September 1st? Well time sure got away from me. I will be back this weekend with a real update, but I wanted to say hello!
I’m still here. Are you?
Oh hey there!
Happy Birthday Jess!
It’s my sister’s birthday today.
I thought I would take this moment to say thanks for being a great big sister.
Thank you:
-for making freshmen year of high school way less scary
-for loving Christmas so much every year, you are a big reason I love it so much now
-for making it ok that I cut off all the hair on that one barbie…
-for reading the Chronicles of Narnia aloud to me
-for playing possum with me
-for having a name that gives me street cred with my hippie friends
-for being pretty much the best person to visit, no matter where you live
-for the Mighty Ducks (all three), the 3rd Alladin, and every other bad movie that is so so good
-for proofreading all of my important stuff
-for Dilly Dally’s
-for our summer dates at Dairy Queen where you would tell me about what you were writing at the time
-for being an ally in the midst of crazytown
and
-for showing me that anything is possible in our imaginations
I love you!!!
Thor
Have you ever seen the 1987 classic Adventures in Babysitting?
It is one of my mom’s favorite 80s movies, and quickly became a household favorite.
The young girl has this thing for a superhero named Thor, and since about 1995 I have been waiting for a Thor movie.
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Can you guess what we did for mothers day this year?
8. spend a weekend with Caitlin and Katrina
These are two of my very best friends, Caitlin and Katrina. We actually went to middle school together but the friendship didn’t really take hold till high school.
In a conversation a few weeks ago the African idea of Ubuntu got brought up. Ubuntu essentially means: I am because we are. It is applied at both very macro levels as well as micro.
I can honestly say that I am who I because of the friendship I have with these two women.
I am because we are.
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Having Colorado as a home base made it very easy to see each other after we graduated high school. Caitlin was in Ohio and Katrina was in Nebraska but in those four years, we saw each other during holidays, and even spent a few summers together, including one spent backpacking across Europe. We made the effort to visit each other, sometimes as a twosome, but at least once a year we spent a good chunk of time together, the three of us.
After college graduation Katrina and I ended up living together (with 8 other people), something neither of us ever thought would happen (the two of us, or the 8 other people part…). With Katrina and I in the same place, it made seeing Caitlin that much easier. But after that first year out of college, our friendship officially entered adult zone. With three states, one husband, one committed boyfriend and three months in New Zealand between us we were stuck with a maybe once a year, weekend meet-up. And thus number 8 on my list was born.
In February, Caitlin (with Austin) and I made the trip to the frozen northlands to visit Katrina (and Alan) in Madison, WI. After one plane ride for me, and a plane ride, plus a bus trip for Caitlin and Austin, we had one of the best weekends ever.
It was on one hand, like nothing had changed, because that’s how it always is with good friends. But on the other hand there was something more grown up about this trip. Maybe it was the fact that Katrina and Alan are now married, or that Caitlin and Austin had to be back in Boston for work on Monday, but whatever it was, it gave me great hope for the future of our friendship. Not that I had any doubt!
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ps. HKs: Thank you for hosting what is already a top highlight of my whole year.
pps: C and A: I am counting down the days till September. (Seriously, only 114 days left.)
April …and March
So remember when I put “start blogging” on the list and everyone laughed at me. Yeah, I knew that throughout the year I would need that there, encouraging me to continue coming back here to document.
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Let’s go all the way back to March. It started with a trip to Madison to see some dear friends, back home there was a fundraiser for a truly wonderful organization, and the discovery of meyer lemons. St. Patrick’s Day included two birthday celebrations and the perfect beet cupcake recipe. There was lots of Buff basketball to watch, and a volleyball tournament to attend. The month closed out with a trip to see Jess and the cherry blossoms in DC.
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As for April there was a trip to Ft. Collins, along with that beautiful super moon, and a hula hoop contest in Target, I lost. A day spent at the park was only bested by an evening spent painting at Canvas and Cocktails. There was a perfect week at Conference on World Affairs, one of my favorite weeks of the whole year. There was lots of physical therapy for my wrist, and a perfect spring day spent at a Rockies game.
April also brought many things to celebrate, including a name change celebration, Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry’s, Passover, a long standing birthday tradition, Easter, and a royal wedding.
Happy Pi Day
Today, 3.14, is National Pi Day.
If you need a late addition for your celebration today I highly suggest this Meyer Lemon Meringue Tart. While technically a tart, it is one of the best desserts I have tasted in a long long time.
28 Days
-The month started with a weekend in South Dakota to see my Grandma.
-When we got home, we were greeted with a blizzard which became the perfect time to make Cassoulet. Dad and I used Julia Child’s recipe, which includes four different types of meat, including homemade sausage. It was insanely rich and insanely delicious.
-Every first Saturday of the month the Denver Art Museum is free. So Asher, Tahsa and I took advantage and moved our weekly meeting to the DAM, it was a beautiful change of pace.
-Anne had surgery on her meniscus quite a few months ago so the only proper way to celebrate getting off her crutches was with margs at the Rio.
-I met Ely and Jon downtown Denver for happy hour at Panzanos. The food was fantastic (they have the best brussels sprouts I’ve ever tasted) but the company was even better!
-I met with Dr. Gordon for my 5 week check up and he said he was happy with my progress. So I got to start physical therapy! Recovery is actually in site now.
-Mom and I went to CU’s production of Rent. It’s a hard show to pull off, but they did a great job.
-We didn’t get a chance to celebrate my birthday in December but on the 13th we spent a morning at the Kitchen having brunch in honor of 25. It was delicious.
-Maggie, Chelsea and I met for an impromptu happy hour at The Med.
-The Boulder International Film Festival celebrated it’s seventh year with a fantastic weekend full of films. I saw The First Grader, For Once in My Life, and Freedom Riders (which will be on PBS, so check your local listings). All three were fantastic!
-Mom, my uncle Darrel, cousin Nicole and I celebrated President’s Day with a walk through the Denver Botanic Gardens. They were beautiful, even in the winter.
-As of Friday I have been in Madison, WI visiting some of my very favorite people. More on this in the coming days, but let’s just say it’s been pretty epic so far :)
My goodness, it was a jammed packed 28 days!
Wailing Wall
“Placing my hands on the stones, all I wanted was not to ache so much.
I wanted to let go of my feelings for a little while”
In The Secret Life of Bees, one of the characters, May, has a wailing wall, a place where she can fully feel loss and grief but also come to terms with them. Sue Monk Kidd’s depiction of May crying, going out to her wall, and letting go of some of the suffering that she was carrying is still one of the most powerful things I have ever read. I related to May so strongly in that moment it took my breathe away the first time I read it.
Empathy has always been one of my strengths, but I had never before been able to put words to what happens when that empathy becomes a burden, when I start to not only understand and relate but actually carry with me the hurt and pain.
Over time I have learned to cope with these moments. To write things down on paper and put them in a jar or a box, to bring them before God, to feel them and then to let them go. To release them into His hands. Mine are not big enough nor strong enough to hold onto them. They were not made to do such a difficult job.
This purging used to happen more frequently, but lately I have been letting it build up. I have not been doing a good job at letting the pain go and this weekend it caught up with me. I saw three incredible movies at the Boulder International Film Festival and heard one challenging sermon and I was toast. It was too much for my heart to take.
I am still processing and purging and letting go, but for now, here’s a trailer for one of the movies I saw this weekend:
I feel better already.
25 Adventures 