Be forewarned!

Arwen is coming to visit this coming week. No matter the circumstances, whenever Arwen comes to visit, or I go to visit her, it's always an adventure.

We have climbed mountains together, successfully.

We have hitchhiked together.

We have seen the sites in Nashville together.

We have gone to art museums together.

We have been on T cars in Boston together whilst crazy man covered in goo tried to kick group of young lads and old lady's groceries fell over and oranges were rolling about. (Sorry, no picture, we were scared for our lives)

We have stood in the standing room only section at Red Sox games

(yes this was the time the confused lady from North Dakota had to have an explanation of standing room only)

How can one forget the Bondi wedding incident of 2002? When a certain male called randomly and unannounced requesting a ride from the train station, yes we did go get him, yes I had hot rollers in my hair. Yes later we discovered that hot rollers in my hair = VERY OUT OF CONTROL BIG HAIR. Yes said male was sitting in our apartment living room while we freaked out in the bathroom.

There was the awesome time back in 2006 when this happened to my car while going to the airport to pick her up.


No one can forget the brownie incident of 2003, I'll tell that story another time.

We have gone line dancing IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

Katy was there too

We have eaten a lot of seafood

And canolis from Mike's

We have gotten lost a lot.

We have watched minor league pitcher throw 100 mph strikes, with my uncle.

We have facebook stalked the one she will soon call husband. (Well maybe I stalked, she laid on the bed yelling "NO DON'T SEND HIM A MESSAGE" good thing I did)

The picture above is her dad as Dan is asking for permission to marry her.


We have laughed till we cried.

This year, the adventure involves Susie, and basketball. There is no telling what is about to happen. Put your seatbelts on people.

So I Joined A CSA

Last spring I started reading a book called "An Eater's Manifesto" by Michael Pollan. At the same time I went to visit my brother and his girlfriend in California.

For a long time I have been concerned with where my food comes from, how it is prepared, what I am actually putting in my body.
In the summer I got most of my produce from the local farmers market. I bought free range eggs and chicken.

I had heard about a CSA, but I figured that I wouldn't be able to find one in Murray. I also didn't exactly know how it would workout with the amount of traveling I tend to do, and the fact that I am single.

CSA stands for community supported agriculture. The basic premise is that local produce from local farmers is a win win. The local farmers get financial help, and the produce isn't transported halfway around the world. Buying local produce decreases a person's carbon footprint, it also decreases the chemicals the produce is subjected to in transit. Another aspect of the win win situation is that I am getting my produce from a local farmer, so I go out to the farm, I build a relationship with them, I can see for myself that it's actually organic.

The reality is that the majority of produce at the grocery store that is sold as organic, isn't truly. If you want to know more about why that is, I can point you to several sources.

The way a CSA works is that typically the consumer pays the farmer before the season a lump sum for the specific period of time. The farmer then provides produce in season for that time period. You are basically buying a portion or share of the crop. If the crop fails, then you as the share holder, don't get produce.

While I was out in California visiting my brother, I went with his girlfriend to pick up their weekly produce allotment. I got to see first hand what it was like, how much food they got, etc...

When I came home, I was determined to figure out how to participate in Western Kentucky. I got on the internet, and low and behold, right here in my county there is an organic farm that has a CSA.

I was so excited, I called and I joined. It ended up costing me $20 a week, and I didn't buy hardly any other produce. My farmers also have meat and assorted other things (maple syrup, sorgum molasses) that I can buy when I go to pick up my veggies, it's all grass fed, no hormones, and it's cheaper than the normal meat (the stuff with the hormones and what not) at the grocery store. OH and did I say it tastes WAY BETTER!!!?

Because the produce is in season, what I got last summer changed from week to week. And yes for 1 person it was a lot of produce. I was forced to try things I never would have tried otherwise, and I learned to cook things I had never cooked before. And I am still eating food from last summer, as I pull out soups, and frozen meals from the things I got in my half bushel. I talked my coworker into it last summer and over and over we would both say "Did you try the tomatoes yet? They are unbelievable" or something of that nature.

Basically to me it's like having a garden, without actually having a garden. It was so worth it. And my farmers, as I like to call them, are hilarious. I love talking to them about the goings on at the farm. It's amazing to actually hear about what goes on during the week as they tend to my food, and they are really really funny people.

