Thanksgiving!

It has been somehow on my heart lately how much of a Negative Nancy I have become. What do you do when you have realized that you fester on all the things that go wrong, all those things that are not working, all that which is broken? Fix your heart on those things that are good, true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy....









1. My thanksgiving was a hit! Great Food. Amazing Friends. Beautiful Weather!
2. I only had to work until 12 o clock today.
3. Bethany and I spent all afternoon together. Gossip. Advise. Coffee. Cookies.

4. I love my brother enough to miss him like crazy now that he is not here.
5. My mom and I can disagree but are quick to admit wrongdoing and extend grace/forgiveness
6. My mom always supports me as much as she can
7. I have a job, and a job that will generously accommodate my upcoming school schedule
8. I have a boyfriend that pushes me to expand my bubble of comfort. (as much as I hate it sometimes)
9. Whenever I think about John Stager I smile.
10. I get to read about adventures my brother is entangling himself in almost daily. And I am reminded how much I long for something to challenge me like he is being challenged.
11. I own my car (and all the new noises it makes)
12. The dogs are finally being quiet... not a peep from either one of them
13. My cold has finally surrendered to my immune system.
14. I am reading two books at once
15. I really love my church. The music is great. The sermons are thoughtful and penetrating. The coffee is hot.
16. I finally switched to gmail.
17. Apparently I feel good enough about my microbiology class to procrastinate studying for my final another night.
18. It didn't rain today and my feet stayed dry all day.
19. Jacob Zuma is going to take an HIV/AIDS test "soon" to promote AIDS awareness day.
20. I am seriously contemplating bed at 930 on a tuesday. Shower first maybe.
21. There are so many generous people out there
22. Its 40 degrees outside and I have a warm bed to sleep in.
23. Its 40 degrees outside and I can get in a warm shower before climbing into a warm bed.

well, its a sad little list... but I suppose I got to start somewhere.

Wednesdays with Agnes, Thursdays with the Boys

Wednesday nights I spend with a new friend, Agnes, a beautiful 90 year old blind woman who has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. All the time I spend with her she is lucid and amazing. I am learning to see as a blind woman does, through sound and touch, long descriptive glances, smells, cadances of footfalls, and tall steps (the only way to walk along broken concrete). Its one of my highlights in the week. Agnes always asks me to bring something to read. She loves Poe, poetry and short stories. But mostly poetry. Especially if it rhymes. Well, and Poe. I have read The Raven several times. She loves it. So do I. She loves ghost stories, and literature. and music. I forgot how much she loves music. We spent an entire evening in front of the stereo, the volume cranked loud enough to feel the base in our chests, listening to Mozart and Beethoven and Bach and Barbara Streisand.
She loves to walk around her neighborhood at night when the crickets come out. "Listen to them getting all warmed up" she says. "Ooh, do you hear that one, that sweet little tweet tweet. What do you suppose it is saying." I try to be clever and offer up potential pick up lines one cricket is muttering to another. She laughs politely. We've gone to Lake Johnson twice to walk mostly around. I always stop at interesting plants, hold out her hand and pull a branch down for her to feel the leaves, bark, or berries. "Golly! Tell me what it looks like." I try my best at describing color and texture height, breadth. "I just love this." She says. And I admit Lake Johnson is so much prettier with my sweet blind friend with me. She found the beauty I couldn't see until I had to tell her about it. "When I ask to go to one of my favorite places, know that this is one of them." She tells me. My heart swells up a little.

And if Wednesday is, introspective, simple, slow, sweet, female... Thursday is the opposite.

Male, loud, fast, robust. And in its contrast it is delightful and amazingly fun. Chris and I and his roomie, Joanna, host a dinner weekly at his place for some of our friends. We eat more than we should, talk a lot of smack, and then we try to beat T and Chris at Corn hole. We only occasionally do the impossible. The rest of the time they dominate the game. (Chris and T really should be split up). Thursday we had Meatloaf, homemade mashed potatoes, snap green beans, and fresh cookies out of the oven. This week it is Chili, cornbread and an undecided dessert. And cornhole. always cornhole. Its amazing how natural friendships develop over food and games. And I haven't watched thursday night television since. (well, any TV for that matter... I dont have cable or a converter box... and I even though our neighbor offered to splice us into his cable, my roomie and I declined. We are excited to be free from the TV.) I just wish I threw a better cornhole game.