Two Weeks Absent - A Recap

It has been a long hard couple weeks of lots of work work work and little play play play. I am looking forward to the weather getting warmer again and perhaps a wrist on the mend from overuse. As a result of the busy-ness I have been exhausted, and thusly really neglectful of this space. Here's a quick recap of recent creative outlets and life events:

Easter.  My church hosted an amazing Easter service at the UD arena in Dayton. 7,500 people were in the stadium and another 500+ in the children's tent hanging out with me. It was an amazing experience. I build three spacey costumes for myself and two friends to wear as we lead worship for the kiddos. Poly-tubing cover makes for some Jetson fashions, let me tell you. 

photo by emilee hermon

Overall, What an awesome day! I, like many others, may have had my doubts about holding the service at such a large arena. (Seating is up to 13,000!) But people showed up in droves, and it was a really fantastic morning filled with great community feelings and an overwhelming sense of hope for a city rejuvenating itself.

The event name was "Crazy Hope".The music was crazy huge, the volunteerism was crazy organized, the whole thing was crazy inspiring. And by the end I was crazy tired. Still am. Tomorrow is my first day off in forever. I am crazy excited.

photo by lindsay hefner

It was kind of weird how my parents (who also served at the event) and I were too tired for regular Easter-type festivities and ended up noshing at Smashburger instead of having family dinner time with ham and scalloped potatoes. Perhaps a new tradition has begun?

photo by guy r. clemons 

Gardening. I have been trying to grow some plants in my back patio area and have succeeded at starting some kale. My lettuce seed are fighting hard against the frosty mornings but seem to be losing the battle. Kale is awesome, though. I love to eat it and I'm happy it's hardy like me.

Online Pruning. I spent a couple hours reading through the content of my old livejournal (which I wrote in ca. 2003-2008) and collecting the content for posterity before deleting it from the blogosphere.

Reading those 293 PDF pages of pure mush made me realize that I spent a good deal of my early twenties being pretty unhappy. It was a hard realization to make, as when I look back on that time of my life (mainly, the college era) I conjure up positive memories. My journal tells me that I was often lonely, often grumpy, often feeling misplaced and depressed. Sometimes, right now, I do feel lonely and wish for a relationship. But holy moly, looking back on those times when I was in a serious, long term relationship (one that I thought was "the one", in fact!) I realize that I am much happier now than I was then. I love my life, my family, my friends. I see my calling in life much more clearly. I think I'm great. And I really do see the "glass huff full" most of the time. Life is good!

Nephew Turns 4. I totally scored when I found this awesome plane attachment for my nephew's bike. The face says it all, right? (Also - isn't he adorable?!) I cannot believe this munchkin is four. Where has time gone?

The coming week promises me more time for myself and some summery projects I have in mind. I also have some interesting prospects in other areas of my life. Spring has sprung. Here goes nothing.