Rest

Just over a year ago my parents came down, collected me, and made me take an actual vacation. We went to Branson. I was so wound up that I had a hard time relaxing. I take after my dad a lot in this area but also there had been so much stress in my life that I just couldn't even laugh really.

I know that I have a tendency to be a workaholic. Part of that is my personality and upbringing, and part of that is my job description.

One thing I have really struggled with as a single woman is what to do with time off. Lots of my vacation time is taken up visiting family who live far away. While I love visiting them, it's not really rest and vacation.

Married friends, with or without kids, tend to take trips together to fun places just to enjoy each other, the sights, and relax.

Maybe because I am just naturally a fairly social individual, or maybe because I am insecure about my singleness in a few sets of circumstances, I have forgone actual vacation to fun, exciting, and relaxing destinations to do things I like to do.

The one exception is that my brother has a tendency, due to the nature of his job, to always be living near a beach, so visiting him is like a vacation.

Several weeks ago, maybe even over a month ago, I was asked if I wanted to take a trip for work over spring break.
I immediately agreed.

Then I spent the next week wondering if that was a good idea.

There was lots of stuff that I really need to get done at my house that has been neglected during basketball season.

It would be really nice to spend the week folding laundry and vacuuming, I thought.

I could go out to LBL and hike a little by myself, enjoy some quiet time.

I really needed to get back into a regular workout schedule, not that I hadn't been working out, I had, my workouts had just been incredibly varied and inconsistent in content.

But I had committed, and the trip did involve the beach. I knew that I would be working, some, but the thought of waking up early to watch the sunrise was exciting to me.

And so just a week after getting back from the last basketball trip of the season, I packed my bags and loaded up to head out on a trip with another team.

Before leaving I emailed a Master's swim team in one of the places we would be to see if I could swim with them, and low and behold, they were excited to have me join them at 5:30 in the mornings!

And I am grateful that I agreed to what was God's plan to force me into some rest, and laughter, and sun, and sand, and excessive picture taking.

Before we were even out of the state of Kentucky there was much laughter going on.

God's loving hand has been written all over this trip for me from the first morning, when the hotel desk person recommended this path for a quiet peaceful run.

One thing that has been different about this trip, when compared with trips I normally go on for work, is that this team likes to eat food that I like to eat. They are all about some California Pizza kitchen, and good organic salads, and smoothies with ginseng. I have really enjoyed that.

The second place we went was to one of my favorite cities in the south, and again an awesome run, this time through an unbelievably beautiful campus and down a well maintained city running and biking path that was busy, but again great.

It was about this time that I realized, unlike most trips, there wasn't going to be a moment when a caterer didn't show up on time, or a hotel messed something up, and I was going to have to deal with the high stress situation, because I am not in charge of any of that for this team.

The next stop landed us, in large part due to the extreme generosity of some parents, on Hilton Head Island.

These were taken from the roof of our condo building.

While I have had to work some, we have also gotten to play a bunch too.

I swam two morning with a group of master's swimmers.
I ran on the beach one morning for about 4.5 miles.

We road bikes into the sunset one evening.

We took a boat ride.

We ate dinner outside at twilight, twice.

I sat in a rocking chair talking with some old men about life as the team was practicing.

I have eaten all of the seafoods that I love.

And I ran some more. In fact I have worked out so much, because it's been so beautiful, and because to me, there is no better time to spend with the Lord than running or swimming as I pray, that I have had to do laundry, twice. Oh and yes there was free washer and dryer, no need for quarters, another gift.

I have had many quiet times with the Lord, reading His Word, and wondering at His creation.

I was talking to my dad on the phone and he said "I'm glad you are having such a great time. You deserve it."
While I don't think I necessarily deserve all the blessing that this week has been, I definitely am grateful to a loving God, who has in a sense reached down His arms and embraced me and kissed me on the forehead, and whispered in my ear to go ahead and rest this week.

I was reading the book I have been reading for a couple weeks now this afternoon. I was sitting out on the deck of one of the rooms, intermittently reading, napping, and basking in the sun. When I read this quote:

"Years of Christian discipleship, Bible study, churchgoing had been about me thinking about God; practicing eucharisteo (thanksgiving) was the very first I had really considered at length what God thought of me -- this ridiculous and relentlessly pursuing love, so bold. Everywhere, everything, Love!"

It's Ann Voskamp, yes the same author and book that inspired me to start listing things I'm thankful for. To be totally honest, I think I might have overlooked some of the blessings this trip has been, had I not been constantly adding the the running list I have going on my iphone. For example, there is a heated lamp thing in the bathroom, so when you get out of the shower, it's warm. Small and seemingly insignificant, but none the less a blessing.

As I was half napping, have reading, I came to this section in the book:
"He chooses His children to fully live! Fully live the fullest life: the astonished gratitude, the awed joy, the flying and the free. The discipline of giving thanks, of unwrapping one thousand gifts, unwraps God's heart bare: I choose you. Live!"

