.Solemn Reflection.

5 years ago today, two of my friends, Shane and Taylor,

died in a car accident.

At 14, this was my first experience with the death of someone close to me. It's so easy to think that something like this will never happen to you. That the people you see on a daily basis and know so well couldn't possibly meet a tragic end, because that only happens to other people, or in the movies.

But it's not true.

Ecclesiastes 9 tells us that time and chance happen to us all. The world we live in is not perfect, and thus the things we experience in life will not always be joyous; sometimes, storms do come, and the pain can be unbearable.

I don't know why this happened. But I do know that Romans 8:28 tells us this: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." God can use even the most painful and devastating circumstances to draw people into His Kingdom. Grief can be crippling, but it is in those moments that God teaches us to fully rely on His strength. 

This tragedy was a wake-up call for me. Life is short. So often I take the numerous blessings in my life for granted. I waste the time that I've been given pursuing trivial and meaningless things. Each day is a precious gift. Every moment that goes by is one that I can't get back. I want this realization to reflect in the way I live my life, in the way I treat people, whether it be an old friend or a new acquaintance.

Thank you, God, for teaching me this, even though I had to learn it through the loss of Shane and Taylor.

Remind the people around you that you love and appreciate them.

Tomorrow might be too late.

R.I.P. Shane

R.I.P. Taylor

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of Shane and Taylor. May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Groundhog Day

A year ago today, this was the view out my front door.

Toby's face says it all.

Crazy, huh?

We were snowed in, quite literally.

As I walked around today, instead of being surrounded by 4 feet of snow, brown grass and fog were what awaited me outdoors. And some sad and muddy looking piles of snow.

Which leads me to this question:

If Punxsutawney Phil predicts 6 more weeks of winter, 

when is the next snow storm gonna hit?

Now, back to the overwhelming pile of homework I took a break from to blog.

I need to grow out of my procrastinating ways.

.Schedules.

It's the last day of January.

Crazy how fast a month can fly by! I'm only into my third week of the semester, yet it feels like it's been so much longer.

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to better organize my time, so lately I've been gung ho about to-do lists. Because February begins tomorrow, I flipped my calendar and began jotting in typical schedule fillers: appointments, due dates, birthdays (my sister Catherine - love her!), work schedule. Within a matter of minutes, a blank slate turned into a full one. My, oh my. Looks like it's gonna be a busy month!

Hopefully I won't miss anything, now that I'm beginning to be so organized!

Oh!

Speaking of the last day of January, isn't it beautiful outside today?! I'm a winter girl, so I try not to complain about the cold, but I can't say no to a day like this! Absolutely gorgeous! 

Couldn't help grinning.

Also, this song has been stuck in my head as of late. I'd like to learn how to play it on guitar someday soon! Check it out.

.Good Life.

Today was a good day.

I woke up at 6am (which is the earliest I've gotten up in a LONG time) in order to get ready and make it to the bus on time to go to the first forensics meet of the season with my old high school. It was strange not feeling those pre-performance nerves that usually accompanied such a morning. Instead, I walked around with my puppy chow and tried to psych up the team. I was nicknamed the Team Mom. Kinda fun. I sure did feel like it. Walking around at the meet, I was overcome with nostalgia, and I wanted Allison and Erin, the best teammates a girl could ask for, with me to share the moment with. Forensics had to be one of the best experiences of my high school career, and it made all the difference having my two best friends to share the memories with. Being Group Interp Conference Champs two years in a row was a pretty great feeling, not gonna lie! I got to step foot in the judges' room, which was foreign territory. But I had such a wonderful time hanging out with my coaches, Mr. Nie and Ms. Twohig, and I was so proud of the Burlington High School team!! So much potential for this year - it's gonna be a great season!

My afternoon wasn't very eventful. I took a nap, which was most welcome. I ended my day with 2 hours of Spanish homework and watching Captain America with my mama. I enjoyed the latter over the former.

Now, sleep seems like a great idea for my next big adventure.

Keeping Tradition

-Puppy Chow-

When I was on the forensics team in high school, I loved making puppy chow for as many meets as I could. It was always fun to have something to snack on and share with my teammates during down time.

Well, since I'll be tagging along to the forensics festival tomorrow to assist in any way I can, I thought it would only be fitting to make some to bring and share. After all, a forensics competition can make for a high-stress situation, and what better way to calm those nerves than by munching on puppy chow?

I thought it was a good idea.

Needless to say, I'm excited.

I may or may not have helped myself to a piece or two of this delicious snack...

I couldn't help it. But can you blame me?

Smushed by Semis

It never fails that every time I drive home from Whitewater to work on the weekends that I become surrounded by semis. 11 o'clock must be rush hour for semis or something, because I lose track of how many I pass and how many happen to sandwich me during the 45 minute drive. Now, although I dearly love my trusty little Civic, I don't think we'd win if we faced off with a semi. Just sayin'.

Anyways, my week happens to be one of those that feels an awful lot like being sandwiched by semis. It's always hard to get back in the swing of school, but this week was especially tough. I'm not trying to complain, I assure you. Simply making a connection between my week and a situation I often find myself in on my drives. I already mentioned my Spanish class, so I won't get into that again. My school week was bookended by snow fall (which I love!), and was filled with the ups and downs of emotions in myself and in others. Life has its share of twists and turns, that's for sure.

Today was a jam-packed day, filled with waking up early to finish and review some Spanish homework, getting called upon with the two lovely ladies I sit with in comm class to discuss the societal benefits of communication, discovering snow flurrying down from the sky when I walked out of class even though I was cutting it close to hurry home to make it to work on time, staying at work a little longer to help hold a dog that needed its ears cleaned and then finding joy in brushing snow off of cars afterwards, and battling (and conquering!) a fierce headache. Adventures of varying degrees left and right. Shazam.

What will tomorrow bring?

Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Being Brave

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” 

- Winston S. Churchill

I'll admit it: I've never been a very brave individual. I can't even think of a time when I've risked complete failure. I like playing it safe, which means avoiding risk at all cost. In school and classes, in my faith, in relationships, in trying new things... The list goes on. With the start of a new year, I've done a lot of soul searching as far as how I want to grow and better myself goes. It's somewhat painful to look back on last year in hindsight and see how different things could have been had I simply been willing to risk more. Praise God that His grace is sufficient to cover all my shortcomings!

I won't discredit my hard work in high school and say I settled for easy classes (because let me tell you, I worked my tail off in some of those classes), but I think I shortchanged myself by not risking failure and taking classes that would have challenged me even more than the handful that did. I took a lot of classes with only the grade in mind, not the overall knowledge I would take away. So here I am, in college, finding out that some classes are going to stretch me until I just might break. My Spanish 321 class, in particular, which I only just started today. I took four years of Spanish in high school, and yet I doubt all of the knowledge I gleaned from those years. Last night as I was freaking out and contemplating dropping down to the next lowest course just so it would be less of a challenge, some friends counseled me that I wouldn't be the only one in that class that was unsure, and that God put me in that class for a reason, and that it would all turn out all right. And it was then that I realized my biggest fear in taking that class was risking failure. But I know that as long as I work hard, I will be okay. I'm sick of sitting on the sidelines, wishing that I could be like the other brave souls out there who don't care if they make a mistake and what others might think of them.

I love this quote from You've Got Mail: "Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life - well, valuable, but small - and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around?" I want my life to be memorable and matter - I don't want to look back in 20 years and regret not trying my best and putting myself out there, even if it meant that I might fail. Which brings me to another quote I absolutely love from Batman Begins:

"And why do we fall, Bruce? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up."