Recently I got an email saying it's time to sign up for this coming summer, I am so pumped. This summer I am splitting a basket with a coworker.

Here are some pictures of some of my baskets this past summer

This is a mid summer basket, the green beans were amazing, the eggplant was amazing. I actually just pulled some out last night for egg plant parm. There are herbs in there, I hung most of mine up to dry and am still cooking with them. And the blackberries, OH MY THEY ARE AMAZING.

This is the top of a early summer or early fall basket. There are a bunch of different kinds of greens and lettuce. Never had greens before. I used some in soups, and some I cooked in traditional southern style

This is the bottom of that same basket, turnips, green beans, eggplant, cucumbers.

Sometimes I gave things away (like the cucumbers) and the weeks that I was out of town, I gave my basket to a friend, or I had a coworker, who also participated, pick it up for me.

So many people told me they were interested in doing it this summer, I can't remember who I told I would remind. So if you are interested, comment on this post and I will get you the info.

Today's list of thanks. 2/24/2011

On Monday night a friend lent me a copy of one of the books on my list of books I want to read this year. It's called "One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are" by Ann Voskamp.

I would love to sit down and read the entire book, it's amazing. Instead I am forcing myself to only read a chapter a day in order to better grasp the concepts she is sharing.

Last night I read chapter 3, about how Amy was dared by a friend to make a list of 1000 things she was thankful for. I am not going to tell you more than that, I would highly recommend at least the first 3 chapters, you can read them for yourself. I will share some things I am thankful for. I could write a whole lot about the reasons I am thankful for them, but I am not going to, I'm just going to list them, with photos, in no particular order.

1. My Mom

2. My Dad

3. My older brother, the paramedic firefighter

4. My younger brother the professional beach lifeguard comedian

5 My Sister in law

6. My nephew

7. My niece

8. My brother's girlfriend

9. My Nana

10. My Auntie Brenda, we go way back.

11. My Uncle John

989 left to go.

Unity and Diversity

I watched the movie "Life As We Know It" last night for the second time in 24 hours. It's cute, and funny. It's not anything incredibly earth shattering.
There are couple scenes in the movie though that really spoke to me.

The basic storyline is that a couple tries to set-up their best friends, it turns out horribly.
Then they die, leaving there 1 year-old daughter, to the two best friends who can't stand each other.

Last weekend, my friend Arwen called to tell me a quote she had heard. The quote was "Holding bitterness in your heart is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." I told her to stop talking and hold the thought so I could run get a pen and write it down.

I had never heard bitterness described that way.

Then it got me thinking about the things I hold onto, the hurts the just still seem to hurt. The hurts that people just seemed to really jab at.

It also got me thinking about all the times that something was said or done that was really offensive. As a single person, over the age of 25, it happens a lot. The person may not have been meaning to be offensive, but the reality is that if they really thought about what they said, they would probably want to glue their lips shut for the rest of their lives.

Then I started thinking about whether or not people really are as they seem. What I mean by that is that often we project an image, and that image is how the world views us. The world except for the occasional very very close friend that really truly knows us. Many people don't have those kinds of friends. And of course God, who knows us at our very core, like it or not.

Which brings me back to the movie.

Holly and Messer have been living in their dead friends' house raising their daughter and fighting constantly. Holly finds some home videos, one of which is the husband filming the wife as she brings their newborn into the nursery for the first time. She starts yelling at him because it smells like paint fumes, and wasn't he suppose to have it painted weeks ago?
Holly and Messer are surprised, they had always viewed their friends as the perfect couple that never fought and had the perfect life. The following conversation ensued.

Messer: "So what you are saying is that it's okay if we are horrible parents and want to kill each other 50% of the time?"

Holly:"Ninety percent. I think what I am saying is that I think we need to stop fitting ourselves into their lives"

And then I started thinking about how sometimes it's not so much that I am trying to fit myself into someone elses' life, it's that they are trying to fit me into theirs, or I am trying to fit them into mine.

Yes I'm single, and yes I want to be married someday, but me not being married does not make me half a person. It does not make me a lesser person.
It just makes me a whole single person.

