During this morning's prayers of intercession at church, we heard about a ministry our congregation supports that helps young women who are victims of violent acts. As I looked at the smiling faces of women who have been redeemed, I still found myself quick to thank God I was protected from such a horrific past. Then I repented of that strange reasoning as I realized it was likely what people thought when they look at me. [...]

An alumni recently messaged my TA encouraging him to "always be a pain the the butt" to me. I know this because the alum sent me a screenshot of the request, but fortunately the TA was respectful of the pain in my back that showed up last weekend. I had a bit of a rough Sunday, and Monday was some of the most intense pain I've had since leaving REHAB. I skipped choir to lay flat and keep heat on my lower back and was feeling much better on Tuesday though it had a recurrence mid Wednesday and remained on my radar up through today. It's not been bad all yesterday or today, but I pulled my good ol' corset out of the closet on Monday and have been wearing it intermittently this week to relieve the pain. [...]

My back hurts. I don't say that much - I hope - but there's often a dull ache that goes along with the hum of my life. Today it's a little worse than normal. Today it hurts. And yet today was a wonderful day. Yesterday too. [...]

I love my job.

I wheeled through dog poop on my way to get groceries this morning.[...]

About twelve years ago I went to my first Demon Hunter concert (above left). They were my favorite band at the time and remain so to this day. When I discovered they'd be in Germany just a couple hours away, I wanted to find a way to see them, but unfortunately the complications of my life made it impossible to buy tickets in the moment and make my way there independently. Sadly, I wasn't able to attend the concert tonight to see Demon Hunter perform in my host country, but I wore my Blessed Resistance (their fan club) t-shirt to the staff concert tonight (above right). [...]

My life has highs and lows closely aligned, and this week was no different. I had a crazy stress filled week with a lot of business and a lot of blessings packed in. [...]

I'm emotionally tapped out. I knew it was coming, and I should have written this post before the final Westport service, but I didn't know what to say.[...]

I was sick with a cold type mess last week, and my legs put up a fight when Hunter and I went for a walk this past Thursday. I was disappointed in Beatrice and Virgil fighting my progress, but it turns out they were trying to communicate another mess on a microscopic level to me. I found out through a serious of other painful and obnoxious symptoms that I had yet another raging bladder infection. Ever the fan of natural remedies, I chowed down on raw garlic and upped my water intake immediately. [...]

I was a choir nerd for four years of high school, and I looked forward to the annual spring trip to "Musicale" where all the regional Christian high schools sent their choirs for adjudication and a mass choir performance with the same five songs we'd all learned through the year. I really had no idea what was going on the first year I went, but I followed my classmates up on stage and sang along to whatever song we'd picked for our performance not really caring about the end result. I was in it for the experience. Aside from the near death experience from a cross contamination close call where nuts might have found their way into my food, I loved every bit of the festival with my friends and looked forward to it every year after.[...]

I'm not lying when I share the sunshine in my life. I really do love the opportunity I have to teach bright, intelligent, inquisitive students. I also celebrate the chances I have to make physical improvements like walking with Hunter this week from my house almost into the center of town without my braces. We took off a couple times to see how far I could make it, and the first time I was excited to have good form all the way to Grüber, and the second time I thought I wouldn't make it as far but blew past there almost all the way to the hardware store. I relish in the chance to tell you these things.[...]