My friend sent me a message this week. She told me she had made plans to go on a trip, that she was really enjoying the freedom that she has to do that. I thought, you know what, she is starting to fully live, single or not. Am I? Or am I sitting here waiting for God to show up, all the while He is right there, I just haven't taken the time to notice?

Am I willing to embrace this full life that He is given me? And by full life, I don't just mean the good times when I am laying out enjoying the smell of the ocean on the breeze and my hair is curling nicely and in a uniform manner. I mean the bad times too, when I am frustrated, or hurt, or disappointed, because He is there too.

I finished reading today with this: "I can't simply ignore his serenade because I'm unsure, uncomfortable, uninterested, thinking I've claimed Christ as my Savior already anyways. God is relationship and He woos us to relationship and there is nothing with God if there is no relationship."

I want that relationship, not that I don't or haven't had it before, but like any relationship, you have to grow, you can't just stay where you are. I want to grow in my relationship with Christ, I want to fully live, not just when I'm running on the beach, but when I'm at home too, folding laundry and vacuuming.

Thankful Thursdays 3/10/2011

49 Stopping in the moment to pray
50 delicious salad
51 having face to face heart to heart talks with my best friend
52 wedding shoe shopping at discount name brand shoes, ha
53 dunkin donuts
54 quiet time alone in prayer while driving down the highway
55 former students who have become friends
56 tractors
57 men who remind me that good men do exist
58 books that make me think
59 leftovers
60 fixed dryer
61 messages from friends who have known me my whole life
62 hearing a friend who has been through really hard times and continues to walk through the desert say that they had a sweet time with the Lord
63 songs that really speak to me
64 tulips starting to pop out of the ground
65 funny moments with coworkers
66 a hard swim early in the morning
67 funny youtube videos
68 cute old people in Dr office waiting rooms
69 frozen blackberries from last summer
70 being forced to workout with people I would not on my own choose to hangout with
71 the smell of ocean potion sunscreen
72 working on rehabs
73 not feeling exhausted when my alarm goes off
74 pictures of my niece and nephew skiing and snowboarding

75 getting the last available spot in kickboxing class on a day that I really want to punch things
76 harmless practical jokes
77 throwing things together and coming out with something good to eat
78 being able to sit-down and catch up with a coworker
79 the little thing that makes my ipod into a radio station
80 Warm clothes when I have to stand outside on a cold day
81 getting a lot of tasks accomplished
82 starting the morning with a good swim
83 pictures of sunsets

84 God answering prayers
85 living in a small town with a variety of good ethnic food restaurants
86 people willing to watch my dog for me when I travel
87 God showing me areas of my character that He wants to work on
88 a very comfortable mattress
89 listening to student athletes laugh
90 eating in restaurants we don't have in our little town
91 making it, barely on time, but on time after rushing around
92 a really hard workout of climbing hills on a spin bike
93 the way downtown Nashville looks through fog
94 doing treatments to myself
95 Other people getting excited over little things. "Cate feel how soft this towel is!!! Oh my gosh it's amazing!!!!"

Sunrise, Sunset

I love to watch the sunrise. I love it when I'm out for a run that is timed right, and the sun comes up as I'm running. I love to watch the sunset as I am driving over the lakes near my house.
I take lots of pictures of sunsets.

This is the sun setting over a farm in Missouri that belongs to family friends.

Sunrise on a hiking trip in the White Mountains of New Hampshire

Sunset over the pacific ocean in San Diego, CA

Sunset while driving over Kentucky Lake

Sunset over Hematite Lake in LBL on a winter hike.

Sunrise over Wallis Sands beach, Rye, New Hampshire



There is just something peaceful to me about watching the sun come up, or go down, it's even better over water. Some people have a spot or a place that they go when they need to find some solace or do some deep thinking. I don't necessarily have a specific spot, and I don't even have to be alone.

Sometimes I will randomly stop as I'm loading groceries into my car, and look up at the sky

Like this.

Once I took a whole series of photos of these clouds, and the sun reflecting off them at a baseball game



Maybe it's because I grew up watching this

And maybe it's why I am very very excited to have some potential time this coming week to wake-up early, and watch the sunrise, potentially over a large body of water, otherwise known as the ocean!!!

Scene Safety

The first thing you always learn when taking an emergency responder class, no matter if it's basic first aid, or paramedic, is that the first thing you always do in a crisis is check to make sure the scene is safe.

If you are at the scene of a crime, you wait until police have cleared the scene first.

If you are at a traffic accident, you check to make sure that the oncoming traffic is sufficiently stopped and/or slowed down before you get out to help the victims.

When you respond to an emergency the first thing you do is prevent yourself from becoming another victim. If you are injured also, you will not be able to help those in need, and you will add to the crisis.