Yes I love to eat locally grown organic veggies and can't remember the last time I ate mac and cheese from a box. This doesn't make me a weird eater, it just means I like different food than the general population in western Kentucky.

I don't need a man to make me happy. I don't need to have 2.5 kids and a cutely decorated and organized house to be happy. I don't need coupons for kraft products to make my life rich and satisfying. In fact happiness is circumstantial and temporary.

What I am looking for is peace and eternal perspective, no matter what the circumstances.

What I need is Jesus. And good friends who love and accept me. Me, the girl who likes pink, and running, and swimming, and fresh from the vine tomatoes.

It all brought me back to a sermon I heard last Sunday. My pastor said "The church in the midst of our unity, should have diversity. We need to be taking on the character of Christ."

I felt like light bulbs were going off in my head.

I love my life, most days. And I wouldn't change the journey I've been on to bring me to this place I'm at. Yes there were times that were not very fun, in fact there were times that were down right miserable. I am sure there will be more of those times in the future. Those times, as well as the good times are all events and circumstances that God has used to shape me. There is purpose to it. I may never fully know what His purpose is or was, but none the less, He has ordained this life for me.

Some of those miserable experiences do include the times that people suggested that the reason I am not married is that I am too picky, or too athletic, or that I live in too small of a town, or that I am not forward enough with guys, or that I am too forward. I could go on, I won't though, here is someone else's post on that
http://jonacuff.com/stuffchristianslike/2011/02/awkward-youre-single-conversations-at-church/

and here
http://www.jonacuff.com/stuffchristianslike/2009/06/550-surviving-church-as-a-single/
and no, I will not tell you what my score was.

And yet we need each other. I could chose to eliminate the people in my life who are not like me. But I need them, just as they need me.

He didn't ordain this life I am living right now for my married friend with 2.5 kids, just as her life is not mine.

It all brings me back to the movie.
Messer is offering to help Holly. She doesn't want to take the help.

He says "Accepting help doesn't mean that you are weak, it just means that you are not alone."

Which of course brings me to this video. Not only do we as Christians need each other, differences and all, but the church needs us, our diversity and our unity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arxfLK_sd68

It's been a year...Since they caught the eggers

One day over a year and a half ago, I came out in the morning to find my car egged.
Haha I thought VERY FUNNY

Then a couple days later and it was egged AGAIN
and I was mad.

Then a third time it happen, and I realized that every car on my block had been egged.

And then it just kept happening over and over again. Sometime 2 and 3 times a week

And then winter came, so instead of finding simple egg on my car, I was finding FROZEN EGG on my car.

And I go to work early in the morning, and car washes are not open, so then I would have to drive around for several days with egg on my car hoping it would rain.

There was egg all over my street, it smelled bad.

My neighbors set out video cameras all night long.

My neighbors stayed up all night.

Inevitably on those nights the eggers didn't come.

And then my birthday came, and I went to go to lunch with friends, and I had to climb in the passenger side door because there was so much egg on the driver side door I was afraid to open it.

One night my neighbors parked their cars behind their house. Their house got egged.

Paint started peeling off my back bumper, where the majority of the eggs hit.

I couldn't really see out of my driver side mirror, the reflective stuff was damaged, by egg.

There was an interesting spotty design the paint started to take on, where eggs had hit.

Then finally one day I was out walking my dog. A neighbor stopped me. With great jubilation he exclaimed "Have you heard the news?"

"Um NO?"

"THEY CAUGHT THE EGGERS!!!!" He was so excited, and so was I! We talked about throwing a block party.

Finally!

And yes it was a group of people, a group of people you wouldn't expect to find "stress relief" in driving down streets egging cars.


And then I had to take my car to be evaluated for damages, and then I had to turn stuff into the detective. Yes it was thousands of dollars of damages, to my car. Multiply that by the 5 cars on my block, and then think about this, there were over 30 cars in my town that repeatedly got egged.

And yes I got I retribution.

And yes it has been a year since the last time my car was egged.

And no I am not mad anymore, I got a new vehicle as part of the deal.

A list of books for 2011

1. I will Carry You by Angie Smith

2. Radical by David Platt

3. Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren Winner

4. Choosing to See by Mary Beth Chapman

5. Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back by Josh Hamilton

6. One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp

7. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

What are you looking forward to reading this year?

