What Makes It Great.

One of my favorite parts about traveling is the afterward. Don't get me wrong, I love the car naps, the various landscapes whizzing by, the random gas station snacks, and, of course, arriving at destinations. But I also love the coming home; putting on comfy clothes and brewing a pot of coffee; taking time to relax before the normal schedule starts up again. And thinking back over the memories that were made.

The past few days I made a lot of memories. I saw a lot of people I care about. I drank a lot of coffee. 

My darling and I ventured from Indiana to Tennessee, hung out of Nashville for a few hours, stayed in Chattanooga for a couple days, ventured to Atlanta to meet my nephew, and then came back to Indiana. I took a bunch of pictures so once they are developed I'll tell about all the wonderful little coffee places we found. 

But for now I just want to express something I learned over this break. 

As I met up with friends and family, as I talked and laughed and hugged and held a little boy who has dimples just like mine, I realized I take love for granted. I get so caught up in stress, and being misunderstood, and just getting through I forget to look around at the people who are going to the same confusing thing called life that I am. I'm so lucky to know people who have stuck with me. I'm so excited to stick with them as we continue to grow. And while road tripping was great, the coffee was amazing, the sunshine and rain and ice were all beautiful...it was the people that really made the trip wonderful. 

I know it's short, but isn't there a cliché about short being sweet? Anyway, this is just what I'm thinking about as I sip coffee from my new mug I got to commemorate the lovely trip. 

"Low Battery" Strikes Again

  I am sitting in my third floor dorm room, overlooking mounds of snow and clusters of college students frolicking through them. Snow days tend to bring the inner desire to frolic, I think. I want to go out a take pictures of the winter blizzard but my camera batteries are dead. And apparently college students have some unwritten rule keeping extra batteries around because no one has any.

  So I suppose I'll just have to watch the weather, instead of photographing it. The snow flakes are  increasing in size so rapidly I wouldn't be surprised if actual snowballs began to fall from the sky.

  ...Okay, I would be a little surprised.

  Since I cannot share what my campus looks like right now. I will show you some pictures I find sort of magical from a few months ago. You see, I have gotten so used to film I completely forget about the pictures on my digital camera. In late October I was walking to rehearsal early one morning when I was struck by the stunning elegance of fog blanketing the earth around me. 

  I'm honesty not even sure how some of these pictures turned pink, but I like the effect. I love when my the pictures take on personalities and colors and tones without any prompting from me.  Hopefully these can inspire some of you to get out there today and be enchanted by the scenery around you. And take some pictures of the snow for me, will you? I promise I'll get some batteries soon. 

   

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