Because I Never Want To Forget

That yesterday, when I woke up on my 26th birthday, this is what awaited me.

I am married to a good, good man.

Cliff is Almost Thirty

Okay, okay. He's only twenty-six.

But still. He's older than me now, so that counts for something.

We like to keep each other in suspense when it comes to our birthdays, and today was no different for the Cliff-meister. About the only thing that hasn't been a surprise in the last twenty-four hours was the GPS that came in the mail yesterday evening for Cliff from his parents and me. That was the surprise last weekend when we celebrated his birthday with his family at the lake.

After sleeping in this morning, we readied ourselves for brunch at J. Christopher's. Cliff got the Blueberry Crunchcakes and I, The Benny - neither of which were a disappointment. Then we "killed time" at Borders playing DreamHouse which is where we collect books and magazines on architecture and interior design, set up camp in the comfy chairs, and remark on the things we like/don't like/want/don't want one day. After Borders, we were off to the movie theatre for a matinee showing of "Up" in 3D; what an amazingly heart-wrenching/warming/satisfying movie - we LOVED it!

Then off to Whole Foods we went to pick up some supplies for our end of the day surprise, which turned out to be (well, turned out for Cliff - obviously I knew) a trip to Arrington Vineyards complete with a picnic (yummy cheeses, bread, hard salami, cranberry mustard, and grapes), wine, music, board games, and a sunset nap in our new Double Nest hammock Cliff purchased with some of his birthday money.

All in all, a wonderful day. And I think Cliff would tell you the same except I wore the birthday boy and he's now soundly sleeping on the sofa behind me.

He deserves it, though. I'm thankful for God bringing him into this world and ultimately, into my life. He's made it the beautiful adventure that it is everyday.

Impossible!

My baby brother:

is a TEENAGER today.

I just can't believe it.


Happy birthday, Marcus. We love you!

So Far, I'm Liking It

I am 25 now and have been for a whole day or so.

And it's not all that weird, save the part about being closer now to 30 than I am to 20.

Apart from not being with family this weekend, I couldn't have imagined a more appropriate way to celebrate than to do exactly what I did this weekend. From Friday night until now, I have been lavishly blessed with reminders of all of the good and wonderful things God has given me in the last quarter-century and all that is yet to come.

I can barely put into words everything these last three days have meant to me. And the most astonishing thing is that nothing has been grand or lavish about them. I think it's really the small moments that have left the most lasting impressions...

Laying in a hammock with one of your best friends and reading a timeless and favorite book for the third time, while the sun filters through leaves littering the sky above you. Being out on the water. Sitting around a fire with three people I absolutely love with all of my heart, listening to the flames snap and crackle as the scattered raindrops fall, mixing with them the scent of honeysuckle, viburnum, and smoke. Blowing out the first of two candles placed ever so craftily in a just-perfect S'more. Being able to do what I've come to really love to do here in the last year or so. Receiving messages and calls from people who really, really love and care about me. Opening up handmade cards from afar. Eating not just one but two fabulous birthday dinners with my best man, one of which was at one of our most favorite restaurants around.

These twenty-five years have been very well-spent. It's nice to look back, even on the handful or two (or five) of years I've been around, and to see the patterns - see the places where God has been working all along and continues to do so.

And for everyone who's thought to ask, "So how's it feel to be 25?"

So far, I'm liking it.

In Full Gear

I don't think I knew that time could go by this quickly.

It feels like just yesterday was May 1st, and now here we are on the edge of my birthday weekend which always means that the end of May is only a week away.

We are in full gear, for sure. Both of us so busy at work we're forgetting to eat lunch some days and to surface for air. And the funniest thing happens when both of us cross our respective work thresholds at 4:30PM. We're in normal mode.

Sure, normal is still relatively busy because we've got tons of extra little things like photo sessions, Dale Carnegie class, men's and women's groups, and work functions.

But it's like my brain shuts off and I forget where I am, I forget how busy life is, I forget how much is really going on when I have moments like getting into the safe cocoon of my car on the drive home and blaring "Strawberry Swing", or in the movie theatre with friends on a Wednesday night watching a straight up chick-flick, or sitting out in the middle of pure Tennessee country holding a sleeping baby in my arms and watching a bonfire die out as the next to last guests leave the Lampo ELP picnic.

Oh, I could have sat out there forever. It was so rewarding after the busy and yet good day I had at work yesterday. So much is happening in preparation for Summer Orientation to begin in just a few short weeks, I got a huge chunk of to-dos chopped off the list and it just felt nice.

We're getting away for the night and tomorrow with Natalie and Ryan to play outside, jump in waterfalls, and just be. The prospect of more "being out in the country" sounds like heaven right now, and I'm very much looking forward to it! That is, before returning on Sunday to my first Associate wedding and celebrate me being alive for a quarter of a century. Weird.

Hope you all have a beautiful holiday weekend and take time to relax!

For Cee-Bird

(So, her birthday isn't until Saturday, the 5th, but we'll be at the lake so I wanted to make sure I got this taken care of. This is a big birthday year for both of my siblings!)

Happy Eighteenth to my (not-so) little sister!

I can't believe she's an adult now, at least according to the people who regulate films and also the U.S. Constitution. It seems it can hardly be possible. Especially when I look at pictures like this:


I remember sitting on that same porch/deck/paved area of our house in Cumberland, Maryland pouting on the day everyone came to celebrate her first birthday. That first year wasn't easy. Though I loved having a baby sister, it meant my reign of six years as an only child was over and that was a hard adjustment. But as time drew on, I came to love and adore my fiery little sister, the princess, or "ornery" as she was sometimes called. (And who is still as fiery as ever.)