Sober Hope

There are always rumors that women will be allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia soon.

In 2002, there was an election for parliament in Bahrain. It was the first election in that country since 1975.

People ask me all the time about my childhood in the Middle East. They want to know, was it horrible? No it wasn't. They want to know, what am I eating? It looks gross they say.


Sometimes they want my opinion about Middle Eastern politics.
It's complicated I say.

Last weekend I was watching the protests in Egypt with some people. They asked a lot of questions.
Who is Hosni Mubarak?
What is the Islamic Brotherhood?
Why are they protesting when they already have a democracy, I mean they have a president?

Then a friend sent me a message. What is my opinion on the situation in Egypt? He wanted to know.

I sent him a very long and confusing reply.

Then I sent him another long and confusing reply.

Then I sent him an apology for the 2 long and confusing messages.

I compared my younger brother's personality and my personality to Arabs and Americans.

I told him that I didn't think the US getting involved would make anything better.

I told him that it was my hope that one day the people of the Middle East would enjoy similar freedoms to those we have here in the United States. I don't mean that the Middle East would be just like the United States, but that the people there would be able to choose their leaders, have freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to worship as they please.

I told him that I am hopeful, but that the hope is sober, because in the Arab world, it's complicated. You just don't believe it till you see it.

I really hope that there is no change to the shwarma industry. I didn't tell him that, I don't think he knows what shwarma is.

I got hungry for Arab food, so I went to the store and bought the stuff to make tabbouleh, and humus.

Yesterday I started watching Al Jazeera's English broadcast live. I kept running back to my office to grab brief updates. I shouted them to my coworker. I think he was only interested because I was so excited.

When Hosni Mubarak came on national television in Egypt and told the people he was not stepping down I saw the people wave their shoes at him.

I knew that this is one of the most awful signs of disrespect an Arab can show.
I remembered about the time when the guy in Iraq threw a shoe at President Bush. I remembered how the American press took it as "this guy wanted to kill him but all he had was a shoe, it's a safety issue" and I laughed, not at the disrespect, but that they didn't realize it was disrespect. Not a safety issue folks, it's his version of the middle finger.

Someone asked me last night what I thought now that Hosni Mubarak had not stepped down.

I told them that I didn't think it was over yet. In the morning it was going to be Friday, the last day of the week. The holy day. There would be even more people in the street.

This morning I got up and swam.
Then I quickly checked Al Jazeerah and Facebook.
I saw millions of people it seemed in the streets chanting.
My friend had this quote posted from a youtube video.
‎"fi kolli share3 fi blady, sout el 7orriya binadi"- In every street in my homeland, the sound of freedom is calling.

Then I went to do something I had to do for work.
Then I went to my office to work on paperwork.

I opened Al Jazeerah on my computer literally just as Omar Suleiman announced on national television in Egypt that Hosni Mubarak had stepped down.

I heard the reporters stop talking, stop translating. I heard the voice, of the people, of Egypt. It was loud and clear, even through the news broadcast on the internet. I saw them dancing. I saw a fire breather. I heard celebratory gunfire.

Then the commentary started up again.
I heard a woman say, in very clear English "I have been working for this all my adult life." She paused to compose herself. "I don't have words." Her voice cracked, "I never thought I would see this in my lifetime."

Another reporter, the same exact age as me said through tears, "I was born days after Mubarak took power. I have never known anything but the regime."

I posted on facebook, congratulating Egypt, for their peaceful demonstrations.

I heard an american commentator state that they were concerned, what if the elected government doesn't agree with the US policies in Israel and other places?
Um really? You would want to deny an entire country of people the same rights that you, as an American citizen enjoy, because you are fearful that the government they choose may not agree with some US foreign policy?
Isn't that the point? That the people of Egypt, should get to go to the polls and cast their vote? And choose their leaders, for their country?

I thought "this woman is completely missing the point, it's not about foreign policy, it's about human rights"

Someone commented on my facebook status, that it was an unbelievable story. But it's more than that, it's hope.
Hope that the people of Egypt can keep things together, and hold free and fair elections, and choose their government.
Hope that they can make the ideals that they have a reality.
Hope that they can be a model for other Arab nations.
Hope that they can enjoy freedoms like we have the privilege of enjoying.

