Thoughts while Traveling

That is what I have felt this week has been. Attempting relentlessly to push out of my mind the fact that when these days in the sun are behind me , what awaits me at home is a mess that needs sifting through. It is our last day of vacation and I am in the Outer Banks bookstore making use of the internet provided for me at a small cost. I have succeeded in relaxing most of the time, however like the current of the mighty ocean that has tried to take me out to sea several times this week, my underlying stress of the weekend to come has popped out of nowhere and taken shape in ways I wish I could have harnessed at the time. (holy run on sentence...)

Translation: I'm sorry~ for what it is worth.

It's funny. We wait a whole year for this one week where we can throw all of our anxiety to the wind...and then it's almost over and I feel like crying because it came back unexpectedly and without warning. That's my flesh I suppose---good thing God keeps pouring his grace on me and lovingly reminds me that if I cast my cares on HIM and not into the wind, it won't whip around and bite me in the arse again. How thick - headed I am.

I love the ocean. And I love my family. Sometimes we get an illusion in our head about how things will be, and then they aren't quite so for some reason... because we aren't as others perceive us to be and they aren't what we perceive them to be? And the when we are thrown together the casserole doesn't quite taste the way it was supposed to? Life is funny. People are funny. We aren't coming from the same place as we once were? Life and experience has taught us different things ~ and the translation can get a little muddy. But I think that we know each other's hearts and in the end that will conquer...? I know, I am rediculous with my metaphors that only make sense to me, and then not really. The paragraph of questions...some I know the answer to and others I am cloudy as ever. I am just oozing out all that is swirling around in my brain, as mixed up as it is.

Good memories from this week: Hooplah, Harvey, good eating, smiling, sleep, Vitamin D, power outage, candles, good reads, friends, discovery, seeing my husband for more than an hour in the day, the best smoothie I've ever had...

In two days we will be vacated out of our little apartment and emerged into a new world~ in a new city with new places to explore. I will miss Ghent. The place that feels like home. It's only across the river, I have to keep reminding myself. Just a tunnel or a ferry ride away. Not too far from Kelly's Tavern and the Fairgrounds and Clay's. It's sad that we have just made friends with alot of our neighbors and now we are leaving.

Can't wait to see Nicole. Good times are ahead of us on Maryland Ave, girl. Just far enough away from the drama...

What am I doing? I have to get back to the beach! Only a few hours left...

adios.

Why does it feel so much like a Friday? And furthermore, why am I to the point of wanting to scratch my eyes out due to the "ready-for-vacation" syndrome? It has been 2 years since our last real vacation (more than 2 days) and we are so ready. To the beach we go in a few days. Not the one around the corner, but to one far enough away so that we can't be contacted. Splendid.

Can't wait. I have a list of four books that I am planning on reading in the hammock that I know Sarah and I will have to arm wrestle over. For the rest of the time I plan on sleeping good and hard, browning like a turkey, and walking along the beach while breathing in and out. A little seafood here and there will be the icing on the cake. However, the most anticipated event for me is a lengthy heart to heart with my one and only brother- I always feel a chunk of my heart is on loan when we go this long without a check-up.

JT is in town and I wanted so badly to see him in concert ~ but we had to back out on Dusty and Caroline due to vacation conflict. That's sad. There is a guy in my office that claims to never have heard of James Taylor. Now Jerrod, I know you are a country boy from West Texas that grew up watching the 700 Club over your oatmeal, but ...QUE??????

I even sang him random portions of the top twenty JT hits---and no dice. What a shame.

Going to hit my kitchen hard again this evening. Packing is no fun, and I am over it. I will be so glad to be in the house ~ unpacking is always much more enjoyable to me. Decorating is absolute heaven on earth. Can't think of anything more fun. My dad always jokes about playing golf and fishing in heaven, drinking Vernor's and eating PB and J's. I think I will have unlimited spaces to decorate.

My eye is twitching. I hate that. Staring at a blasted computer screen for too long. That mixed with my developing carpel tunel reminds me of where I have been for a while: in search of new employment. Believing but encouraged...

adios.

GRATEFUL... I don't know what I would do if something happened to my brother. I am so glad you are ok. You were obviously protected...See you soon and love you very much.

A mix between Paul Bunyan, Abe Lincoln, and...Fabio? Hard at work....

I am not interested in theological debates- I am over it. So we think differently~ that doesn't change the love of Christ that God has gracefully dropped into our hearts. I have come to the conclusion that I need not participate in the discussions at work concerning issues that are not in my hands but in God's own magnificent hands. I am called to be like CHRIST and to LOVE. It really is that simple, and yet not so easy...

Fanciful rhetoric can be left to others. For me it serves as a distraction. We all have our convictions, don't we? It's how we respond.

And God is Love.

I am reading a book that my dear friend loaned to me. Yeah, it's controversal. No, I am not reading it to be converted to the "other side." Yes, it is opening my eyes and my heart to the precious souls around me. Finding myself weeping at the end of a chapter. There is truth there. Raw and honest. A heart that is sincere cannot be denied.

And we are back to the magic word.

The verse for the day is an awesome reminder. A reminder to "always be ready" and also
a reminder of the blessings of the past that have lead us closer to God. The numbers 3:15 , A.K.A "quarter -past- three" ~ are precious to me and always will be...they remind me of a fabulously talented and passionate group of boys that shared their hearts (among other things, including foul bodily functions) with me for a few precious and "growing pain" years. I love you all, and although we are scattered about being called to act as different parts of the body of Christ, we are still in this together. Miss you...

I love that "neighbor Chad" upstairs is the Director of Communications at VSC and running into him at opening night of Hamlet (None of us have seen Justin like this before--I am so proud) is proving itself to be a door worth venturing into. I have been waiting for the right one...time will tell. Actually, next Tuesday will tell. Love it. Probably almost as much as he loved me telling everyone he works with that he walks his dog in his bathrobe. He now refers to me as the "neighborhood watch." Not for long...he will have to take over my post when we move in a few weeks.

Hanging out on the roof and watching the fireworks with our new friends was great fun.Besides the fact that we had to venture into the condemned 6th floor to get there-- there were actually bathrooms up there that said "colored." Whoa.

I love Norfolk, Virginia. It is home now, this place. At least for a while.

Pet peave of the day:

when people refer to the people who sell houses as "real-A-tors."

?
___________________________________________________________________
"Why" of the day:

There are 219 7 Eleven stores in the Hampton Roads Community.



___________________________________________________________________
Favorite thing of the day:

the Apple Dutch Bagel from Panera...holy cow...literally.
___________________________________________________________________

Glad it's Friday. Ready for a long weekend. "Hamlet" opens tonight and I
am looking forward to seeing my husbands sword-fighting Shakespeare debut. "Laertes, Oh, Laertes...wherefore art thou..."

wrong one.

I miss my siblings. How art thou faring down in Denton?