Just about half-past ten

Over Christmas Break I frequently found it difficult to explain when people would ask me how college was, because I knew in order to really tell them I'd need to use pictures, songs and attempt to recreate situations that probably wouldn't seem important to that other person at all. I talked to peers from high school, which still seems like it wasn't that long ago and they told stories of weekends that seemed so much different than my own experience, but I wasn't jealous at all. I know it is literally ridiculous, worthy of ridicule, that I seem to already be getting nostalgic after one measly semester of college, but the times I want to take back and remember to the fullest and down to the last detail are the ones that we didn't plan or buy tickets to attend. The impromptu heart-to-heart moments, the tears from laughing so hard that my throat was sore and my stomach hurt and the spontaneous discussion and discoveries that kept me up later that night, still excited from the day that had just happened.

Set me down with a group of people I love and you don't even need to give us a topic. Jesus works through everything, and these seemingly insignificant little snippets of conversation are often filled with his words, his adoration for us as demonstrated through others' own love.

In other news, they (the man) just removed the "It's Raining Men!" music video off of YouTube.
...WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TO?!


I'll always love you, Weather Girls. Hallelujah!

Workin' On Ice Cream

Today was:
a best friend's birthday, an album that I have been anticipating being released, a first announcement of accompanying tour dates that bring back happy tears of memories of a wonderful night at the Toyota Center that literally changed a small portion of my life, two packages coming in the mail, constant good heart-pouring conversation with friends and seeing Jesus everywhere- in overwhelming excitement and hearing literal love spilling out of my speakers in guitar, saxophone, voice, drums, strings, bass, organ and especially that accordion.

The temperature is below freezing but I am so warm filled with joy!!!
Thank you, Bruce. But overwhelmingly more, thank you God for creating all this endless beauty. If I think about it all again I'm seriously going to start jumping up and down.


....Yeah, definitely just did again.

Pour A Little Salt

I took down my collage wall today (which, by the way, is exactly what it sounds like). For two hours, I carefully removed tape from the back of old pictures, faded show programs, fortunes from fortune cookies, souvenirs, layers of notes, scribbles, drawings, stickers and countless other artifacts that had all manifested themselves onto the sheetrock. I guess when I started tacking up little pieces of my life in middle school I'd envisioned that one day I'd have to take them down, but I never imagined it would feel the way it did. I didn't sob over magazine cutouts of Audrey Hepburn or the 7 or so Lord Of The Rings movie ticket stubs. Things that seemed to be the center of my universe in 8th grade really don't occupy much space in my heart and mind at all anymore, even laughably so. Although staring at the blank wall now is extremely bittersweet and somewhat lonely, I don't need something tangible to remember every little nuance of my life. The days and minutes that set my heart racing and left me laughing so hard I could barely breathe are still very real to me. The words I wrote down never to forget are still on the tip of my tongue and the faces that cheered me up and taught me about real, sacrificing love are clearer in my mind than any photograph. Holes left by tacks and chips left by tape will be filled in, tomorrow I'll dump a large amount of crumpled bits of paper into the recycling bin and have a moment of silence before planning what color paint to buy and paint over. Here's to quite a new beginning. Here's to filling up a few hundred more walls with my life.

Oh, and here's this for all you visual learners: