Adoption Story

I realized recently that I have not been posting much about the happenings of life. There is a reason for this, as I have been preoccupied from many of the everyday happenings of life. What I have been occupied with is a fairly long but wonderful story, so go ahead and sit down before you read it.

Many of you out there who know me know that I was adopted as a baby. If you did not know, now you do! My parents (I will say adoptive parents just to clarify) had a son already, who is now my older brother, but they could not have any more children. After many years of heartache and distress over this, as they desired to have another child, they were presented with the potential to adopt. Enter Marcia into the story. Marcia was a young college student, pregnant and unable to support a child while in school. She could have quickly gotten out of this situation, but she loved that baby (me) enough to go through with her pregnancy and offer me a family who could raise and support me. After I was born, my parents took me home at the ripe age of 3 days old, and I was instantly a part of the family. I don't remember this, but I can tell by the smiles on their faces in old photos that I was truly cherished as the newest member of the family.

For as long as I can remember, I have known that I was adopted, and it was never really a big family issue. I didn't ask too many questions, though I had some, and I went on with life as though I had no unknown past. I never once had to doubt that my parents loved me, despite the fact that I often tested their love like every good teenager does.

When I was 18 years old and a Freshman at Auburn, my dad told me that my birth mother had contacted the adoption attorney and made her contact information available. To be quite honest, I didn't know what to do with that news at the time. So, instead of facing it and asking myself hard questions, I tucked it away. I often thought about the fact that a whole new world of information was only a phone call or letter away, but something always held me back from making the move. I knew that one day I would want to make that connection, to thank the woman who so selflessly gave me up, and to find out where I came from. I shared that part of me with various close friends over the years, and they inevitably encouraged me to move forward. Still, I waited.

After I graduated from college and started working and establishing my life as an adult, I started to think more seriously about making that contact. During my first several years after college, I learned a lot about myself and about God, and I began to feel more comfortable with the uncertaintly of what and who I might find. It was comforting to know that my birth mother, somewhere out there, had made the first move. She wanted to contact me, and that took away one of the huge fears of whether she would want to know me at all. Slowly but surely, I began to warm up to the idea of exploring this unknown territory. During the summer of 2005, I asked a few close friends to start praying with me specifically about moving forward. Over the next several months, I talked to both of my parents about my desire to finally make that move. They were both more supportive than I could have asked, and I first met with the attorney in May of this year. My dad went with me to discuss with him how to proceed from there, as we knew now it was only a matter of time before I would finally be in contact with my birth mother. He suggested that we each write a letter to one another and give them to him so that he could distribute them to us without identifying information. Though we were both ready to be in direct contact, we agreed to take this cautious route to get the ball rolling. I cannot really explain why, but it took me all summer to get around to writing that letter. I guess I was still putting a lot of pressure on the situation, and I was still a little apprehensive about things. Finally, I managed to write the long overdue letter of thanks and introduction to my birth mother. I added a few family photos from recent years and hand-delivered it to the attorney while I was in Baton Rouge in late July. Little did I know, Marcia had written her letter to me within a week or two of our initial agreement. Yet again, I was guilty of stalling and prolonging this moment that she had so long awaited. So, our letters were sent out shortly thereafter, and I first received Marcia's letter to me on August 3. Much to my surprise, I opened the supposedly anonymous letter to find that Marcia's name and address had been included with the forwarded package. I dug further and found an envelope marked, "To My Daughter". I took a deep breath and then furiously opened that envelope to find a handwritten letter that was overflowing with excitement and love far beyond what I had expected or hoped. I think I had been afraid to expect too much, but I realized very quickly that this woman would be a wonderful new addition to my life.

I soon wrote to Marcia directly, and we wrote back and forth for several weeks, and each new letter from her began to bring our whole situation into perspective for me. I had never allowed myself to immerse into the reality of where I came from and who I was. A huge part of that had to do with how little I knew of the history, but I also tended to try to live life outside of that reality. It is a strange thing, to be part of a family that took me in as a stranger, so I tried to just act normal and not let it bother me. So, without getting into all of the emotional details, lets just say that the first few weeks of communicating with Marcia were extremely eye-opening and transforming for me. I was facing for the first time this unknown person and starting to process her side of our story. At the same time, I was enjoying immensely getting to know a woman who has proven to be beautiful, genuine, loving, strong, wise, encouraging, and so much more. I have learned that Marcia is married but was not able to have any more biological children. In the face of that disappointment, she graciously adopted two sons who are both more than ten years my junior.

For several weeks now, we have been communicating more frequently by e-mail rather than snail mail. We have been able to send pictures, learn some of our similarities, and introduce our respective families to one another. As we quickly began to plow through all of this sharing, we have been anticipating when we will finally meet face-to-face. Our families are both extremely supportive of us and are sharing in our excitement, and they are also waiting to meet us when we can arrange it. Marcia has offered to fly up here to Atlanta from the New Orleans area in just 2 short weeks, and we will finally get to embrace one another after 28+ years of wondering and waiting! It is hard to believe all that has happened in such a short time, and it is hard to believe how wonderfully God has arranged every detail thus far. I trust that He will continue to bless each step we take as there will surely be many more questions to work through as we incorporate one another into our lives and families. So, without further adieu, take a look for yourself at our respective pictures. I think you will see the resemblance. Before long, we will be able to actually take a picture standing side by side!

Photo Every Now and Then #1

I know it's been months since I tried to keep up with the Photo of the Week plan. Oh well, maybe the progam should be called Photo Every Now and Then. This one was taken while I was visiting Christine and Adam in the Florida Keys. I don't remember exactly which key we were on at the time. I love sunsets, as anyone who has browsed this blog will know. I particularly like the vibrant colors in this picture, though the sun was setting about 120 degrees counter-clockwise from this angle.

Florida Keys, August 2006

Jesus and Snakes

I learned something new several weeks ago, and I am just now getting around to sharing. Unlike the horrifically ridiculous recent movie about Snakes on a Plane, this truth about snakes left me in awe and reminded me of the great mystery of Christ. In my community group at church, we have been studying the book of John. There is a passage in John 3:14-15 where Jesus says, "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

I don't know about you, but when I read that at first, it doesn't really amount to much. I'm not all that familiar with why Moses lifted the snake up in the desert, and I don't like snakes, and so I just kind of breeze past that to other verses, like the very next one which is the oh-so-famous John 3:16. But Jesus was not just talking out of his ear on this one. It really has a solid relationship to what the Jews would have known and understood. Thankfully someone showed me, and it is in Numbers 21:4-9. I will paraphrase a little of it and then quote some of it:

Basically, the Israelites were traveling in the desert, and they were getting disappointed with their "freedom" and said to Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!" Wow, talk about ungrateful whining people. So God's answer (despite his love for them) was to send venoumous snakes among them to bite them. Eventually they realized their sin in turning against God, so they went to Moses again to plead for his help. So Moses prayed to God for them, to which God replied, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live". Verse 9: "So Moses mode a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived."

Thousands of years later, Jesus says, "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

Isn't that amazing? Back in the desert with the Israelites, God was foreshadowing the coming of Christ! He knew, and he sent a symbolic representation of what was to come. And isn't it appropriate that a snake was used for the Israelites to represent our sin, since Satan is represented as a serpent in Genesis? So now, we today can take hold of this truth. We have been bitten by the serpent, and we are helpless in our sin as we wander in our own deserts. And if we look to Christ, who has absorbed our sin, we will live for all eternity. Now John 3:16 even makes more sense, while I previously thought that was rather a strange segway from verse 15 to 16.

Worship at it's Best

From a favorite of mine:

"O love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be."

If you took the time to read that, take a little more time and meditate on it. Believe what it says: that God will not let you go, that you can rest your weary soul in him, and that surrounded by the depths of who he is, your life will become more rich. It is easy to read and even sing these words without really thinking about how they should impact our every breath. And that's just the first verse, which I think is enough to dwell on for now.

What I Did in School Today

If I still lived at home, my mom would proudly hang this on the refrigerator. Did I mention yet that I am having fun in school?

Trial by Fire

Tonight was my first job as a banquet server (see blog August 2), and boy was it an interesting introduction to this line of work! I showed up about 20 minutes early, so the "captain" for the evening told me to wait until the start of the party. All I knew was what time it started and to be at the hotel a little early, nothing about the event. Well, I sat and waited a few minutes in the back area where the kitchen and all the storage rooms are. Then all of the sudden a frenzy began, someone handed my white gloves and told me to put them on, then they handed me a tray of hors d'oeuvres and sent me through some double-doors. Before I knew what was happening, I was being attacked by a hungry mob of well-dressed people, who I soon realized were the guests at a Jewish wedding reception. I ran in and out, refilling my tray, for the better part of an hour, and the mob finally seemed to be satiated with food after about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, I was swapping the tray from one arm to the other in the hopes that neither arm would fall off. Luckily, my arms did stay on. The night went on and continued into the next room, set up in typical wedding reception style with round tables and a dance floor. The party droned on forever, and my interest in observing the people and being an outsider at a wedding wore off as my back began to stiffen. I am happy to report that I did not drop or break anything, which was my goal for the evening. I also walked away with a souvenir that someone left on a table. Apparently they give these out at Jewish weddings to the men:

Public Service Announcement

I have to warn you, if you have not already seen the move Snakes on a Plane, DO NOT - I repeat DO NOT - waste your time, money, thoughts, etc on this movie!!!

Unfortunately someone (I will leave this person unnamed) reccommended this movie to myself and my classmates. So three of us went to see it last Saturday, and we were severely disappointed in this disgrace of a film. I wish I could explain why the movie was so bad, but it's just one of those things that is inexplicable. I think the three of us kept waiting for the movie to redeem itself, and then when it ended with no redeeming qualities, we realized just how bad it was. The only decent part of the evening was that we saw it at the drive-in theater here in Atlanta, which was pretty cheap and a nice alternative to the $8-9 per person at a normal theater. Other than that, the whole evening was a waste.

This Screen is Ginormous!

Seriously, I can hardly see from one side of the screen to the other without backing up... I am at a desk/computer terminal station in a new area of the GT library. This screen must be at least 20 inches across - that's horizontally, not diagonally. So the diagonal measurement has to be something like 24 inches. It's so big that I have to reduce the size of the viewing window just to keep things under control!

So now that I got that off my chest, I'll get back to the books.

Hi, I'm "---------", May I Touch Your Feet Now?

The above introduction characterizes one aspect of the first week of class for me and my classmates. First we were shaking hands and finding out where everyone is from... next thing you know, we are palpating each other's bony landmarks. I actually asked someone on Friday if I could please feel their subtalar joint, and that was ok (it's just in the foot). Anyway, I'm sure this is a common encounter in medical academia, but it has been a first for me. It was not uncomfortable, as we are all equally in the position of knowing this is just how we will have to learn, but I found it rather amusing how quickly we progressed from introductions to palpations.

Other thoughts from the first week...

I don't know if I will ever be able to read fast enough to keep up with all of our reading assignments. I didn't do the math, but I think we have averaged about 500 pages per week for the first 2 weeks.

Despite the fact that we will be VERY BUSY and quite challenged to keep up with all the info, I couldn't be more excited about this stuff.

I am wicked excited about starting our clinical rotations. For this semester, they are assigned and pre-determined. My roommate and I lucked up and got orthopedics first, so we will be watching ortho surgeries for our first two rotation weeks (which is just one day a week).

Note to self: ALWAYS carry umbrella in Atlanta.

Momma's Girl

This morning I took my dog for her first visit to the dog park at Piedmont Park. The experience surprisingly felt like I was taking her to her first day of kindergarten. The park is set up so that once you are inside the fence, which has a double-gate secure entryway, your dog can run freely off of a leash, play with other dogs, or play fetch. I fully expected Kelsey to dart off and start mingling with the other dogs, of which there were many, as soon as I took off her leash. Instead, she all of a sudden became shy and stood right by me, nervously looking around at all the other dogs as they played. Due to her tendency to run off at any given opportunity and ensue a chase, I was extremely surprised by this reaction. It was nice to know, for once, that she trusted me and looked to me for security when facing this new group of "kids". Eventually, she did warm up to the crowd and start walking around. At first though, instead of playing with other dogs, she was walking up to people and seeking attention, which she easily got. I hate to admit it, but my dog is a much better and more successful flirt than I am. Later she ventured away from humans and played with a few other dogs, and she actually came right back to me when I called her! I was so relieved, having pictured an embarrassing scene of chasing her around when it was time to go, as all the well-trained dogs and refined dog-owners looked on. By the end of our 30-minute visit, Kelsey was whipped, which was the general goal of the morning. All in all, we had a succesful first day at kindergarten.

New Beginning

My new classmates and I are currently a little over half-way through our first week as students in the Georgia Tech MSPO program, and I could not be more excited about what lies ahead of us. I admit that I am a little anxious about the amount if information that must be learned, the rigor of our schedule, and the reality of learning to work with patients for the first time. However, the slight amount of anxiety is far outweighed by a feeling of privilege to be here along with sheer joy that it has finally arrived. If you have kept up with my blog for any amount of time (all three of you), then you know the path that I have traveled – mentally, physically, and emotionally – on my journey to this point. As I have met my new classmates, soon to be my nine best friends, and as we have been introduced this week to the program for which we are here, I have become more excited each day with anticipation. There is some element of the already-but-not-yet feeling (for those PCAers out there that know the phrase), or the realization that I am here but that the road ahead is a long and potentially never-ending one. I am seeing the reality that two years of school followed by two years of residency will hardly scratch the surface of being able to learn all there is to know and understand in the field of prosthetics and orthotics. Nonetheless, I can’t wait to get started, and I am so thankful of the constant reminder that we are here to help people. This end goal is a refreshing one after working so hard in an environment that revolved around the almighty dollar for so long. Granted, the nuclear industry is focused on safety and other very important goals also, but at the end of the day if the dollar isn’t there then the plants wouldn’t be either. I am seeing in the world of prosthetics and orthotics that the dollar is important to the extent that everyone will hopefully be able to feed their families, but otherwise the focus is wholeheartedly on serving people with limb loss or muscle/nervous deficiency. From what we have been told so far, our class will hit the ground running next Monday morning, and we will hardly breathe again until our graduation, which will be one year and nine months from now. Thankfully, we have been given the motivation to jump in feet first and embrace this challenge with all that we have and are. I fully intend this to not only be my second but also my last and best career. Let the journey begin!

Vacation: Over

Alas, the time has come. My freedom to travel, relax, and basically bum around is finally over. I feel that I took the most advantage I could, on a budget, of the time I have had off this summer. The last several trips were to Tennessee, the Florida Keys, and Lakeland, FL (in the titillating County of Polk). I’ll summarize the best I can each of these trips, though I lack photos for most of the great adventures. This post should probably be split into many, but I am just not in the mood, so here goes...

Julie and I drove up to Tennessee for the last weekend of July to take advantage of a lovely log home there which is owned by a previous co-worker of mine. The home is situated high on a mountainside just outside the city of Townsend, TN and just north of the border of Great Smokey Mountain National Park. Despite simple furnishings, the place is well-appointed with all one might need, including a full kitchen, audio/video equipment, garden tub, and our favorite perk – a Jacuzzi on the back screened-in porch. While I had preceded this trip with another trip, and thus was sufficiently rested and relaxed, Julie had extracted herself from the tiring busy-ness of life, thus she particularly needed the R&R. We spent most of the drive there catching up (having not really done so for almost 3 months). After arriving, we made a quick side trip to Pigeon Forge to visit a friend of Julie’s from her school years who happened to live in the area and was recovering from knee surgery. Friday and Saturday nights were pleasantly identical: dinner at the house, movie on DVD while relaxing on the leather sofa and lay-z-boy, and last but not least a relaxing visit to the Jacuzzi. Saturday morning we woke to the sound of rain on the tin roof of the house, and we gladly stayed inside to enjoy the comforts of the cabin while waiting for the rain to subside. I tried unsuccessfully to start a fire several times (only as we were cleaning up Sunday afternoon did I discover the “fire-starter” logs). Late in the afternoon, the sun came out, so we decided to hike the Chimney Tops Trail. As you can see, it is touted as a strenuous hike on the sign, and we found that to be exactly the case. I suppose the view was worth the climb, as the sign also claims, but I think it would have been nicer on a less cloudy day. Needless to say, the Jacuzzi felt even better on Saturday night after the “strenuous” hike. My muscles weren’t terribly sore until Sunday, but I obviously got a good workout on the way to the chimney top.

The following week, on Thursday, I flew from Atlanta to Miami to visit Christine and Adam. Christine planned on picking me up at the airport, and all was going well until… we had touched base after I landed, and she was going to call me when she reached the airport to meet up. Well, while I was waiting, I managed to drop my cell phone, which split into two pieces. Despite frantic efforts on my part, I could not get the phone to turn on again, so I had no way to contact Christine and vice versa. About 45 minutes later, I decided it would be worthwhile to leave my spot outside and try to call a mutual friend, because I could not remember Christine’s cell number. I tried Holly, which cost me a dollar in change, and left a message to have her call Christine and explain my location. About 20 minutes later, when I still hadn’t seen Christine (who, in the meantime, got frustrated with the Miami airport and decided to park and go inside to look for me), I miraculously remembered her cell number and begged from a stranger for 15 cents so I would have another dollar in change. So I was able to finally reach her, and we found each other in the airport about 10 minutes later. Whew! What a start to the trip! Thankfully it got much better from there. Every day was a new adventure as we explored the Keys and saw exotic animals of various kinds everywhere we went. My favorite day was Saturday, when we went sailing together on Adam’s sailboat, which I think is about a 12-footer. I have never experienced the excitement and slight fear of capturing the strength of the wind in order to go from place to place. After the initial fears wore off, though, I was in awe of the mixture of complexity and simplicity with which a sailboat operates. The idea is of course fairly simple: raise a huge taut sheet and turn it so the wind blows into it. The complexity comes in when the sails must be angled precisely in order to maximize wind usage while avoiding boat tippage. It’s also interesting how simple each pulley and rope is, but the sheer amount of pulleys and ropes is enough to challenge the driver each time a sudden move must be made. Thankfully, Adam knows just enough about sailing that we were able to get around quite well despite the fickleness of the wind, which absolutely disappeared a few times. We stopped at two different keys, or islands. At the first one we ate lunch (which we had packed), Christine and I went snorkeling, and we all swam down a small channel in the middle of the island. We felt like we were on Lord of the Flies or something, exploring around the little island. Thankfully we weren’t actually trapped, because we probably would have starved or been eaten alive by mosquitoes pretty rapidly. At the second island we got out and walked around in some shallow water, saw a few fish (I can’t remember which kind), and then headed back as it was getting late and we were getting hungry. Other highlights of the trip included seeing the local Key Deer and large iguanas, hanging out with some of Christine and Adam’s teacher friends, and a walk on the Seven Mile Bridge during which we saw some huge starfish and stingrays below us in the water. For those of you who know Christine and Adam, let me recommend to you a visit to their new home. It is worth even the hassle of the ridiculous Miami airport, though I would recommend flying directly into Key West if you can afford it.

My most recent trip, following the Keys, was a visit to Lakeland, FL with my mom to see some of our relatives. We stayed with my mom’s cousin Donna and her husband Tom, and also saw their kids (who are close to my age) Rachel and Curt as well as my mom’s Uncle Curtis. Curt and his wife also have a baby, Jackson, who we met for the first time. We used to go to Florida once a year, but we now rarely make the voyage, so it was a long overdue visit. On the way down, we saw a family carrying their Aunt Edna on top of their car, as seen in the photo.

Most of the time in Lakeland was spent visiting and eating large delicious meals. Not bad for a final summer vacation. I went out one night with Rachel and a friend of hers for sushi and then to the happening bars of downtown Lakeland. We had a good time visiting and catching up. One night my mom and I drove to Brandon (near Tampa) to visit a good friend of hers and stay the night. We also did some shopping and saw the movie World Trade Center. I’ll have more to say about that later. My mom’s Uncle Curtis is 89 years old and still getting around quite well, which we were happy to see. He has a predictable but nice daily routine: mow two strips of yard for exercise, get dressed in afternoon for dinner, stop at country club and have two beers with friends (none of whom can hear), go to Donna and Tom’s house and sit in personally reserved chair for 5-15 minutes, eat dinner, return to chair, drink half a cup of coffee, say goodnight and return home. We are all a little nervous about him driving, but he seems to do just fine. Also of interest is the family cat, Tigger. Tigger is 17 years old and is the most relaxed cat I have ever seen. This ability to relax is not a function of age, for Tigger has always had the gift of relaxation. I took a little video so you can see for yourself.

Places to Go and People to See

I am happy to report that I did finally fall asleep last night, maybe around 1am, but I slept. Thank goodness. And now I am preparing to try to go to bed shortly (around 10pm) so I can wake up at 4am and head to the airport for my 6am flight. I don't know what I was thinking when I booked this flight except that I wanted to get to the Keys as early as possible to hang out with Christine and Adam. Sounded good at the time.

I wish I had time to write a little about this past weekend in the mountains in Tennessee, but I guess I missed my chance during the last few days. I managed to stay pretty busy despite my lack of job - in fact, I think I got a job today. I am succumbing to the need of the hour and will be working for $10/hr as a server for downtown hotels and country clubs. If I learn bartending, which in these cases is basically pouring wine and maybe mixing whiskey and cokes, I can make $11/hr plus tips. I kind of joked about bartending while I am back in school, and I honestly didn't realize that was an option when I sought this job, but hey I think it will be fun. And lets face it, the bills must get paid. Anyway, that is one of the little things that got taken care of this week.

I don't know when I will be back to blogging, but eventually I will try to record all the vacation activities, including the Tennessee trip. After the Keys, I fly back to Atlanta and then my mom and I are driving to Lakeland, FL for 5 days. When I return from that trip, my grad school orientation will start the next day. Yikes! I have to say, I have made the most of my time off this summer. A trip to Italy would have been nice, but I am not complaining. I love the Southeast, and I have hit most of it in the last month.

Ok, off to bed. I hope I am not back at the computer whining about not being able to sleep anytime tonight!

Insomnia

This never happens to me, but I am so amazed by it that I had to at least make a quick note about it. I tried to go to bed tonight at around 10:30 (in anticipation of getting to bed early tomorrow night for a very early flight Thurs morning) and I have succeeded only in tossing and turning for an hour and a half. I haven't even slightly dozed off - I am just completely wide awake. I have not had any caffeinated drinks tonight, though I did take 2 caffeine-containing Excedrin before dinner. I had one very small glass of red wine, which typically makes me sleepy, especially if I have more than I did tonight. Anyway, I am baffled, and frustrated, and awake. So I just thought I would share. I apologize that this could not be more exciting news.

Good Times!

For the last several weeks, I have been mentally preparing myself for what I always thought would be a dreaded affair – the 10 year high school class reunion. In actuality, it turned out to be an unexpectedly relaxed and fun-filled weekend here in Baton Rouge.

In order to soften the shock factor of stepping back into the old crowds from high school, and to warm up our reminiscing muscles, I met two friends for dinner Friday night who I have kept in touch with over the years (Natalie and Sarah, who are in the first photo below with me). After dinner, we somewhat reluctantly headed to a local bar, The Fox and Hound, to meet up with our former classmates. We did not have the bar to ourselves, which complicated the matter a bit, because we were constantly trying to determine if any given person was with us or not with us. Lucky for us, almost everyone looked pretty much the same after ten years, so we had little trouble recognizing our old friends. Most of our conversation that first night was spent catching up on the basics of who is doing what and where they are living, meeting spouses and significant others, and basically reestablishing our bearings with one another.

Saturday morning, I had most of the girls over for brunch at my parents’ house, and we pored over hilarious high school pictures for a few hours. From freshman year parties, sleepovers, homecoming dances, proms, drama events, and various amateur athletic endeavors, we managed to relive most of the worthwhile memories. Out of the dozen or so of us at the brunch, we had five who were married, three with children already, and two who were pregnant. We agreed to attempt a girls’ beach getaway in five years so that we don’t go another ten years without seeing one another.


The main event, Saturday night, was kind of like a wedding reception but for the most part more fun and much less proper. We mostly agreed that it was a very classy evening, everyone dressed well for the cocktail party, the food was fancy, the setup elegant. There was a slide show of high school photos, a few awards for those who traveled the furthest and those who had the most interesting jobs, and a group photo. Then the DJ took over and played all of our favorite songs from high school, to which we danced our hearts out and acted a fool just like old times. A group of us continued on for a few more hours at an LSU bar up the street, and we fittingly ran into several other people who went to high school with us but were in other classes. We were all having such a good time that it was with much reluctance that we finally started heading home around 1:30 or so in the morning. I never thought I would say this, but I am definitely looking forward to the next high school class reunion…

Poor Guy

I've been doing my best to keep up with the most recent uprising in the Middle East. So far my favorite guy involved is:

Lebanon Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat

How do ya like that name? I hope he doesn't have a daughter. If so, she's probably extremely self-conscious about her weight.

Paralympics

Last weekend at about this time, I was finishing up a 2-day adventure as a volunteer/spectator/fan at the 2006 U.S. National Paralympic Track and Field Championships right here in the fine city of Atlanta. I must say, I didn’t know what to expect, but I was blown away by what I saw and more importantly who I saw. I saw an elite group of world-class athletes, all of whom carried with them onto the track (or field) a disability. The afflictions ranged from a mere amputated hand to severe paralysis and quadriplegia. These men and women (and a few boys and girls) were at their top form and certainly made me – a not-so-inactive healthy individual – feel rather lazy. I noted with wonder the reality that regardless of how many muscles remained in operable status for each of these athletes, they used each muscle fiber to its maximum potential. Most, in addition to their level of paralysis, also suffered from other effects of spinal damage, such as the inability to sweat. This of course poses a slight problem in Georgia in the middle of the summer, but it was just another day at the track for these athletes - a little wet sponge here and spray of water there, and they were able to cool down just fine. One of the amputee sprinters, a female with a left below-knee amputation, replied to my question about the degree of her disability that she just had a scratch compared to most of her peers on the track that day. The next time I actually have a bona fide scratch and am tempted to whine and seek pity, I will remember to keep this in perspective.

As for track events that I was able to witness, there were various lengths of wheelchair races, from 100m up to 5000m. I must be a slow learner, because I must have watched this for nearly 5-6 hours before finally noticing the gloved hands of each of the competitors and that many of the gloves were specially made and molded to fit their fisted hands during competition.

The wheelchairs themselves are impressively sleek and compact. I wanted badly to sit in one and get the feel of how they operate, but as a severe new-comer to the scene, I decided to wait for another event or opportunity. In addition to wheeling these chairs around the track and all over the stadium during the day of competition, the racers have to haul these things from all over the world in airports and hotels and on buses to reach their competition locations. Most could be seen at some point in their “everyday” chairs, wheeling with one hand and pushing their racing chair in front with the other hand. And I thought hauling my bike around was rather cumbersome.

My favorite events, though it was a close call, were the “ambulatory” races. This classification is for amputees with prosthetics or for athletes with other disabilities that do not confine them to a wheelchair, such as blindness. It was absolutely exhilarating to watch as some of the fastest sprinters in the world whizzed by me on the track with one or two prosthetic legs, one or no arms, or a “guide” runner for those who could not see well enough to run alone. I witnessed many new world records for 100m sprints and even held the starting blocks for one bilateral upper limb amputee from Nigeria who broke the 100m record for his classification. Classifications for the paralympic competitions are based on the athlete’s level of disability, and this “levels the playing field”, so to speak, for who competes with whom. I would explain that further, but I really don’t understand all the classifications yet. Obviously someone with two amputated legs is in a different class from someone with one amputated leg, and the blind or deaf are separated as well, etc. The amputee sprinter in this photo is April Holmes, an American who was present at the competition and won every race I saw her compete in.

After this first initiation into the world of paralympic competition, I must admit that I am completely hooked (if you hadn’t noticed). I’m not only inspired to make the most of every muscle fiber that I am blessed to have, but I am also inspired by their determination and commitment to make the most of every day regardless of whether I am tackling a physical, mental, or emotional challenge. I do not even begin to yet understand the daily challenges that these fine athletes face, along with their less athletic peers, just to dress, shower, eat, go to the bathroom – all of the things that I take for granted as I gripe and complain about whatever happens to be my topic of choice for the day. The bottom line is, regardless of whether we walk, roll, or crawl through this world with a disability, none of us are home. We were not created for this world as it exists today, with pain and suffering and anger and frustration and disappointment, with missing limbs and atrophied muscles or with broken hearts. We were created for something so much better, a perfect place in which we are in perfect relationship with our creator. And we will one day be there again. But until then, we must face each day with courage and with determination, and we must help each other remember that our home will be there waiting for us when these days pass. I applaud the paralympic athletes who I had the pleasure of watching and meeting for demonstrating that resolve.

Photos above are from: http://howtoadapt.com/RacingWheelchair/RacingWheelchair.shtml and http://www.usolympicteam.com/paralympics/news_47603.htm

It Just Keeps Getting Better

There are no words to describe my delight at finding the object below this morning for a mere $5 at the Peachtree Expo.

Reason #84658 Why I Love Waffle House

I have been thinking this past week about trying to get a number for the Peachtree Road Race, as this is my first summer living in Atlanta and it just seems like the right thing to do. So this morning I did in fact find someone who is unable to run and will be selling me a number. Anyway, I started looking up some info on the race course and details, and lo and behold, guess who one of the sponsors is: you guess it, Waffle House! How many diners do you think sponsor sporting events? Probably not many. Granted, Waffle House probably doesn't make a habit of it. As if the hashbrowns weren't enough, this is just another in a long line of reasons that I love Waffle House. Now I feel like I should eat there before the race, but then again, I think I won't.

Foot in Mouth

Ok, I have to admit, and I might as well admit publicly, I have been put in my place by God himself tonight. This past Sunday, I heard a sermon entitled, "Why be a Generous Christian?" by a pastor visiting Intown Community Church from a church in Colorado Springs. I was not particularly impressed with the sermon for a few reasons:

(1) It was obviously a canned sermon that this particular pastor preaches all over creation. This was obvious by the speed with which he spoke and the fact that he was selling a book and giving seminars on the very topic of his sermon.
(2) The sermon incorporated a few biblical references but largely emphasized the stories of people who trusted God for such-and-such money and had miracles occur to provide that money.

Now, don't get me wrong, I do believe that God provides for us. I do believe that when we trust him and pray specifically for his provision that he can provide for our needs if he so desires. Despite my belief in these truths, though, I actually verbally (out loud, to other people) stated that the sermon was lacking because of the implied cause-and-effect relationship between trusting God for something and having it provided by God. This may not be making any sense, but lets just say that I was somewhat of a naysayer in response to the stories of faithful people who received abundant returns (financially) from God. And now God enters into this story of my unbelief...

Earlier this evening, I sat down and balanced my checkbook. I looked ahead to next month's expected expenses and tried to decide how much money to budget for the month. I came up with a number that seemed a bit low and did not account for unforeseen expenses, but I decided to go ahead and budget with this amount and trust that God would arrange for me to make it through the month without overdrawing my checking account. I then packed up my backpack and headed to Starbucks to study. I normally study at home, but I wanted a change of scenery, and I decided that one trip to Starbucks (I have not been yet since moving here) would be ok, especially if I only bought regular coffee instead of my favorite cafe au lait. Well, I ordered a regular coffee, the guy went to pour it before taking my money, and then he turned around to tell me it was still brewing and would be a few minutes. I said that would be fine, that I would go ahead and pay for it and he could just yell when it was ready. He then waves his hand and says that this one will be on him since he will be inconveniencing me with having to wait for my freshly brewed coffee. I insisted that it was no inconvenience at all, but he still would not let me pay. Hmm, interesting "coincidence". THEN, I sat down and started studying, and they guy completely forgot about my coffee. I waited and waited, made eye contact and everything, and he just did not remember. So I went up to the counter and reminded him, at which point he briskly whipped a coupon out of his pocket for a free "any starbucks beverage" and apologized profusely for having now inconvenienced me twice in one visit. I could not believe this was happening (seriously, I never get free stuff), but I took the coupon and took my coffee and continued to study.

On my way home, I had to laugh at myself, thinking (despite the relatively small amount of freebies) that I had just seen an example of God providing for me , literally right after I had prayed about my monthly expenses. I love it when God takes me by surprise like that, answering prayer when I really don't even expect Him to. It makes me feel like an idiot, but sometimes I need to be reminded that I'm just a kid, just a child of God who has to be reminded every day that He loves me, listens to me, and looks out for me. What a great reminder.

Love Never Dies

Unfortunately, it seems that I have lost one of my favorite CDs, Andrew Peterson's "Love and Thunder". I love the music on the CD, but mostly I love the lyrics. Andrew has a gift for words and specifically for putting God's truth and the cry of our hearts into words that ring so true to life. Lucky for me, though I don't have the music to listen to, I do still have the CD case and therefore the written lyrics. My favorite part that he wrote is actually not a song but what he wrote on the inside cover. It is so good that I can smell and feel the atmosphere as he describes it, and I can taste the vastness and goodness of God as I read this:

"All over the quiet plains, beneath the snow on the high mountain, rustling through the cattails that congregate along the water, you can feel the presence of promise. On cold nights when you look at the sky, sometimes your breath catches in your throat at how bright the night can be. The dark spaces between the stars aren't as dark as you thought they were; not nearly as dark as the tree line on the horizon, and as you stand there shivering with your hands bunched in your pockets suddenly you remember that you're standing on a rock in the middle of space. Suddenly the notion that there's a Someone who made it all and knows us all no longer seems quite so far-fetched; indeed, it seems too good to be false.

But here we toil and we till the hard earth, where even the warm times with friend and kin are lonely because we know they won't last long enough to quiet the ache. Our sadness points to Home the way hunger points to the feast, the way the light of the cratered moon is always facing the sun, always pointing to where the dawn will come like a pillar of fire when this rock we walk on turns again to burning day. All over the quiet plains and the cold stone cities full of dying and shame the promise is not drowned out by the weeping; it is declared by it.

God died as a man and rose again, and the sound of the fiery blast of Death exploding shook the firmament. Throughout the wail and shudder, over the shriek and moan of man the thunder has sounded and sung, and it is both the answer and the promise. It sings still, and you can hear what it says if you listen: love never dies."

