.

The time we went to Ukraine and experienced daily ridiculousness. Sure, it's a word.

The time Kelly, Mallory, and I found out the restrooms at the beach were locked.

The time we almost missed Megan and David's wedding.

I think I will continue this post another time. There are just too many other stories that I would love to share with you.

Maybe sometime, I'll actually tell the whole story. =)

Just Another Day Older

*Sigh of contentment*

What a wonderful birthday.

Not only did I have the most wonderful surprise ever, and a fantastic time as a result, but I was able to spend my actual birthday with two of my favorite girls. Mom, Kate, and I had a lovely day in Peoria.

After a delicious lunch, (see? I told you one of the things I love about July is birthday food) we saw Larry Crowne. If you are interested in this film, I would recommend it. It's kind of awkward, and we felt they could have done more with the plot, but it is pretty funny. But then, I just love Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts anway.

Naturally, we ended up doing some shopping. Katie and I purchased some fabulous matching jackets. (We have very similar taste sometimes.) I bought $119 worth of jewelry for $15 at a lovely place called Charming Charlie's. (Seriously, check it out if you can.)

Our shopping rule: You must try on something you would never dream of buying. Instant fun.

However, I think the purchase I am most proud of is my book of 4 Jane Austen novels. I would have only paid $2 per novel, and it's a hardcover. I felt like such a grown up, buying classic novels with my birthday money.
Perhaps the highlight of the afternoon was when the three of us crammed in one of those photobooths to take a round of pictures. Nevermind the fact that it was outside, and it was in the 90s.

Well, I had a whole host of deep, birthday wonderings, but I think I'll let those go for now. Let it just be said that I had a blessed birthday.