The second thing you always do is body substance isolation. You always put on your gloves, sometimes you put on goggles, mask, and gown also. You have to protect yourself against pathogens that the patient may have, that you don't know about. When you are responding to an emergency it's going to get messy, you are going to be covered in stuff, it's a given, so you protect yourself first.

Always survey the scene, body substance isolation, and then begin evaluating the patient. Always in that order, no matter what. And always you at least wash your hands afterward, normally you shower.

I think the same principles can be applied when it comes to relationships with people.
We miss it though. I definitely do sometimes.

Several years ago, a person I worked with made a statement, he said "there are some people in this world that are givers, and there are some people in this world that are takers, which are you?" To some degree I agree with him, but I also think he missed the mark a little, there should be a balance between giving and taking. I should not always be taking emotionally from others, and I should not always be giving. In healthy relationships there should be balance, there will be times when I am in need, and times when it is my turn to give.

This past Sunday my Sunday school teacher gave his definition of a friend. He said "a true friend is a person you can call in the middle of the night and they don't ask what's wrong, they ask where are you, so they can come and help you."

As I have been thinking about this, I realized that just as I protect myself when I am taking care of someone who has been in an accident, I also need to protect myself when dealing with emotionally unhealthy people.

I think sometimes we have this wrong idea that we are suppose to always listen to people around us, let them talk. I know that I do it, I give and give and give. I say "well she is going through a really hard time right now", I justify the behavior. I allow them to cross emotional boundaries that I shouldn't.

I'm not saying that when a friend is going through a hard time you shouldn't be there for them, that when they call in the middle of the night, you shouldn't go and be with them.

What I am saying though, is that sometimes what they need is more than I can give.
Sometimes what they need is professional help that I don't have to offer. Sometimes what they need is to go and be alone with the Lord. By always being there, by always answering the phone, I am enabling them to manipulate me, and I am enabling them to stay where they are at instead of seeking the help they really need, that I can't offer. I also realized that by enabling them, I am actually preventing them from deeper communion with the Lord. What I mean by that, is that if I am always there to listen to everything they need to get off their chest, am I allowing them to forgo taking that to the Lord.

I once had a conversation with a friend who after a lot of prayer and persevering decided to step away from some relationships that were really unhealthy. These were friendships that had brought a lot of guilt and condemnation to her life. We were talking about the fact that she had communicated real needs, and that those needs had been completely ignored, she felt like she shouldn't have to be petty and dramatic in order for the body of Christ to come along side her and walk through a really hard time with her. I told her that she was right, she shouldn't have to be petty and dramatic. At the same time, she had repeatedly given of herself, over and over again.

She had raced into crisis without surveying the scene or putting on her BSI. As a result she had become another victim. I can relate, I've done the same thing. In failing to take a broader look at circumstances, I have allowed unhealthy people to manipulate me, project their unhappiness and discontentment onto me.
In failing to get down on my hands and knees and pray, get into God's Word like I should, I have not put on my personal protection, allowing myself to be vulnerable to things I shouldn't.

Proverbs 4:23 says "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Often this verse is quoted in the context of dating. But does it apply to other types of relationships as well? Does it apply to relationships with people we go to church with, people we engage in small groups with? Where is the boundary line between being a good friend by being there and being a good friend by encouraging professional help and getting into God's Word? Do the boundaries change from one relationship to another? Do the boundaries change with different circumstances over the course of the relationship?

These are all questions I have been contemplating.

Thankful Thursdays 3/3/2011

A day late, but here it is...

12 Excitement of Arwen and Susie coming
13 students
14 anticipation of my summer CSA
15 pictures of mountains I have climbed

16 Brady

17 cousins with third culture kids
18 new running shoes
19 friends, near and far

20 my nebulizer
21 coworkers who recognize a stressful day and volunteer to help out
22 Murray State catering Mac and cheese
23 The guy at Murray State catering who makes the mac and cheese
24 awkward conversations with new friends
25 facebook birthday messages
26 meeting early in the morning to workout
27 heavy eyelids reading before bed
28 hearing and speaking truth with good friends
29 being able to relate to people
30 being able to laugh with people
31 funny text messages that make me LAUGH OUT LOUD
32 emails from old friends about how they are serving the Lord, and what they are doing in their ministries

33 contentment
34 good directions!!!
35 being greeted with a smile!
36 hearing "thank you"
37 letters from my sponsor child
38 Sunday School lessons and church sermons that fit together, when it wasn't planned.
39 rain at night
40 hugs from people for no reason when I run into them in places I don't normally see them
41 finding lost keys
42 driving in the rain
43 sweet new babies

44 tulips, 30 of them

45 fellowshipping with other believers
46 Susie eating room service
47 Arwen and Cate having matching bathroom bags
48 restaurant managers who take time to go over a very large and confusing bill

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.