One Year!

A year ago today, I started this blog, announcing with joy and hope my plans to intern with pro-life groups and then head out to Saint Louis for the Vincentian Service Corps. One the one year anniversary of this occasion, I could reflect on this year so far... or I could post on what comes next.

Next year, I am heading back to my alma mater to work for the campus ministry. It's a year-long position, during which I will help with all things Catholic Campus Ministry. It will be my first attempt at living in the "Real World" of financial responsibility and full adulthood. More importantly, it will be a great chance to explore even further where God wants me ultimately in life.

After my year as Young Adult Campus Minister, grad school is on my horizon. I have been accepted into Franciscan University at Steubenville and Catholic University of America. So now I have to start the process of asking to defer enrollment.

As it goes right now, I have a future and a hope... the same words I used a year ago today.

Relay for Life

This Friday was the UMSL Relay for Life. First of all, thank you to all of my readership who helped (financially or with prayers) -- I know you guys are reading this. A huge thanks!

This Relay was originally scheduled as a 12-hour event, although Relays are often up to 24 hours. However, Thursday afternoon, the UMSL Relay committee brought the event indoors and changed the time to only six hours, due to the severe thunderstorms that were predicted. While I wish the Relay had been longer and out of doors, they made a wise decision, and I felt for the committee, making all these last-minute changes.

The idea behind the Relay, for those of my readers who did not hear about it already, is that you have a team that raises money for the American Cancer Society. The team then camps out around a track and relays -- has at least one team member walking the track at all points in time. The host provides music and fun, but also facilitates more serious moments, such as the luminaria, where everyone pauses to remember those who have lost the battle and support those who are battling cancer.

Ana and I arrived first to stake out a campsite. The evening started slowly as we... waited. Eventually, however, the rest of the 6 pack arrived. We had figured that we'd all start out together, and then take turns back at our table to eat, rest, etc. Instead, we found that we all just kept going. We walked the inside of the student center: around its center escalators, down one hallway and back, down a second hallway and back, repeat. A talented DJ blasted music from the stage on the lower floor. The ends of the hallways often lost the music, and a couple guitarists down one created a sort of musical schizophrenia that bothered me at first, but that I got used to.

As it turns out, we didn't drop downstairs one by one as we got tired. Instead, we kept walking, skipping, and dancing down the hallways, gaining energy from the music and from each other. In case you ever decide to try it, the Electric Slide is a bit of a challenge to do while you're walking down a hallway. We ran piggy-back, we played war, we salsa-ed. We all kept going -- for the entire 6 hours.

I enjoyed the dancing, upbeat bits more than the somber bits. Not just because the somber bits were, of course, less "fun," but because the ceremony of them fell a little flat. Luminaries don't light up the same way with electric tea lights, inside, and a "lap of silence" doesn't have the effect of silence if there is music, however contemplative.

When we left for home, I was exhausted. When we got home, I realized that as crazy as I had been for walking for 6 hours, I made the right choice in choosing not to sit down. My feet had the chance to tell me exactly how much they hated me for the long walk.

Criticism

Spoiler Alert : If you haven't read Lord of the Flies and don't want to know anything about it, stop reading.

My 8th graders have been reading Lord of the Flies in small groups. For most of the time, I haven't been sure how much they are actually taking in, and how many connections they are making between what we read one day and the next. At the end of last week, we got to the scene where Simon talks to the Lord of the Flies and then the scene where Simon dies. For those of you who need a refresher course (or have never read the novel), the boys trapped on the island fear a shapeless "beast" who haunts the island. A dead parachuter ends up dropping onto the island, getting the parachute tangled in a manner that, when the boys see him in the dark, he looks like a monster.

Simon, the only boy who is not turning savage, discovers that the parachuter is not a beast and loosens his tangle. Unfortunately, when he comes out to tell the other boys, they are locked in a wild "dance" which ends in Simon's death. As Simon is beaten to death, the parachuter is swept off the island and into the ocean.

When we read this scene in class (with an italicized announcement from me, THIS IS AN IMPORTANT SCENE!), one of my kids got it! He understood and explained the significance of the two events happening together. Then, this week, when we read about the way the boys split into tribes afterwards, another student traced the tribal lines to events at the beginning of the book -- something I hadn't even noticed.

I am so proud of my students for this. At the beginning of the year, I despaired of them ever learning critical thought. Now, at least some of them have demonstrated it!

