WE DID IT!!!!

Allow me a moment.

Matt and I trained for and ran an 8k. It was my first 8k, and his too. It was also our first race together. We drove up to the Outer Banks on Friday and ran the race on Saturday morning. The course was an out-and-back course (which, if you're a runner, you probably abhorr), and that means you run out half the distance, and then turn around and run back. It's discouraging because you a) know how long you have left to go; and b) because the faster runners are passing you on their way back. Oh well. All in all, it was an amazing and really fulfilling experience. It definitely won't be our last race.

Here we are before the race.

When we got within sight of the finish line, I looked at Matt and said: "Race ya!" Of course, he won the sprint to the end, but I held my own!

Haha

Today, a RESTRICTED number called my cell phone. I answered. The following ensued:

"Hello?"
"Hi. Can I speak with Roosevelt?"
"Teddy or Franklin?"
"Huh?"
"Nevermind. No one here goes by that name."
"uh...okay. I must have the wrong number."

Sigh. Okay, so that's not really how the conversation went. I left out the funny quip about which Roosevelt they wanted to speak to. But it did take all of my self-control not to say that.

The Longing Conundrum

Do you ever long for something? I feel like one word sums up how I've been feeling for a few months now: longing. But I'm perplexed because I don't know quite what I'm longing for.

I'm at once longing for the future and the past. I'm longing for the comfortable and the uncomfortable; for the old and the new. And sometimes, I'm longing for the in-between spaces.

I've always, no matter what stage I am at in life or what I'm going through, able to relate to Sara Groves' song "Painting Pictures of Egypt"

I've been painting pictures of Egypt
And leaving out what it lacks
The future feels so hard
And I want to go back

But the places that used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I've learned
And those roads were closed off to me
While my back was turned...

At one point in the song, she sings: "I am caught between the promised and the things I know." I am altogether frustrated and exhausted and excited and confused as I try to figure out what this stage is exactly in my life. I feel like I am in the in-between, where I have out grown many things but am not quite to the next phase in my life yet.

I don't want to leave too quickly, nor do I want to hestitate too long. But I don't know what exactly I'm supposed to be doing, or where I'm supposed to be headed.

I don't know much of anything right now, it seems.

Team Day at Chic-Fil-A

It was Team Day at Chic-Fil-A, and if you wore a shirt with your favorite team on it, you got a free sandwich.

Tarheels + Chic-Fil-A =Good day!

Neither one of us likes pickles, though, as exhibited in the third picture. :)

Ummm...???

My professor wants me to write a lesson plan. This would be fine if:

-I knew the components of a lesson plan
-I had ever seen a lesson plan
-I even planned to be a teacher in the future


Sigh. I want to be a social worker, people. You know, I want to talk to kids about their problems. I'm not going to give lectures or do state-mandated curriculum lessons with them.


I'll figure it out. I always do.

Blogging Hiatus

I feel like so much has happened since I last posted. My black lab mix, Riley, moved into my apartment-- my attempt to feel "safe" again. I started back to school (classes include: English, Criminal Justice, The Institution of Education, and Sociological Perspectives on Gender). Matt and I attended two weddings and have started training for an 8k.

My most recent list:

Really, really hate:
NC humidity

Really hate:

Ignorance

Hate:
Lazy punctuation

Indifferent:

Dinner choices

Like:
Taking Riley for evening walks

Really like:

Having Matt spend time with my family

Really, really like:

...I need more time on this one...

What I'm growing out of:
Feeling like a University student

My obsession with facebook

What I'm growing into:

My need to be included in seemingly "adult" things

Funny The Way It Is...

I got home from work yesterday at about 5:30pm. On the way home, I mentally planned the rest of my evening: watch the rest of Gilmore Girls, shower and change clothes, grab a quick dinner of left-overs, have a game night with David and Katie, then house-sit for the rest of the night. Awesome.

I got to my apartment building, unlocked the breezeway door, and found my apartment door ajar, barely cracked open. When was I here last? I thought. Yesterday, with Matt, right before the benefit concert at church, exactly 23 hours ago. Cautiously, I stepped into my apartment. "Hello?" I half-yelled. I'm notoriously anal about locking my door. I knew that someone else had been inside. And that's when I saw my TV missing. My heart stopped.

My other valuables were left untouched. I looked over to the window, that's in the dining room adjacent to the living room. The vase that was previously on the window sill was lying on the floor. Dialing 9-11 in one hand, I went back outside and saw what I had previously overlooked: the screen on the window had been cut. The pieces were beginning to fit together. Someone had broken into the apartment through the window, unplugged and stolen the TV, which was my Christmas gift this past year, and walked out through my front door.

For the second time in my life, I spoke with a 9-11 operator. Actually, the only other time I called 9-11 happened the first night I moved into this apartment. The reality of the situation began to sink in as I told the 9-11 operator what had happened. "Is there anyone still inside?" I glanced around the apartment, two of the bedroom doors (in the 3-bedroom where I currently live alone for the summer) were closed. "I-I-I don't know." "Then I'm going to have to ask you to leave the residence immediately."

I waited outside for the police. Laura Jo came over just so I wasn't alone. We waited another 2 1/2 hours for the CSI people, who dusted for fingerprints and told me it was probably someone I knew. Riiiiight. Not.

I don't care about the TV. It, like everything else, is replaceable. I am safe/okay, but I don't feel that way. I miss feeling like my apartment was a safe, secure place as long as I kept the entry points locked. Sigh.

Dave Matthews has a song called "Funny the way it is." It basically says that it's funny how one person is going hungry while another's eating out; how someone's house is burning down while I spend a day at the park with my family.

Funny the way it is, I was probably playing Apples to Apples and eating pizza with Matt, Laura Jo and Nick when my apartment got broken into. Or maybe I was at work, earning money to buy nice things, instead of stealing them. Funny the way it is...

THIS...

...is what my life consists of-- at least when I'm at work. Yep, that's right, folks. I'm the bumper boat operator at a local park. :)

Ten Things Bumper Boats Taught Me About Life:

10. Batteries need a full night to re-charge, a lot like people need sleep.
9. If you put one foot into the boat, you better follow qiuckly with the other (or you'll end up in the pool).
8. Don't squirt other people with water if you're not willing to be squirted too.
7. Color-coding helps people understand better.
6. Waiting in line makes the end goal that much more enjoyable.
5. All good things must come to an end (sometimes after 3 1/2 minutes!)
4. If you have to jump in the water, fully-clothed, to catch a runaway boat, you'll probably dry off within 30 minutes in the NC heat.
3. People only obey the rules they deem important.
2. Wear sunscreen. Lots and lots of sunscreen.
1. It's okay to act a little wild and enjoy yourself, no matter how old you are.