Grateful Day 103

Today I sat in class explaining to my professor the book I am currently reading. The book I have no real time to read, but choose to read because school is getting stressful and if I didn’t read for fun I could possibly cry. Reading gives me such joy! I have always known this, but telling my professor I am reading for fun made me realize even more, that reading is a stress relief. I realized that life is creeping up on me, it is ebbing and flowing with the times and only a couple of things stay the same – God & Books. My family and friends change, for the better, with each passing season. As do you & I. But God and books don’t change. God is the same Yesterday, Today & Forever! Then books, well books never change.

From the Bible to Young Adult Fiction, books have this way of remaining the same. The people reading the story may be different, but the story itself stays the same. Reading a book for the first time is like going to a new place and making new friends, while re-reading one is like visiting an old friend and seeing new sights.

I have traveled to so many places through the lens of an author. I have seen life through the eyes of a young Christian girl who served her masters with love and with zeal, and who loved God with every fiber of her being. I visited Narnia and made friends at Hogwarts. I got to know Mr. Darcy and the Bennett gals. I fell for Michael Hosea and Wes. I became friends with sweet Anne Elliot and mourned the loss of Mackenzie Phillips daughter. Books have taken me to so many places and allowed me to feel so many exhilarating emotions!

There was once a time when I thought my love for books was a bad thing, a strange thing. Yet with the passing of time I have come to realize the beauty of books and seen my love and appreciation for them as lovely. I have learned that my love for the pages between covers has made me who I am.

 

Grateful Day 102

I am currently in the process of re-watching Gilmore Girls, and I just fall in love with Stars Hollow more every time I watch an episode! I always seem to forget how much I love Stars Hollow and all of its inhabitants! Oh how I would love to sit in Luke’s Diner and study for exams. To drink coffee by the cup and eat pie on a table of that place! How I would love to have known Mrs. Kim, the wonderfully crazy woman who chases Rory Gilmore with a hose out of fear that she carried termites with her. To know Kirk, who is crazy enough to work at every business in town!! Oh to live in a town small enough where walking is a very real and perfectly acceptable alternative to driving (because boy do I find driving a hassle!). To live in a town small enough where town meetings are a real thing and full of surprises. To live in a place small enough that events are annual and bring people closer together! I love the idea of Stars Hollow. I love the idea of a local grocery store and a local diner. I love the idea of living in a town where you know your next door neighbour, and have known them for most of your life. I love the idea of having local business owners be people you interact with on a daily basis, and you have known them for ages and ages!

Tucson is full of local businesses. Full of local coffee shops and local restaurants. There are local bookstores and a local farmer’s market. I love that Tucson is a college town!! I love that I can plan on meeting a couple of friends for coffee at my favourite local coffee shop and run in to a few more! I love the fact that there are eateries unique to Tucson! I love that I can go almost any where around town and see at least one person I know!

There are moments when I wish Stars Hollow was a real place and I lived there with Luke, Jess, Lane, Sookie, Mrs. Kim and the Gilmores. Then I remember I live in Tucson with my own Gilmore gals and my very own Lane’s and Sookie’s. I know some real life Luke’s and Jess’, I just need to find my real life Mrs. Kim. I mean, as much as I wish I lived somewhere else, I know Tucson will always be home. Tucson will always be the place where I made my own Stars Hollow memories. I will have memories of late night study sessions at coffee shops and memories with my own Lane and Sookie. So even if I never get the full Stars Hollow experience, at least I have Tucson; the people and the memories.

Grateful Days 100 & 101

Oh my stars this past weekend was such a breath of fresh air!! I love being able to hang out with my family, but now the school week is in full swing!

I have so much coming up, and at this point in the semester I need people to push me to get things done. I am usually a self-motivated person but for some reason towards the end of the semester I am in desperate need for people to push me to get important things, like talking to advisers and such, done. School work I can motivate myself to do, but I have this tendency to put aside important talks for “later”.

Honestly I put things aside for “later” because I’m scared. Getting an important talk done  and over with means something new and different is in store. In my case right now I put aside doing so many things for school because I’m scared of what my life is going to be like once I graduate. I know I shouldn’t be scared and God has a super cool plan in store, but it’s still scary to not know what lies ahead! Once I graduate, I have to figure out a few things, i.e where am I going to give a year? do I really want to do that? is that really what God is asking of me? (I know the answer to a couple of these questions). Once I figure all of that out, I have to learn something new and different; I have to adapt.

