Reflections of a Different Me

College graduation is in just about a month... 


I think back to the last time I graduated.  It was high school, I was 18... I feel like I am worlds apart from that girl who walked the stage in 2006. When I was 18, I thought I knew what I wanted, I thought I knew myself, I thought I knew where I was going.  Funny how our "great" plans change so much.  However, I am extremely happy that my 18 year old "great" plan did not happen the way I thought it would.  Funny how things may change - things we may never see happening - but then those are things we cherish the most - the decisions that really shape us into who we are. 


I can say that I know myself infinitely better than I did on that hot June day in 2006, but there's still more to me to learn. 

Thought of the Day: take the road less traveled

Everyone has heard this poem.  It is a classic.  Sometimes you hear it over and over again and it becomes trite, but then one day, it takes on a new meaning.  Something clicks and it's like the poem was written for you. I don't think you can truly appreciate this poem until you have lived it - until you experienced it - until you yourself have come to the fork in the road - until you yourself choose the road less taken. 

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost 

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

To Walk in Fields of Gold

It was one of those perfect English autumnal days
which occur more frequently in memory than in life. -  P. D. James

Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it,
and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth
seeking the successive autumns. -   George Eliot

Another Year Older

This weekend I celebrated my birthday.  For the perfect fall day, my family and I went to the apple orchard...how I love the apple orchard! 


When I was little, I would get excited for birthdays because it meant birthday parties with kids from school, lots of presents, and cake -- pretty much what any kid likes about birthdays! 


However, as I've grown up, I've realized that I'm no longer a kid who expects (or even wants) huge birthday parties.  To me, the most important thing is time spent together, the words handwritten inside a card, and the memories made together. I know that makes me sound like a boring old adult, but it's true. The most important things are not really "things" at all. 


So maybe the birthday saying "another year older and wiser" comes with the wisdom of slowly realizing what is the most important thing in life: love. 


It always goes back to love, doesn't it?  There's so many different types of love, but in the end love is love. And as the saying goes, "Life is love, and if you miss love, you miss life."  

What is Love?

What is love?  Perhaps this one question alone can strike up some of the most debated answers of all time. Hardly anyone can agree on one definition of love. 

Love may be hard to define for some people, but surely you cannot miss the outward signs of it. 

For me, some outward signs of love that I have been shown lately are little things like setting up the coffee pot for me so I have fresh coffee when I wake up, sitting up in bed so I can lean against you when I am sick, and making me a lunch when you yourself are getting ready for work, and offering to go to the store to buy me eye drops even though you were about to go to bed.  These are simple things... in fact, they are so simple, you might not notice them if you aren't paying attention.  In fact, some people might not say this is "love."  But to those people, I would say "Do not take your love for granted. Be mindful of the small things."  

If we are mindful in the small things, then we can be trusted with the big things (Luke 16: 1-12).  Life is composed of all the small things added together... in fact, sometimes the smallest things teach us the biggest lessons.  It's easy to become negligent in the small things, but when we are faithful in the small things, then I believe, our love shines forth even more. 

So I say, my husband may not be fighting a dragon and battling for me in a jousting tournament, or taking me across the world in a private jet --  but I am willing to argue that his love shines more brightly than the sun through "the little things." It's easy for a rich man to drop 1K on some earrings.... but it takes more selflessness, more strength, more love to go out to the store for medicine when you don't feel like going.  Simply put, love is in the little things. 

I have never doubted his love.  I grow more in love every day. 

"Do little things with great love." - Mother Therese 

Friday Morning Inspiration #2

See how nature--trees, flowers, grass--grows in silence; see the stars, the moon, and the sun, how they move in silence...we need silence to be able to touch souls."  --Mother Teresa 

I'm Back!! (From the Big Move)

Well, we are significantly into the month of September, and I'm just now writing....  That's okay though because everyone expects life to be chaotic after a big move.... The Big Move. 


I'm officially moved out of my parents' house (the beloved house of my childhood) and into my first home (technically, apartment) with my husband!!  Moving was everything I expected it to be: excitement, exhaustion, joy, and a whole lot of sweat.  


When I moved away to college, there was always a sense of "I'll be back soon."  But this move, was The Big Move.  This was permanent - a definite sign of growing up.  I always wondered what my first home would be like with my husband... and let me tell you, it's everything it's cracked up to be.  It may be small but its so "us." Our walls, our rooms were a blank canvas and we made it "us." 


Along the way, I've learned a few crucial things:


1. With a little bit of sweat you can do a lot.... oh, like move a thousand-pound couch down old wooden stairs and then up three flights of stairs. 
2. When you sort through your childhood room, you can find out a lot about who you are by what is hidden under your bed for 22 years :) 
3. There's a reason why people speak so highly of "elbow grease".... because it works! 
4. Spending the first night in your apartment is amazing...even if it means you eat breakfast using a cardboard box as a table. 
5. Only family would help you on a miserably hot day move boxes up three flights of stairs.... for that, I'm very grateful! 


I've still got a few pesky boxes to unpack but I suppose it will get done soon enough. 
For now, I'm just happy to have a cozy little nest that I like to call home :) 




"Home is where the heart is, and my heart is where you are."  - Relient K