A Whirlwind Tour

I feel that I should post something about my trip home this weekend. From Friday to Sunday, I saw everywhere I call home : St. Louis, my alma mater, and northern VA (the order I saw them, not order of importance). I saw my many different families : my 6 pack here who saw me off, my apartment-mates (and good friends) from last year, my Encounter with Christ retreat team, friends from high school youth group, and mine own biological kin. I came home to celebrate the marriage of two friends who went to school in Richmond. The wedding was beautiful and the reception so much fun.

That being said, I can't think of an anecdote or theme to encapsulate the weekend, so here is a post stating that I was home in VA and now am home in St. Louis.

Why People Are Awesome

I generally try to keep posts to one anecdote, topic, or theme, for ease of reading and my own organizational quirks. However, in this post, I plan to relate several incidents. Note the title: that is my theme.

In this past week, I've had some very positive interactions with people and some disconcertingly negative ones. We (as a culture? as a species?) tend to relate the negative more than the positive, so I want to combat this trend by sharing some warm-fuzzies.

First, the car mirror. Ana's side view mirror went missing a few months ago. She was told that they sometimes pop out in the cold, and she ordered a new one from AutoZone. Long short, she had to order a new mirror fixture, which we took home only to discover that pliers wouldn't do the job of undoing the bolts; we needed a wrench, which we (sadly) lack.

So the mirror sat in the back of the car for the course of several weeks, waiting. When Ana and returned to AutoZone this week for a battery, the man working there was so friendly and helpful that when he told us, "Let us know if there's any other way we can help you." Ana asked for a hand with the mirror. Although Auto Zone doesn't do body work, he pulled out some wrenches and pulled off the mirror for her. Ana joked about us being a couple of helpless girls, and he told us that didn't matter. "You had me sold at the volunteer line," he said.

Incident 2 is much shorter. I was in the grocery store, buying travel-sized toothpaste and contact solution. The self-checkout was broken, and the express lane was closed. With a sigh, I took my place behind a woman with a large purchase, noting to Ana that it was the best line -- which it was. The lady in front of me looked back, saw my two items, and asked, "Is that all you have in your hand?" I nodded yes. "Go ahead," she said. With enthusiastic gratitude, I stepped up in line, given so much joy by her kindness.

Finally, at the airport, I stood in line for a bagel. The couple ahead of me had some sort of gift certificate or traveler's check, and he was trying to get rid of $1.47 on it. He kept trying to do so by tipping or buying something for the cashier, and she kept deflecting him with a smile. He wasn't hitting on her; his girlfriend was with him. It was just a general kindness. And the cashier had admirable customer service skills, even as she turned to wait on me and hunt for the specific type of bagel I wanted. Her smile made my day!

In Which I Learn How to Jump a Car

In preparation for the garden work this weekend, Joshua took me out shopping to Lowe's, and Ana tagged along for the ride. Or rather, since Joshua's car wasn't clean enough for three people, she drove along for us.

It was a warm sunny day with blue skies, so how could it be anything but a relaxing trip as we rolled down I-64 with the windows down and country music up? Then we hung out in the section of Lowe's where the smells make me think of home and of my dad. We picked out seeds for plants, gloves for hands, chicken wire for compost (so much joy!), and lumber for garden beds.

I've spent enough time in gardens to feel the competence of familiarity in the lawn and garden section; yet, in the company of a "master gardener" (I have no idea what that means), I knew enough to know my ignorance. So I had the fun combination of learning about something I already love.

In addition to all the things we bought right then and there, we also ordered a huge amount of dirt -- several different kinds. I learned that when you buy more dirt than will fit in the bed of a pick-up truck, let alone a two door sedan, you can have Lowe's deliver it.

After a long time at customer service to arrange tax-exempt information and delivery details, we loaded up Ana's car. We hopped in -- she turned the key -- and the engine fluttered like a large insect trying to take off in flight. Ana tried again and got the same reaction from her engine.

After a phone call to her father, which made us worry that it wasn't the battery, we described the problem to a passing stranger, who listened and said it sounded like the battery. Turns out, Lowe's is a decent place to break down, because they let Ana borrow jumper cables. An older man in a pick-up truck jumped us.

The battery hadn't just run down; it was dead, and we had to get a jump to leave school that day too. By the time we'd watched it twice, I think Ana and I both pretty much learned how to jump-start a car. In fact, we probably could have managed it the second time on our own, but once again, a man in a pick-up truck helped the damsels in distress, and how could we take that away?