Stranger than Fiction

I wanted to give you an update on what's been happening here. It's a strange story, but like they say, truth can be stranger than fiction! It goes something like this:

Two weeks ago, I was working the night shift here at the hotel when I got a phone call from Chris at about 4 am. Someone had flipped their truck right in front of our house. The guy and girl in the truck weren't seriously hurt, so Chris called the police and took care of them, took them to breakfast, and helped get everything settled. When they came to pick me up the next morning, I had just finished the flyers for our graduation bonfire (Chris graduated!) happening the next weekend, so we invited them to come by.

Well, the girl showed up, and had a great time, along with everyone else. (The bonfire went exceptionally well!) I had to work the next evening, but when I got home, she was at the house again, in bad shape. There had been a guy who showed up uninvited to our party looking for her; she asked us not to let him back, and we didn't think much of it at the time, but we found out when she came back that not only was she living with him, but he was beating up on her pretty regularly. We didn't even have to think about it; we needed a roommate, she needed a safe place to get out of a bad situation. We moved her in on an air mattress that night and went to the house to get the rest of her things the next day. We were expecting possible complications with facing a drunk abusive now ex-boyfriend, but thankfully nothing went awry.

It's been a few days now, and so far it's pretty smooth sailing. It just felt like the right thing to do. It still does. T (since that's what I'm gonna call her, for privacy's sake) is relatively young, still six months away from being a legal adult, but she's been through so much already that it's difficult to tell. She's one of the happiest people I've ever met, though, and she's beautiful, both inside and out. There's so much potential in this girl! She's quick, smart, and so good-hearted. She's been volunteering to do housework since she moved in, even though we told her she didn't have to, because she wants to give back and contribute in some way. And the most incredible thing is I see so much of what I've been though when we talk about her life, and I consider myself incredibly lucky to be able to pass some of the wisdom I've gained through my own experiences to someone who will appreciate where it's coming from. The only word to describe it is serendipitous. This can only turn out good. We're helping her find a better job right now, something close to home since there's still only one car for the household, but eventually she wants to get her license. She also wants her GED so she can go to college for physical therapy, and since I want to home school my children someday and could use the practice, I'm more than willing to help her study. I want to teach her everything I know, anything she wants to learn. I want to see her succeed.

God, I love finding good people in the world!

A fond memory

I was sitting on the front porch this afternoon, leaning over the rail, indulging in the warm brightness of the spring sun's rays. I closed my eyes for a moment and suddenly, vividly recalled lying on my beach towel in the sand at Cocoa Beach, hearing the waves break, feeling the sun warm on my face and the breeze blowing across my brow, smelling and tasting the salt in the air. It was one of the only times in my life so far I was totally and completely at peace, if only for a moment. That was on my Senior Class trip, seven years ago now, and I still remember it like it was yesterday.

I love springtime!

boys! raise giant corn plants in your sink drain!

Yesterday morning, my hubby went into the bathroom and saw something green poking out of the sink drain. Apparently, a corn kernel (probably from the mouse feed I use - I wash their food bowls in that sink - but I swear I don't ever remember any leftover corn going down!) had lodged in the drain, germinated hydroponically, and actually started growing:



What's interesting, at least for me, is having done a lecture section and a lab on plant reproduction and growth in Biology this semester and then finding something like this, out of nowhere. An amazing testament to the tenacity and adaptive ability of life in general, don't you think?

Cry Freedom

How can I turn away?
Brother, sister go dancing through my head
Human as to human
The future is no place to place your better days

Cry freedom, cry
From a crowd 10,000 wide
Hope laid upon hope
That this crowd will not subside
Let this flag burn to dust
And a new, a fair design be raised
While we wait head in hands, hands in prayer
And fall into a dreamless sleep again
And we wave our hands

Hands and feet are all alike
But gold between Divide us
Hands and feet are all alike
But fear between Divide us
All slip away

There was a window and by it stood
A mirror in which he could see himself
He thought of something
Something he had never had but hoped would come along
Cry freedom, cry
From deep inside, where we are all confined
While we wave hands in fire
Wave our hands

Hands and feet are all alike
But gold between Divide us
Hands and feet are all alike
But fear between Divide us
All slip away

In this room stood a little child
And in this room this little child she would remain
Until someone might decide
To dance this little child across this hall
Into a cold, dark space
Where she might never trace her way across
This crooked mile, across this crooked page
Cry freedom, cry
From deep inside, where we are all confined
Till we wave our hands

How can I turn away?
Brother, sister go dancing through my head
Human as to human
The future is no place to place your better days

~Dave Matthews


P.S. ~ Fletcher, thanks for letting me borrow this album...and I'll bring it back soon, I promise!