Life Tidbits | August 2017

Hello comrades,

    It's been quite a time since I last gave a life-y update! All summer in fact.

    These months have been strangely void of creativity, despite my resolutions in May. I did buy a wood burner, though! I stinking love that thing. Also I've designed a new bedroom for myself. Not really art, but it's fun... plus I found the most beautiful brass headboard filled with leaves and roses... for $10. What?

    Family-wise, it's frankly been a very hard season. There was a holiday weekend we were all together and there was passive aggression from every angle. During that time I felt a supernatural calm and power to reach out to each one of my family - from God I know because I normally would've strangled them. Ha. After that, things seemed very dark and empty and I just coasted. In fact, I had a few weeks of such lowness that I went deep into a hermit-y mode that I haven't before reached. But I'm learning how to better manage. I realize I'll never be rid of the strife entirely, so I must look to the Lord and to the other blessings in my life.
    However, with the immediate household, things are all right. My little brother has his first real crush, and my older brother is moving to campus this weekend. I'm thrilled for them! Although both are hard work. 

    Speaking of moving, my deviant friend Nobody is moving super close to me! Huzzah for school and deviantART and having tea with old chum-strangers! We're going to have a ball.

    Speaking of friends, this past weekend, my pen pal Molly and I were Together Again! (see linked journal for complete story). Another record-breaking hug ensued at the bus station, followed by muppet movies and ice cream, then we settled into our two days of merry memory-making.
    The first began with rain and french toast. Then we traveled to a my school's huge library, art museum, and arboretum, where we found the most majestic fallen tree. Back at home we whipped up brownies, then went by a hip coffee shop to see my dear friend Dora make her musical debut - singing her own songs at open mic. After which, she joined Molly and I for a campfire with brownie s'mores and we stayed out late into the night singing songs and watching meteors. 
    The second day was our magical adventure to Mammoth Cave. We rapped Hamilton together on the 2 hour drive. Then it was geek time - we're cave fanatics. And Mammoth Cave! The smell, the echoes, the history, the story-like atmosphere... We whispered and clutched each other and ducked through stony passages to our hearts' content.
    On the way back, we stopped in Bardstown, KY ("Voted the most attractive small town in America"). We first intended to see a play, but found them sold out. What was there to do but grab food from McD's, slip behind a fence into a beautiful state park and have a picnic? Then we explored. There was an adorable main street, a fountain, a horse and buggy, plenty of closed shops to peer into, and a historic church. Now, on her last visit, we found an old church in Lexington. Why not give it another go? We circled it 'til we found an unlocked door. A car was parked there, and we thought surely there would be someone at the desk as before. Not a sound. We snuck in like mice and wandered around the glorious old structure. Suddenly Molly grabbed the guest book and signed "Merry and Pippin" with our time in/out. Just as she finished, we heard a noise, and scurried out like guilty thieves. Ehehehe. Such a feeling. We rounded out the evening in the graveyard. As we left, we ran into a ghost tour, and so stayed longer to spy on them while pretending to read graves. It didn't last long, for once we heard the guide's stories, Molly grabbed my hand and we strode out with haste.
    Ah, what a brilliant weekend of friendship and adventure.

    Speaking of adventures, I'm off to a very large one next week! My friend Dora and I have gotten up a road trip. Her sister is coming to, and we shall make our way to the Smoky Mountains! Expect many fine photographs upon my return.

    Not long until I'll be here with tales of being a student again! And writing tutor! How I miss school.

    By the way, this is my pen pal Molly. Subscribe to herrrrrr...