The only difference is that because they have fought for those rights, they will probably actually show up to vote.

But that hope is sober, there is still a long way to go.

Warby Parker

Several months ago a friend posted on facebook that she had recently purchased some glasses from Warby Parker. She was very pleased with them.
I had never heard of the company and so I decided to check them out.

Warby Parker is a company that was started to provide affordable glasses to people. The company founders were not happy with the exorbitant cost of glasses when the manufacturing costs are extremely low. They also wanted to give back.
So glasses are $95, prescription lenses and all. Not only that, for every pair of glasses you purchase, they donate a pair of prescription glasses to someone who needs them but can't afford them.

I told Arwen about it. She was in need of new glasses before I was decided to try them out, she had a good experience and loved her new pair.


I was in need of some new glasses this fall, and so I decided to try Warby Parker out. First I perused their website.
I uploaded a photo of myself and tried glasses on it.

Then I ordered five pairs of frames, which they mailed to me for free to try on.
Once they arrived, I was able to try them on.
The great thing about having them send the glasses for try-on is that I was able to have several friends and coworkers offer their opinions, and I also did not have my eyes dilated.
I ended up purchasing the ones in the picture, they looked better in person than on the virtual try-on.

I picked a pair, Aubrey, in king's purple, and sent all 5 pairs back to Warby Parker, they paid for the shipping.
Then I ordered my new glasses, sent in the prescription, and waited.
The new glasses arrived in less than a week.
They fit perfectly.

Then I submitted the receipt to my health savings account people. It wasn't an acceptable receipt they said.

So I called Warby Parker.
A most amazing thing happened.

A person answered the phone.

It never went to a automated directory with options to choose.

It just rang, and then someone said "Hello, Warby Parker, how may I help you"

I was so stunned I fumbled for words.

And then I told the lady what I needed.

She said "oh absolutely, let me email you a better receipt."

And then before we had even hung up, there was the new receipt in my email inbox.

Amazing.

So if you are in need of some new glasses, or will be eventually, or know some one who wears glasses, check out this company.

Chocolate chip PANCAKES

I love breakfast.
I have lots of good breakfast memories.
When I was a kid, on Friday mornings, my dad would cook a big breakfast for our family before we went to fellowship.
Fellowship is another conversation for another time.
He always played John Denver records. Records, not tapes or CDs, and always John Denver of Friday mornings.
My parents are generally classical music fans, so John Denver was quite out of their normal range. I can't honestly explain it, it's just what our family always did on Friday mornings, which was the second day of the weekend for us.
A few nights ago a John Denver song was playing and a coworker was impressed that I knew all the words to Country Roads.

Anyway back to breakfast.

Sometimes he made waffles. Sometimes he made omelettes with mushrooms and onions and sausage. Sometimes he made pancakes. The most favorite was the no flip pancakes topped with butter, lemon, sliced almonds, and powdered sugar.

Did I say I love breakfast?

In college I was the kid that got super pumped about breakfast at the dining hall. I struggled to decide what to eat, too many options, a lot of my favorite foods, all available at the same time. AAAAHHHHH!

The problem is that I'm single, and I live by myself.

It's a lot of work to make a big breakfast, everything from scratch, for 1 person.
And when there is just one person, you either drastically overeat, or you have an excessive amount of leftovers. Breakfast leftovers are just not very good in my opinion.

It is for the above mentioned reasons I never cook big breakfasts for myself.

Most of the time when I stay in hotels for work, they are the kind with continental breakfast. There is nothing wrong with continental breakfast, I always find things to eat.

But sometimes we stay in hotels that have actual, real, big breakfast.
I am always extremely excited when that happens.

So you can imagine my excitement when this was on the buffet.

First we debated, were they blueberries or chocolate chips?

And then the worker came over to help us out.
And he confirmed!
THEY WERE CHOCOLATE CHIPS.

They might not be no flip pancakes with lemon juice, butter, almonds, and powdered sugar, but they are still something I would never make for myself at home. And they were awesome!

His name is "Dan"

It's a running joke between my two dear friends Arwen and Katy, that no matter what the name my at this time unidentified husband actually is, they will call him "Dan."