It may sound silly that I say I have to adapt, but I do. Whenever my best friend and I talk about school and life after college she always mentions that we’ve been in school for 16 years of our lives. For 16 years all I did was go to school. I didn’t enter the work force after I graduated high school, I went straight to get a degree. I have friends who got jobs and stayed home, but I moved from home to do more school! All I know is school! Since I don’t know much else outside of school, I’m a bit scared of what’s to come after graduating and such. Again, I know I shouldn’t worry about it, but I do. I may love Jesus, but I am still a human being who worries and stresses about life!! In this season I am stressing out about my impending graduation in one semester and what life is going to be like afterwards. Every time I think about my life after college and how little I actually know, I realize I need to trust God more than ever and I need to learn to breathe and have fun every once in a while because too much work and no play made Jack a dull boy. So even in the midst of growing up and taking new steps, I want to trust God. I want to breathe.

Grateful Day 99

Today was a day of family and ballet recitals. Even though I am getting pretty busy with school and have finals coming up I really enjoy the days when I don’t do anything but hang out with my family. When I say do nothing, I mean we just hang out and do nothing. But it’s like do nothing days with friends, and it’s so extremely relaxing!! I love it because the next few weeks will not be relaxing, at all!! But I love these days so so so so much!!! Also, who knows how many more relaxing days I’ll have with my family before we all grow up and go our separate ways. Or how many more with my friends and I just want to enjoy these days as much as I can! We all should!

Grateful Day 98

I’m hanging out with my family this weekend and I realize my mom and her best friend are basically my best friend and I many years older. I actually appreciate that fact because my mom and her best have been friends for decades!! Even though they love in two different parts of the world, they maintain this beautiful friendship and I’m glad they remind me of my best friend and myself. Friendships are beautiful and they show me that the good ones, the real ones, the most beautiful of them all are worth keeping and worth fighting for. I’m glad my family shows me beautiful examples of love and friendship because I know that they exist. I believe in love in its truest form and friendship in its most beautiful form because of the example my family set for me. So here’s to friendships- the beautiful kind!

Grateful Day 97

MY BEST FRIEND IS GRADUATING!!!!!! Even though I’m kind of bummed I’m not graduating with her, I am so excited for my dear bestie! She has been by my side since Freshman year of college when we were not only the only Freshman in Chi Alpha, but we were the only Freshman girls (funny how that works). It’s crazy to think that four years ago, I met a girl in Chi Alpha who was more shy than I was and barely spoke and now here we are four years later and she’s my best friend! I have written many posts about her already, but I am truly so blessed by her! She listens to my ramblings, and on the off chance I need to talk boy she talks boy with me, and when I just need a friend to listen to me word vomit for a bit she will listen and not say a word. She listens to me talk about my hopes and dreams and she encourages them all. I truly could not have asked for a truer friend. She is my bosom friend, my chum of chums and I am so extremely proud of her! She has so much in store for her future and God is going to do so many great things in her, through her and for her! I am beyond excited to see her new journeys and see where life takes her! I could truly gush about how grateful I am for her and how proud I am of her, but she’s graduating soon and I can do more I’m-so-proud-of-her’s when the time comes. But really, how many people can say they have a friend who will always fight for them. A friend who will listen to every complaint and every sigh. A friend who will celebrate with you, mourn with you and encourage you. I hope every one can and if you can’t, then that friend is coming. I honestly never thought I’d have a friend who would believe the same things as me, yet challenge me in my way of thinking and challenge me in my relationship with God but that is exactly who my friend is. God knows what people we need, when we need them and for how long we need them. Some people come in to our lives for a season and that’s fine. Then there are those who come and are meant to be the friend who is there through all seasons, and those friendships are worth the fight because nothing could replace the joy and the happiness that comes from a friendship like that! So again, my best friend is graduating in 3 weeks from tomorrow and I could not be more proud!

Grateful Day 96

Lately I’ve been re-watching Gilmore Girls and I love love love me a good story! I’m fairly certain I’ve shared this before, but my love of a good story is very strong! I love a story in the form of television, movies, books or music!! I’ve also learned that I’ve learned a great deal of sensitivity and empathy from the stories I’ve been told in one form or another, and boy am I a sensitive person. I can almost cry at the drop of a hat! If someone cries I will probably cry with them. If someone shares a great story or has something exciting happen, I’ll cry! I am a crier, and I used to be really embarrassed by it, but as I’ve grown up I learned that my sensitivity is a gift. It many not always seem like a gift, especially when you’re crying really unattractively over something that doesn’t really necessitate tears, but it is a gift. We all have gifts! Even if it doesn’t seem real gifty a gift is a gift. If your gift is telling stories, then tell all the stories!! If your gift is sensitivity or empathy, then go and be sensitive and empathetic! If your gift is giving hugs and smiling smiles, smile those smiles and hug those hugs!! Some times we don’t think our gifts are gifts, but they are. They really, really are!