Grocery Store Incosistencies

One of the little nuances of moving that hit me this week is the "new-grocery-store-organization-learning-curve". Now, I have visited my new (old, but new to me) local Kroger several times since moving here to Atlanta, but yesterday I really got stumped over an item on my list.

During one of my first trips to this store, which is significantly larger than any of the Kroger stores in Augusta, I spent about 10 minutes searching around the freezer section area for ice cream. What threw me off with the ice cream was a small section of ice cream located at one of the little end freezers. Inside this small freezer was an assortment of Kroger brand ice cream containers and a few varieties of popscicles. I of course insisted on finding the Breyers (I may be a student, but I still have taste buds), so I searched back and forth and up and down the adjoining aisles before finally finding the ice cream - on the same aisle as the beer. Not a bad combination, but I have not seen this particular storage strategy before. Anyway, that was several weeks ago, and most of my other trips were relatively uneventful until last night...

I had a little trouble finding minced garlic, but that did not stump me nearly as significantly as the Saltine crackers. At my previous Kroger location, the Saltines were located somewhere in the vicinity of the snacks, which were near the cereals on the right side of the store upon entering. At this new Kroger, the "Crackers" are located way on the left side of the store, one aisle over from the chips and sodas. After much searching on the right side of the store near the cereals and soups, I finally zeroed in on this "Cracker" aisle and figured I had finally found the Saltines. I quickly walked down the aisle with no luck, so then I slowly walked back up the aisle and still had no luck. Then I went one aisle over and scoured the "Chips and Pretzels" but still no luck. I sighed and proceeded back towards the trusty right side of the store, thinking of course the Saltines will be over there just like they were in Augusta - I must have just missed something. Finally, after this failed me again and I had procured everything else on my list, I asked one of the stockers where the Saltines were, and he directed me to the left side of the store. So I went back over and repeated the previously described search to no avail. After almost giving up on the elusive Saltines, I asked another employee and FINALLY was directed to the "Snacks" aisle, which did in fact contain the Saltines. This aisle was way beyond the "Crackers" and the "Chips and Pretzels", beyond even the beer, ice cream, and all other frozen foods. It was on one of the farthest aisles to the left, next to the Bakery. I have no idea who decided to string out the crackers, chips, and snacks in separate locations, who decided that Saltines are in fact "Snacks" instead of "Crackers", or who allows Kroger locations to adopt such vastly different store organization strategies, but I do know that the next time I do not find an item right away at the Howell Mill Rd. Kroger, I will immediately ask for help before wasting 20 minutes walking up and down aisles in a grocery store stupor.

Ahh, The Weekend has Begun

I am happy to report that the blog is back up and running (though not new and improved), and I am also back up and running after yesterday's test. In fact, the test wasn't that bad. I can't say I aced either the written or practical sections, but they were not as hard as I had expected. I almost feel that I over-studied, but that is a much better feeling than under-studying.

The movie last night at Piedmont was great! There must have been about 10,000 people there, all sprawled out on the lawn with blankets, pillows, food, beverages, you name it. Everyone was so closely packed in that you literally could not walk through the crowd without stepping on people's blankets, but they also had aisles marked out for walking. The best part about it was we were watchhing Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and of course 99% of the people there knew it by heart. So for all the great lines -- "Bueller, Bueller, Bueller", "anyone, anyone...the Great Depression", "he'll keep calling me, he'll keep calling me until I come over" -- the crowd was reciting in unison. And during the parade when Ferris gets up and sings Twist&Shout, about half of the crowd got up and twisted and shouted. It was like a gigantic slumber party in the park!

Other thoughts of the week:
(1) When I get home from being gone for any amount of time, my dog walks right up to me and unabashedly indicates that she must be rubbed and touched immediately as though it is a matter of life and death. She indicates this by whining pathetically and rolling over on her back in such a way that she is covering at least part of my feet. This way I must touch her, even if it is just to move her out of the way. Wouldn't it be great if we, as humans, could so openly express our need for contact every day. Most of us go about our days in our little solitary worlds and even go out of our way to NOT touch people. But I'm not ashamed to admit that at the end of the day I often feel like Kelsey: could someone please just rub my back a little and show me the love?

(2) The more time I spend with The Captain in lab (and the other cadaver, which is female), the more I have been having strange thoughts about our mortality. I expected to be shocked by having to face death on the first day of class and basically get used to the idea, but that's not how it's happened at all. I have gotten used to being around the bodies, the smell, and the idea of dissecting literally EVERY part of the body. I am not, however, getting used to the idea of death itself. It is very strange. I mean, I have thought about it before, and I know we will all die, and I understand that is just the way of the universe, and I am certainly comforted sometimes when I think about heaven versus life on this earth. But it is still just eerie to realize how our bodies work and how vulnerable they are and how we just don't know when life will expire for us. I know this is not the most pleasant of topics, but I am just getting my thoughts out there to try to sort through them. I guess the reality of each day being a gift and not a given is a good way to sum up my thoughts so far.

(3) On a related but different note, as we are learning about the human body, I have been awestruck by the brilliance and intricacy of our bodies. I have learned much of the facts before, but seeing the reality of how everything fits together and realizing how we are literally "knit together" as the Psalmist says has baffled me. I don't see how anyone could possibly believe that anything other than God himself is responsible for taking ONE CELL, a zygote, and creating from that a living and breathing human being. If you have no real conception of what is under your skin, trust me it is absolutely amazing!

(4) And finally, last but not least, I would like to once again comment on my love for Atlanta. This week I have particularly appreciated the exercise-friendliness of the city. I have been running and realizing that no matter where I go, there is always either a sidewalk or a worn trail on the side of the road from previous runners. And the cyclists are everywhere! I love seeing them and would love to be riding around as well, but I have not yet been bold enough to brave the curvy streets around here for fear of cars.

Blog on Pause

Not much to say tonight except to report that this blog will be on hold until sometime next week. The anatomy class has presented me with more information than I can possibly absorb for our test this Thursday, and we still have tomorrow's lecture/dissection on everything dealing with the hand. Needless to say, I will be busy studying until Thursday. Our class will then celebrate Thursday night, assuming we survive the ordeal. Included in the festivities for that evening, we will be going to Screen on the Green at Piedmont Park, which will be Ferris Bueller's Day Off this week. Friday I will leave town for Mobile to go to DeLisa and Nick's wedding. They are friends of mine from Plant Vogtle. We were all baby engineers together. Now they are grown-up engineers, and I decided not to grow up as an engineer.

The Weekend is Slipping Away...

I suppose before I get caught up in another whirlwind of a week, I may as well record a few thoughts from the weekend....this will be random, but that's just a product of the way my weekend has been.

First of all, after the post on Saturday, I spent the rest of the day studying (sort of). I realized in the late afternoon and evening that my focus problem was probaby resulting from (1) being overwhelmed with mass amounts of information from class, and (2) finally starting to absorb the reality of what I have done over the last few months - as in quit my job, move, and start an entirely new career. Don't get me wrong, I am still happy about the decision, but that doesn't make it any less strange, and it doesn't make me any less lonely when I am buried in books on Saturday night. I spent some time last night trying to decide which church to visit today. As with restaurants and other various venues in Atlanta, there are more churches than I could possibly visit in the next two years. I finally decided to narrow my search to fairly close proximity (staying inside the perimeter). I am not determined to only visit PCA churches, but most of the other church websites I have visited (including some PCA) do not look like what will be a good fit for me.

I narrowed today's choices to about 4 locations and finally decided on the closest one, which was Christ Church Presbyterian. It was a good visit. I unfortunately have in my head a rudimentary grading system, which is not intended to judge the church but nonetheless helps me determine if I want to return. This church had a few people who scored highly on friendliness and a few who scored almost zero. I try to base this on mainly whether people take the initiative to greet me when given the right situation. For example, I sat down in the Sunday school class this morning at a round table across from 3 people. They all simply stared at me for about 20 seconds. Trust me, 20 seconds is a long time to sit across from people like that when you are the visitor. Anyway, finally one of them spoke up. I would have introduced myself first, but I was literally dumbfounded by how inconsiderate these people were. They were not talking amongst themselves, but literally sat there and made eye contact with me without saying a word. Anyway, there were several other people who were much more friendly and inviting. On to other scores... the preaching scored very highly. The senior pastor is British, so he gets points for the pleasant accent, not to mention he was well-spoken and preached straight from the scripture passage, which happened to be in Titus 1. The worship was also good, though I find it hard to immerse myself in worship in a new environment amongst a group of strangers. We had communion, and a slight lack of direction showed through because I had no idea what to do with my little cup when we were done. I didn't even see what anyone else did with theirs, because we were sitting, standing, and singing all during the communion. The atmosphere scored fairly low, though this will not make or break any church for me. The sanctuary almost had a warehouse feel and was decorated (in my opinion) kind of out of date. The best visual part about this room was the art displayed on the back wall, but I didn't notice that until I was on my way out. I guess that's more than enough about the church. I didn't really report on the one I went to last week, Intown Community Church. It scored high on friendliness, worship, and facilities. The preaching was good the morning I was there, but I listened to some older sermons that were kind of lacking direction. This is probably because they are in between senior pastors and have different people preaching every week.

In other news, I have already managed to let my checking account slip to require overdraft protection. Stupid! I haven't yet figured out the optimal plan for trasferring funds each month from my savings to checking (as I have no income), so obviously this month I was a bit late in making that transfer.

I noticed today that there is a Fresh Market on Peachtree Road, not too far from my place. I also noticed that this Fresh Market has a parking garage. A parking garage. For a grocery store. I love it. Thankfully, there is an elevator to prevent having to haul groceries down the stairs.

And last but not least, one more random thought. I have been reading some in Gray's Anatomy to accompany the other 3 books I have for class. I noticed in the author's bio that Henry Gray died at the age of 34. If you have ever read Gray's Anatomy, you will realize that this man accomplished a remarkable amount of work in his 34 years. The book literally describes every tiny portion of every part of every tissue or structure in the human body. It's amazing. To make it even more remarkable, he wrote it in the mid-1800s. I hope that in 6 years, when I am 34, I will have produced even a tenth of the amount of valuable information that Gray has left for us. Unfortunately, this blog will probably not count as part of that valuable information.

Lack of Blog

I will start by clarifying that the lack of blog this week has not been due to lack of material. It's been a very full and interesting week, but I've been quite busy. Last weekend I was pretty bored hanging around Atlanta mostly by myself, but I won't be bored again for at least another 6 weeks. My summer anatomy class started on Wednesday, and we will will be literally covering the whole body inside and out over the short span of six weeks. I will spare most details on the cadaver experience for a few reasons:
(1) I don't want to offend anyone who doesn't like such subjects.
(2) There really aren't sufficient words to describe the experience.

So if you have been there and done that, then you probably know what I mean. If you have not, trust me it is a unique, disturbing, interesting, humbling, demanding, and invigorating experience. If anyone else who has experienced it would like to offer up some adjectives, please share. I will say that my group is great and I know we will really glean a lot from this course. We have named our cadaver The Captain, so if I reference that name in the future you will know to whom I am referring.

Other happenings of the week included a small dinner party on Tuesday night with a few classmates, a trip to the Fabulous Fox Theatre on Thursday night to see the movie Crash, and the Jimmy Buffet concert last night at the HiFi Buys Amphitheatre. That was my first time to see Jimmy Buffet in concert, and I have to say I enjoyed it for the most part. Unfortunately, about an hour before the show, Atlanta experienced the worst rain and thunderstorm in recent memory, complete with terrifying lightning and raging rivers in the streets. I waited for most of this to pass and decided to go ahead and go to the concert, where we had "lawn" seats. The rain continued on and off for the entire evening, so for the first hour of the concert I was basically miserable and wishing I had not decided to tough it out. But after I was sufficiently soaked and able to stop kicking myself, I thoroughly enjoyed the music and had a great time.

After the concert, our group stopped at Waffle House for coffee and a midnight meal. I am sorry to report that we received absolutely sub-par service. We must have been there 20 minutes before anyone even had a cup of hot coffee in front of them, and the rest of the experience was just as bad if not worse.

Today I have tried my best to study but am having trouble focusing. I decided around 11:30 to go to a nearby cafe and try to study there, but it turned out to be much less cool than it looked. Well, it actually was pretty cool, but there were no other customers. I also didn't see any employees in the cafe, so I wasn't feeling positive about being able to get lunch there. The place is part of Defoor Centre, which also has an art gallery and used book store. I walked through the book store (which is basically like a dilapidated library) and wasn't terribly impressed. One guy, apparently an employee, was sitting in the bookstore but was not very friendly. He obviously likes books more than people, as he managed to make eye contact with me but did not so much as say hello when I cheerily greeted him and asked how he was doing (as any good Southerner would do). So I left that place, picked up a sub to go, and now I'm back home trying to focus here. So far I have managed only to eat my sub and write this blog. Maybe now I will start studying.

Atlanta Notes

A few things noted thus far about Atlanta and it's largeness:

1. I now have 6 phone books instead of 1.
2. I cannot count the Waffle Houses, but I estimate there are between 150-200 in the Atlanta metro area. I have noticed there is no comprehensive map (that I can find) which marks all the WHs. I may make an attempt at this if I ever become computer savvy.
3. There are upwards of 80,000 registered tennis players.
4. No matter where you go, there is a parking "plan". As in, they will indicate either on their website or in front of their establishment where you can and cannot park if you are going to their place. This goes for restaurants, churches, everything.
5. Just minutes from my condo is the start of a paved trail (for biking, running, walking, etc) that extends all the way to the Georgia-Alabama state line. I think it's about 60 miles long. In Augusta, the longest trail of this type was approximately 6 miles long.
6. There are 10 Presbyterian PCA churches in Atlanta. That only includes Atlanta proper. There are more in Alpharetta and other such suburbs. I am not limiting my church search to the PCA, but it could take months just to visit all of these, which I don't intend to do.

This is all I have so far, after 2 days of officially living in Atlanta. I'm not overwhelmed by this city as much as I am just dumbfounded. I mean, I've been here before, but I've never fully appreciated the sheer swell of activity marked with such well established efficiency. The city is always growing and changing, but it is intimately in tune with and adapting to itself. I love it.

The Rest of the Story

The last post regarding Baton Rouge was made on Sunday afternoon. I did make it to that graduation party Sunday evening and saw all people I thought I would see minus Jill. I did see Jill's mother that night, though, so we arranged to get together later in the week for happy hour one day. It was so strange but so natural to be back in the midst of those old friends. I know they are like part of my family by how easy it is to hang out with them even after years go by without nearly enough communication. In fact, when I finally saw Jill on Tues evening and met her new husband, we decided it had been about 10 years since we had seen one another. I'm not sure how that happened, but I certainly hope it doesn't stretch that long again. I could go on about details of the evening on Sunday, but mostly it was just good old-fashioned catching up with people. Aunt Mary's house is still as great as I remembered. I always thought that they rented a frozen margarita machine for the annual Cinco de Mayo party, but I am happy to report that they actually own it. So I didn't miss all the Cinco fun after all. I unfortunately did not get any photos that evening, but I did get one with Jill and Mark on Tuesday night. Here we are atop the LSU Museum of Art downtown overlooking the Mississippi Bridge:

The restaurant/bar atop the museum is a sushi place called Tsunami and is a refreshingly cool place, with an obviously great veiw, for Baton Rouge.

Also, I mentioned Sarah's wedding previously but did not include photos. The first one below is of me, Sarah, and our friend Brandi. We were all friends starting at about age 4. Brandi and I played T-ball together, and we were all in girl scouts together. Brandi, sadly, moved when we were 14. It was great to get together again. The second photo is all of us from McKinley High that were at the wedding. From left, it is me, Kimee, Sarah, Cindy, and Amanda. We of course recounted the good old days and lamented the tragedy of working life. I was happy to report that I don't work anymore, though I think I will find soon that school may be harder than work was for me. We will all see each other again in July at our 10-year reunion.

The remainder of my visit, I tried as much as possible to pretend I was at the beach. Despite the lack of water, it worked pretty well. I ran every other day, walked the dog on off days, read a book, worked on my tan, etc. Tuesday morning I played Canasta with my mom's card group, which was fun. My last night, Wednesday night, my parents took me out for a very nice dinner at a place called Juban's. I got kudos because I ate everything on my plate, which included two veal chops served over mashed potatoes with crabmeat on top and some sort of asparagus-broccoli vegetable on the side. I also had a drink called "The New Old-Fasion", which was pretty good. A nice final meal (for this trip) in the greatest culinary state of these United States.

Red Stick Ramblings

I have been back home in Baton Rouge now since Thursday. It's funny, when I tell people in other places that I am from Baton Rouge, they always repeat the name back to me, but in the best fake Cajun-French accent they can muster. "Oh, Baatonne Roooje!?!" I always smile politely and nod, but I really think this is very obnoxious. If you don't live in Baton Rouge, trust me, the natives are not impressed with your best fake accent. And we don't say it that way anyway. I've tried to come up with a correlation, like if someone from Shanghai told me they were from Shanghai, and I said, "Oh, Shunghiiyah!" Thankfully I don't do that, nor have I heard anyone try, so why try to butcher Baton Rouge?

During my few days back here so far, which is my first visit in a year, I have been re-introduced very harshly to the oppressive heat in South Louisiana. If you live in middle to northern Alabama or anywhere in Georgia, I can assure you that what you think of as hot is no comparison to this. It's not even summer yet! I ran three miles this morning (morning, as in coolest time of day), and my body insisted it had been a marathon. You can't drink enough water to keep up with the constant loss of water due to massive perspiration. Oppressive is really the only word I can think of to describe it.

On a more lively note, I have truly enjoyed seeing some old friends, several of which I had not seen in many years. Most of my visits since college graduation (in 2000) have been brief ones during which I fly in, have some pre-arranged event to attend, spend 2-3 nights max, and fly back to Georgia. This visit has been pleasant due to my current jobless state, which is allowing me to stay for a week, not have to keep up with any work issues, and I also have my car because I drove here. After my arrival on Thursday, I drove over to my friend Sarah's house for a nice visit with her, her parents, and her best friend from college. Her wedding was last night, which was a big reason I came home this particular week and why she happens to be in town. The wedding was beautiful, and it was so great to see some of the other guests. Sarah and I have known one another since pre-school, and we were in school together through high school, so we had a lot of mutual friends and acquaintances over the years. One of our best grade school friends, Brandi, was at the wedding with her mother and gorgeous little five-year-old boy. Many of our parents' friends were there, most of whom my parents still stay in touch with but who I rarely see. Additionally, several of our high school friends were there. We stay in touch decently over e-mail, but we are rarely all in Baton Rouge at the same time.

Friday night, which I sort of skipped over, I went downtown with my parents for a great evening of live music called "Live After Five". We stayed for a few hours and spent some time walking around downtown to see the buildings that my dad is involved with some business deals for. His new office was in one of the buildings, and another one is an old hotel that he and his partner will be managing the renovation of. I wish I had gotten some pictures, as it was a beautiful late afternoon downtown, but I did not bring the camera. After a few cold beers, some jambalaya for an appetizer, and a good dose of bluesy soul music, my parents and I left the downtown party for a crawfish boil. What a treat the crawfish boil was! I didn't really know anyone there, though I met a very nice couple who had adopted a child from Romania 6 years ago. I spoke with that woman for most of the party and heard about her hopes and dreams for this little boy who they rescued from a dire situation in Bucharest. I went to Bucharest in 2002 on a mission trip and saw so many children there who are without homes or families, so it was encouraging to hear of at least one success story. After a long wait for the crawfish to be unveiled, we had the pleasure of eating our fill of some of the best boiled crawfish I have ever had. They also had jambalaya, boudin balls, and huge boiled shrimp. I had a few boudin balls but mainly stuck to the crawfish. I ate until I couldn't eat anymore - it was wonderful!

Back to visiting with friends... tonight I am headed to a graduation party for Emily, a high school friend who graduated yesterday from LSU Law School. This party will take place at Emily's Aunt Mary's house, a very lively and never-disappointing party venue. Aunt Mary also hosts an annual Cinco de Mayo party which I unfortunately missed this year. So tonight I will see Emily and many of our other friends from high school: Leanne who graduated yesterday from LSU Dental School and is getting married next month, Carrie (Leanne's sister) who is six months pregnant, and hopefully Jill who's wedding I missed in March.

As you can see, it has been a busy visit so far, but I have also had a lot of time to relax. I am even working on a tan for the first time in years. Yesterday I layed out in the yard for about 30 minutes and practically burned. Reference oppressive heat as mentioned above.

What a Wonderful Day

Today was another busy day as I am still settling into the new place in Atlanta. I had one almost entirely fruitless trip to the GT campus and one slightly better trip to run errands. Most of the to-do list for the day still remains to be done. However, I must say it was a wonderful day, and I will tell you why. It was my great and wonderful pleasure to embark on a new Waffle House today. Not just new, but opened for the first time this morning! Unfortunately, this find occurred late in the afternoon, which was not an opportune time to stop and eat. I did, however, stop to see what all the fanfare was about - there was a tent out front with what appeared to be some sort of giveaway trinkets. Wow, am I ever delighted that I stopped! It turns out they were giving away official Waffle House coffee mugs. I explained that I would definitely be back to eat sometime, as WH is my favorite restaurant. I don't know if they believed me or cared, but I did walk away with my very own mug. For those of you who don't know and have never tried to get a WH mug, they do not sell those mugs. You would have to steal one to get one, and I am not about to steal from my favorite establishment (or any other establishment I hope). Of all my worldly possessions, most of which I just packed up and moved here from Augusta, this new WH mug is one of my very favorites. So, if you ever come over to my place and I offer you the WH mug for your coffee, you will know that I truly do love you.

Signing On

Just a few short days after signing off, I am happy to report that I am back in the e-world from a new location. I don't actually have internet access in the new place yet, but I am tapping into someone's wireless. I have moved into a huge condo community here in Atlanta, and so far I think I am going to love it. It's extremely close to school, and everything I need other than school is close by: bank, dry cleaners, McDonald's, 13 sub restaurants, 9 chinese take-out places, 4 pizza joints, and various other eateries and bars. The only thing I haven't found yet is a grocery store, and considering the prices at most of the local restaurants, I better find one soon. Every time I go outside here, someone is walking or running by, most with dogs, so I think Kelsey and I will fit in well. Unfortunately, Kelsey is not transitioning real well just yet. She has apparently been pretty stressed out with the sudden change, and she hasn't eaten since yesterday morning. She also hasn't pooped, which may be because she hasn't eaten. I hope she can get herself adjusted soon. I suspect she will like indoor living and getting walked at least twice a day, but so far she doesn't seem too pleased with being stuck inside.

I'll have more to report as I get settled in, but as for tonight, I'm whipped. Just wanted to go ahead and get in the first blog from Atlanta here on my first night in Atlanta.

Signing Off

Alas, sadly, this is my last blog, last hoorah, last stroke of the keys from here at Oakdale. I am running out of things to pack here on the last day of packing, and so the computer must be dismantled and boxed. She will be resurrected in Atlanta, but probably not with internet access (we'll see how the $$ goes). Never fear though: have laptop, will use free wifi.

A few noteworthy updates before I pack this puppy up:
>> I finally sold the lawnmower today, and for a good price. The same buyer also bought two of the items I was planning to give away. So in addition to the lawnmower price, she paid $5 for two free items. Not a bad deal for me, but she seemed pleased.
>> With the house back on the market, two people wanted to see it today. Not the best day for "showing" the house due to mass chaos, but at least there is some traffic.
>> My car is still at the body shop, but they assure me it will be ready tomorrow. I feel better if I fully believe that to be true, so I believe it.
>> As a result of the first item above (and because I am moving), I officially mowed my lawn for the last time today. Future lawn maintenance will be done by someone other than myself. It will cost me, but I am ok with that.
>> There are still many free items up for grabs, so if you are here in Augusta, stop on by and browse. You may either take the free items for free or offer me money for them as the nice lady did earlier today.

Over and out.

Ho Hum, or Not

I unknowingly entered this week, my last week in Augusta, realizing that I had a lot to do but really thinking it would go pretty smoothly and ho hum. Well, lets just say it's not going so smoothly. So far these things aren't getting me too worked up, as I know that it will all be fine, but a few hiccups as of right now are:

(1) Yesterday, on my way to play my last 9 holes of golf as an Augustan, I was rear-ended by a lady in a big ole Dodge truck. So now, with 4 days remaining here in Augusta, my car is in the body shop. Everything seems to be cool with her insurance, but who knows? Hopefully the work will finish by Friday, as the trusty guy at Rick's assured me it would.

(2) Today, I got the news that my house is no longer under contract. We were scheduled to close next week, but I did not agree to repair a few items that the buyer insisted on having repaired. So we're back to square one on selling the house. I'm pretty confident that it will still sell easily, but it was sure nice to have that all taken care of already, or so I thought.

Hopefully that will be the end of the hiccups and the rest of the week will be ho hum, but I'm not holding my breath...

Truth:::Truth:::Truth

Do you ever feel like God is really bringing home a certain message to you? It’s interesting sometimes, how we come across the same truth in different forms all in a short span of time. Today, I’ve been pointedly reminded over and over of the best truth of all:
Every single day that goes by, I don’t measure up to the righteousness that God requires of me. And every single day, the righteousness of Christ is freely offered to me as a replacement for what I cannot attain on my own.

The 3 reminders I had of this today were as follows:
(1) This morning’s sermon at church was from Luke 4, where Jesus was tempted by the devil. Three separate times, Jesus was challenged to turn from God, and all three times Jesus did what you and I cannot do. He remembered God’s command, he clung to God’s promises, and he resisted the temptation before him. And because we cannot do this, God allows the performance of Christ to be ours as well.
(2) After church, I went to Waffle House for my usual Sunday breakfast, though I usually go before church. I brought my Bible to read while eating, and I turned to Romans 12, where I left off yesterday morning. As I was reading, I noticed an underlined verse on the previous page, Romans 11:32. It says, “For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.” Not only does God freely offer his mercy to us, he reminds us that there is not one person who is not in need of it, not one.
(3) This afternoon, I was reading The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis. I actually wanted to pick up a simple novel a few days ago and realized that I have already packed them all. So instead I picked up this book, the only unpacked book that I have not yet read. I don’t exactly understand what’s going on in the book, but I think the characters are people who have died and are either in heaven or hell, or somewhere in between. Two of them get into a heated discussion. One guy, who is not in heaven, says, “Look at me, now. I gone straight all my life. I don’t say I was a religious man and I don’t say I had no faults, far from it. But I done my best all my life, see? I done my best by everyone, that’s the sort of chap I was. I never asked for anything that wasn’t mine by rights. If I wanted a drink I paid for it and if I took my wages I done my job, see? That’s the sort of chap I was and I don’t care who knows it.” Another guy, who is in heaven, sort of starts arguing with him that it really doesn’t matter. But the guy continues in his tirade, “What do you keep arguing for? I’m only telling you the sort of chap I am. I only want my rights. I’m not asking for anybody’s bleeding charity.” The guy in heaven responds, “Then do. At once. Ask for the Bleeding Charity. Everything is here for the asking and nothing can be bought.”
Wow, what a great reminder of the same beautiful truth. We so badly want to earn just what we feel we deserve in this life and beyond. Thank God that he does not give us what we deserve. Instead, he gives us what Christ deserves. The “Bleeding Charity” is ours for the taking if we will only admit that we cannot earn its rewards on our own.

Happenings

Well, I don't have much to say of interest, but every now and then the simple blog needs a simple update on life. So below is an update on the accomplishments and happenings of the past week:

1) Began the arduous task of packing up the house. My estimation is that I am a little over half- way finished.
2) Took my last test for Anatomy/Physiology. Don't know the result yet, but I know I passed the class regardless, which is good.
3) Changed magazine addresses, filled out USPS change of address, changed address for most important billing entities.
4) Finally got updated prescription filled for my new glasses (long story, but I couldn't see). Now I can see with the pricey glasses, which is very nice.
5) Exercised minimally: one short run, one long walk. My excuse is that my allergies have been horrendous for all outdoor activities lately, including running.
6) Mowed front yard. Sneezed my head off.
7) Made various repairs to house as a result of home inspection. Some are still in progress, but thankfully nothing major.
8) Went to doctor... Let's just say this is the least fun doctor for women to visit. I did not have fun.
9) Dropped off a trunk full of clothes (some mine, some a friend of mine's) at the goodwill store.
10) Went to The Pink Dipper (Old Fashioned Ice-Cream Parlour) for the first time. Thanks to Julie for this treat!
11) Had last dinner/meeting with my Bible study at a local Mexican joint. I got the Pollo Fundido (chicken chimichanga), and it was good!
12) Booked a flight to Miami so that I can visit Christine and Adam in August. Yeah!
13) Signed up for September WIC conference in Atlanta. Presbyterians like to do such things way in advance. Thankfully, I still got the "early" rate on May 4 even though the cutoff date was supposed to be May 1.
14) Had final hoorah with the engineering crowd from work. Dinner, bar, campfire in Matt's backyard. It was a long but good evening.
15) Sold back my textbooks at ASU for some quick cash. Very nice.
16) Went to scope out a new coffee shop called The Jury Room, which just opened in downtown Augusta on Wednesday. Very cool place. I would recommend that any and all people who have occasion to be downtown between 7am and 4pm go there for breakfast, lunch, or a snack.
17) Played my last tennis match with the Aiken team on Sunday. Thankfully won, and also had a great time playing. I will miss those ladies, and I hope to find a good team in Atlanta.

I guess that's about it. For tomorrow, my dear friends have planned a goodbye brunch for me. The plan was to have a nice outdoor setup in Julie's backyard. I have no doubt that Julie has worked very hard (and maybe others as well) to ensure a perfectly appointed party atmosphere. Right now it is raining. I hope this is not upsetting things too much for the planners. I am just looking forward to seeing everyone and spending time together, whether it be in the yard, the living room, or the garage. I do remember, though, when I helped plan an outdoor party for Christine and Adam's engagement which was profusely rained on. We had to move it all inside. I was bummed.

Bamboo

You shouldn't need to look too closely at this photo to realize that the bamboo, sadly, is dead. The last smidgeon if green life at the tips of the leaves will soon become yellow as the stalks no longer pass nutrients through their lifeless cells. While lifeless plants are not normally a novelty at my house, this one struck me as interesting. These two stalks of bamboo have been a staple in my kitchen for over 3 years now. I obtained the bamboo, along with the nice vase, from my cousin Curt's wedding in December 2002. Once there were three stalks, but the third one did not live as long as these two. You will notice that the left stalk is significantly more prolonged in death than the right stalk. Just a little over a week ago, I sadly noted that the left stalk was struggling. I added water and hoped that it might be revived. Today, the verdict is apparently out: the left stalk will not be revived but take down the right one with it. My first thought was, "Oh good, one less thing to have to pack and move!" Then I sadly noted to myself that the death of the bamboo has occurred within eerie proximity to my departure from Augusta. I cannot ignore that a part of me is dying as I leave this place. I know it is necessary that some part of myself die in order to move forward and embrace a new city, new home, and new career - but I haven't yet reached the state of embracing that little death inside of me. I would be happy to pack the bamboo now and take it with me if I could avoid the inevitable pain it represents.

Official Unemployment

I am happy to report that the day has finally come: today is my first official weekday of unemployment. I have searched through old journals (which I use quite sparingly) to determine when I first started praying about leaving Plant Vogtle, but I cannot find the appropriate reference. I can say with a fair amount of confidence that I first thought of leaving after I had been at the plant for 18-24 months (I started there in September 2000). Before making a whimsical and rash move, I decided to buy a house in Augusta, forcing myself to stick it out at Vogtle for at least 2 more years. I bought the house in the summer of 2002, but my desire to leave never really went away completely. Sometime in 2003, I received some helpful advice from a friend (thank you, Emily) that God does not call us from something but to something. Granted, God would call us away from sin, but I could not claim any such relationship with my work. I still, however, felt that the job left much to be desired in life, so I began to pray that God would call me to something else. Thus began the waiting and praying. Specifically, I desired very much to be drawn to a career that would meet the following goals:

(1) Require less of a commute. I spent roughly 8-10 hours a week in the car driving to and from Vogtle.
(2) Offer flexibility in working hours that could accommodate family life. I do not have a family of my own but would like to, and I did not foresee a positive experience in balancing my future career at Vogtle with a family.
(3) Give me the opportunity to work with and serve people directly.
(4) Provide a skill that I could utilize anywhere in the world for humanitarian and/or mission work.
(5) Spark my passions in a way that would allow me to give myself fully to work and not regret the use of that time for the results produced.

I think this is the first time I have written all those goals out together, but they are really what have driven my desires and prayers through this process. I began during that year (2003) to determine what opportunities were out there in the world that might meet all the goals. I had taken the GRE, as I was considering graduate school in some capacity, so I began to consider entirely new careers in addition to other options within the Chemical Engineering field. With the urging of my best friend (thank you, Julie) I started looking at some programs at Georgia Tech in the rehabilitation engineering realm. While none of those programs particularly struck me as the right one, they did lead me directly to the GT graduate program for Prosthetics and Orthotics. I first came across this option in December of 2003, and the last 2 ½ years have been ultimately leading to today, my first day of unemployment.

While I feel that this move, this career change, is absolutely the right thing for me, I have to believe that staying at Vogtle could just as easily have been the right thing. I prayed that if God desired me to stay here that I would develop a greater passion for Vogtle in order to be willing to sacrifice some of the desires listed above. I would have been happy to stay. But, alas, the doors have opened for me to go, and so I am leaving. I am thankful that the last several weeks have been more confirming for me than confusing. One amazing blessing has been the response of my co-workers, who almost unanimously have been supportive and encouraging as I said my goodbyes. Many of their comments have been extremely touching and have given me a sense that my leaving has been a greater testimony in that place than my time there has been. I regret only that as I left I began to see a few potential relationships, which I did not see before, in which I could have mentored those people in work and life. At this point, I have to trust that I will only have more opportunity for such relationships in my future career.

To wrap up this blog which is about to exceed the blog word limit (I know there is no such thing), I would like to thank God for the fact that I will never again be caught sporting this gear, in this pose, at this place, ever again:

Me as a B.E. (Baby Engineer) - Fall 2000