It all started Easter weekend 2010 when Dan called Arwen and told her he was taking her out on a date. He took her to dinner, and ice cream, and Lowes to look at fencing for her yard. I was so pumped for my best friend. He seemed like a really good guy, he even took it well when I told him to be nice to her or I would stun him with my stun gun, in a facebook message.

In July I went on my annual pilgrimage back to the New England area. I hung out with Arwen and Katy, and I met Dan. I decided that he was a good guy and that he could go ahead and marry my best friend. We joked about him buying her ring at a pawn shop.

In August he proposed. He did not buy her ring at a pawn shop.

Then some time around December Katy started spending extra time with her Dan. They officially started dating in January.

So a few weeks ago, I was talking to Arwen on the phone, Katy was at her house. I hear Katy in the background yelling "has she met Dan yet?"

"Arwen tell her I obviously haven't met her Dan yet, he lives in Massachusetts. I did facebook message him though, about the stun gun."

Arwen promptly relays my message to Katy, to which Katy replies "No not my Dan, has she met her Dan yet."

And that is when they informed me, whether his name is Joe or Steve or Reuben, they will be calling him "Dan."

And then some others joined in the hunt for "Dan."

Sarah, my frequent hotel roommate, drew the artist's rendition of "Dan" featured above.

A million miles

Last year for my birthday a friend gave me a copy of Donald Miller's book "A Million Miles in A Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life." It had just been published. I love Donald Miller's writing and so I was looking forward to reading it. If you are looking for a good read, I highly recommend this one. One thing I really like about Donald Miller's writing is that it makes me think. I don't always agree with him, but I always am challenged to dig deeper.

Without giving away too much, the basic message of the book is that we have choices in life, we can choose to sit on the couch and be spectators, or we can get up and experience life.

As I read through the book, and as I thought about my own life, I was struck by the fact that I was miserable in certain circumstances in my life, but I was too afraid of change to do anything about it. So here I was, sitting around, waiting for God to show up. The problem with this scenario is that sometimes God asks us to take steps of faith, it's part of His plan to transform us, to be more like Him, to be more the person He created us to be.

At the time I couldn't remember the last time I was excited to read my Bible. I couldn't remember the last time I had been involved in serving others with my church family. I couldn't remember the last time I didn't have to give myself a pep talk before going to either church on Sunday morning or my small group.

Basically I couldn't remember the last time I had been anything more than a spectator, and I also knew that I wasn't becoming more Christlike.

Donald Miller put it like this, "If the point of life is the same as the point of a story, the point of life is character transformation. If I got any comfort as I set out on my first story, it was that in nearly every story, the protagonist is transformed. He's a jerk at the beginning and nice at the end, or a coward at the beginning and brave at the end. If the character doesn't change, the story hasn't happened yet. And if story is derived from real life, if story is just condensed version of life then life itself may be designed to change us so that we evolve from one kind of person to another. "

A few Sundays ago during my Sunday school class we were talking about the part in Philippians 2 where Paul asks us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We talked about how the point is not that we can earn our salvation, but that we must continue to surrender to the Lord. We talked about how as we walk through this Christian life, we need to continue to grow in our faith, and continue to learn about who He is, so that we can have a deeper understanding of our salvation.

I recently was reading the part in Deuteronomy 31 where Joshua is preparing to take over for Moses and lead the Israelite people into the promised land.

Moses says the following to Joshua:
"Be strong and courageous, for you must go with these people into the land that the LORD swore to their forefathers to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance.
The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged"

I knew about a year ago that I needed to find a different place to go to church. I knew that there were some really unhealthy relationships in my life.
The thought of going to a new church, of building new relationships, of finding a new small group was daunting to me. I know that relationships take time to develop, I knew that I would probably spend some time being lonely for a while. I didn't like the idea of any of that. But I came to realize that it was a necessary thing in my life and for my faith.

So this past May, after a week long trip with my parents, I came home and started the process, I took a step of faith.

And as Donald Miller said:
"And once you live a good story, you get a taste for a kind of meaning in life, and you can't go back to being normal; you can't go back to meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time."

I'm so thankful that I made a hard choice, I'm thankful that a few weeks ago I was on the phone with Arwen and she was crying. I said "What's wrong?" She replied "It's just so great to here you excited about what going to church, it's so great to hear you laugh, it's been a really long time."