Girlfriends

When I was in college, it was a rarity to not be with friends. The memories of those incredible times in my life with friends still rumble through my mind when I lay in bed at night or while driving to work. There are a few friends that I still connect with on a regular basis and I consider them to be gems, however, now that real life has happened to us all, it more difficult to cultivate the good ole' days, as some call it. We are lucky if we can get a few texts out or make a phone call here and there, its awful really.

Today, however, I spent the day with my longtime friend Laura. Laura and I met in college when we both joined the Student Body Leadership Council. Through the years of college and hereafter we have remained close and being adults with her has been great!
Today, we had some ultimate girl-time---shopping, talking, coffee, lunch. It was so nice to get away for a while with one of my girls. There is something about girl-talk that soothes a hurting soul and renews a weary mind, its pretty much a must sometimes.

Anyway, today I realized one thing that--- no matter what life brings our way, no matter how far we live a part, girlfriends are necessary and they are part of our life support.

Sometimes we just need a day away with one of the girls!

1 Year and Counting...

Today is my one year anniversary... This year has gone by so fast, and even as I type, I cannot believe we are starting year two already. When we got married, people warned us that the first year is usually the hardest, and they advised it would get better, so on and so on...but I have to say, that its been an amazing year. Don't get me wrong, we have faced numerous obstacles, we have made many hard decisions, and we have had to learn our way, however nothing could have prepared me for what a rewarding year it would be. I think back to our very first date, and all the times in between and I can truly see that God has been faithful to us. Looking forward to this next year and all the adventures we will have...

Happy Anniversary Matthew, my love and very best friend. I'm so glad I married you.

Eat-Pray-Love

Last night while in Target, I picked up a book by Elizabeth Gilbert, you got it, EAT PRAY LOVE. While I don't necessarily agree with all of her thoughts on God and spirituality, the book is thought provoking. In the book she is telling a story about a time in her life where she prayed for the first time, literally crying on her bathroom floor at 3am, so desperate for an answer to her the things on her mind. Then she says all of the sudden, she hears a voice, her own voice at that, whisper, "Go back to bed", "just go back to bed". Ironically, it was the simple answer, although definitely not the answer anyone wants to hear while sobbing on the bathroom floor at 3am.

Anyway, this part of the book has been intruding my thoughts all day. So many times we are looking for God to give us an answer or a reason for something, or even for healing of our souls, because life has certainly wounded us, and taken its toll on our hearts. In my life there are times I am looking for some elaborate answer or rule book as to why things happen the way the do and yet feel I feel so offended with the idea that the answer may be "go back to bed", or "just trust me", or "stop worrying" or "get real and just relax, you are going to be fine". How can it be so simple???

So today, at GEICO, in my little cubicle, while wrestling with thoughts like, why do people who really want children have miscarriages, while people who don't want children get pregnant, or why do most of my close friends live in other states because its a tragedy we can't live near each other, or even dumb girly thoughts like, I wonder why stress causes acne....In these moments, in my very own heart, I thought to myself, "just answer your ringing phone, help customers and breathe." In that moment, that is exactly what I needed to do.

Somehow I find it funny that in life sometimes the answer to our prayers or the resolutions to our mind boggling thoughts are very simple and yet we make it so hard...