We are so very different in a million ways and yet sometimes I find myself taken aback by the similarities we share. And I am grateful for both our differences and our commonalities. It makes us who we are.

And now she's not a little girl or just a teenager. She's eighteen. And those early-nineties puffballs in the snow are all grown up and either dipping their toes into (in the case of Cearra) or barely up to their knees (in my case, having only recently turned twenty-four) in the sea of adulthood. And more than ever now, they are friends.


And for that I am incredibly grateful.

BTW, Cliff and Summer

Today marks not just the official beginning of summer, but also Cliff's entry into the second quarter of his life (assuming he lives to the ripe old age of 100).

Cheers to the birthday boy on this twenty-fifth!

To celebrate, we're off to the lake (not to mention he awoke to presents, we had breakfast with his team at Cracker Barrel, I'm visiting him at work and delivering Maniac's, and then on our trip out we're making a surprise stop for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants)!

June Baby

A dozen years over, this once-baby, then little-boy, now almost-teenager has been my "little man."



I can't believe he's twelve, today. It's kind of a special age for us, because with me turning twenty-four a week and a half ago, I'm exactly twice his age. Or, he's half of mine. Whichever way you look at it.

I remember wishing so much for him to not only exist but to be a boy. My very own little brother. And when when he was both, it was one of the greatest gifts ever.

Actually, more like is one of the greatest gifts ever.

Happy Birthday, Marky. We love you!

Life Abbreviated

My head is too full, I've got 15 minutes left on my computer session at the Williamson County Library, and I can't be bothered with too many sentences. So here's what you need to know, (or at least I believe you may be interested in knowing):

• I am back from Chicago
• I fit in every must-see/do (for this particular trip) in a span of four hours on Wednesday afternoon
• I can't wait to go back
• Belmont SIFE won their league in the Opening Round
• They placed 3rd runner-up in their league during the Semi-Final Round and 1st runner-up for the Market Economics Individual Topic Competition
• Cliff survived without me, but just barely
• We spent a rather cultured weekend at the Franklin Rodeo and the Frist
• I am officially jobless and therefore, well-read and bidding adieu to my winter skin
• I am also computer-less for at least another 5-8 business days (just some repairs to an ancient iBook... that's all)
• We are going to Memphis for the weekend with The Hartleys to celebrate my Golden Birthday (24 on the 24th!) and Memorial Day, and we couldn't be more excited

That's it in a nutshell. Thanks for checking in...

A Celebration of Being

So many calls, so many emails, so many e-Cards - seriously - the thing I like about getting older is that you actually appreciate and are surprised when people think of you on your birthday as opposed to being a kid and expecting it. I really lost sight of this birthday for a couple of reasons; namely a impending date that seems a little bit more important and the fact that twenty-three just isn't an age of "significance".

I didn't think about that much until the other night with Cliff at my first birthday dinner (he took me to Joe's Crab Shack by the way and I FEASTED on crabs - for serious - it was amazing, especially because I'd been wanting some for awhile) when we started talking about the day. I realized that I haven't had a non-milestone birthday in awhile. Not since I was eight, probably.

Here's an example:
8 - ..... uh.... happy birthday to me?
9 - alllllllmoooost ten.
10 - a decade old! Double digits!
11 - not ten, anymore.
12 - almost thirteen!
13 - teenager!
14 - not just thirteen anymore!
15 - almost sixteen and have a driver's permit!
16 - sixteen and driiiiving!
17 - not just sixteen anymore and almost eighteen - woohoo!
18 - FREEEEEDOM!
19 - last year of teenage-hood
20 - two decades! I made it!
21 - PAAAAARTAAAY!
22 - not just twenty-one anymore
23 - ...... uh .....

You know what I mean?

Anyways, it's been a great birthday and I haven't even gotten my gift(s?) from Cliff yet which he plans on giving to me this weekend. (New iPod maybe? oh please, oh please, oh please!) He insisted that my birthday celebration last five days instead of just the two it started out as. We went to dinner Wednesday night (mmmmm.... craaaabs) and then out to dinner again at The Cheesecake Factory with some of my most treasured friends in Nashville. I don't know if anyone could tell, but I seriously started to tear up when the waiter came with my Key Lime pie birthday cheesecake with a glowing candle and all of my friends singing "happy birthday" to me in a crowded restaurant. It was great.

It's weird to have people celebrate you. I don't know - I mean my bridal shower, my birthday, a few more showers to come. These are times that I find myself inwardly feeling completely awkward and wanting nothing more than to hide and let someone else take the spotlight, but also deeply realizing what a gift it is to have a moment or two of all-eyes-on-you, care of the people who really do love you. In a moment where people seem to just see you, all you can do is look around at those faces and wonder that you are someone worth caring about in their eyes and hope that you do the same to make them feel important, loved, even special. I do hope so.

We always matter to someone, and I am thankful for that, even if it just is to the One who knew me before anyone else and continues to do so despite how well (or not well) I return the gift of attention and celebration. I think, lately, I have been negligent - or at least a little distracted - in my faith walk these days - taking little time to just be in the presence of God and not just to let that affect me and my day - my interactions with people, the ways that I serve, or even just my thoughts - but to truly recognize and laud Him for who He is (not to me, or for me, or anything related to me) - but simply His being.

The Lord is no less with or without my praise and celebration, I know that for sure. But I can't help but believe, like me last night surrounded by people I love, that my simple response and recognition of Him brings delight unimaginable to such a wonderful and worthy God. Again, I do hope so and am thankful for the inspiration of the people in my life pointing me back to what matters most.