The Best Labor Day Weekend Ever

Let's be honest, even though I have a great job and a great place to live, it's been a little harder than I thought it would be getting used to this whole "real world" thing. For one, and probably the biggest one, I miss my friends. It's weird not being able to run down the hall or across the lawn and then go to the pub and play games or watch a movie or some other random concoction of funness we might have.

So, when I first moved to Dallas, it was exciting. You know, having to rush around and get things done and feeling like you've got things to accomplish and zooming through the list of to-dos makes you feel good. I've been working for a month now, and half of that time was spent in D.C. for training, and even though it was really cool to go there and get to meet a lot of new people, I was really having a hard time being excited about what I am doing. I mostly keep thinking that I should be doing something more exciting, something that will give me this awesome life story, and I can tell people how I traveled all over the world after college and took pictures of beautiful places and people and met interesting people and all of that. And that would be cool, and I would love that and have an amazing time, I'm sure.

You're probably wondering about now how this was the Best Labor Day Weekend Ever if so far all I've talked about is what I miss and what I wish I could have. So, here I go. I was talking to Trey and saying how I get really unsure of myself when things change in my life, and his reply was that I should make a list of things I am grateful for whenever I feel like that. A lot of this is coming to me right now...here we go: I looked up the word "bless" in the Bible, and in the New International Version, it comes up 62 times. The Sermon on the Mount is full of "blessed's", and they all seem to be for people who are not on top of the world-- they're poor in spirit or mourning or hungering. And then there are the peacemakers and the merciful and the pure in heart. Who knows what they are doing. They could be out in the world doing something really amazing or maybe just working at home, but they are blessed because of how they are doing it.

When I look at the people who mean the most to me and have helped me the most, it's pretty clear to me that they'd be the same no matter what their job was. Story time: I was really shy when I was in elementary and middle school. Even if I knew the answer, it terrified me to speak up in class, and I had a teacher in the 5th grade who loved to call on people--not to embarrass them, but she was really fun and young and spunky and just wanted everybody to get their chance to talk. One day, I think we were diagramming sentences (not joking, I loved that!), and Ms. Pascal called on me. I must have given off some mental alarm that showed her how mortified I was and probably waited for a while to answer, and then she just said to me, "All you can be is wrong." I don't really remember what happened after that (probably blacked out...just kidding), but I've remembered her saying that to me a lot.

What I am getting out of all of this for tonight is that being grateful and blessings are not about being right and wrong, and they are certainly not about freaking out about the future. Worry is ingratitude in advance (thanks, Warren!). So, right now, I am grateful for:
1) seeing Trey these last two weekends
2) having the pugs to come home to every night
3) most days getting to see Courtney and Phil
4) tubing down the Comal River
5) my license that will coming back to me soon, hopefully!
6) having a good job right out of college
7) being able to afford a new car
8) my mom and dad getting to go to China

It's time for me to go to bed now. More to come later on!