Alright, that's it, I am not spending the rest of my life indoors.
I've got this office job, right. And I didn't expect to like it. I knew it would be a stretch, but after 3 days I did not expect to feel like a girl in a cage. I never wanna spend more than four hours inside a building again, ever. Especially not a building with flourescent lights. My last three days (and when I say days I mean a 5 hour day, a 7 and a 1/2 hour day, and a 9 hour day) can be summed up exactly the way Emily predicted this job would be...."death by flourescent lights". Yep, that's it. That being said, I am learning a lot. And I am observing a whole new area of contemporary life. Office life that is: the running of a franchise. Employment, also. As well as a bunch of other stuff I am happy to know, but just wish it didn't take so long to learn. Truly, I think, this information will be more beneficial to me than what I would have learned had I got a job at a restaurant or a retail store would've been, because I am also learning the workings of a fast-food restaurant, from the management side. Still, it's not fun, and my free spirit is very very unhappy right now. I think I might camp out tonight...think that'll help?

Lydia

Lydia: Surely you're all expecting me to post about returning to school and my excitement/worries about Junior year. Well, this year, August is not the back-to-school month for me, because I got a job. I'm not as elated about this as one would expect because it's a full-time office job (not at all what I've been looking for). I am thankful, though, and I think it's going to be a good experience. So yeah, this month, I plan to nip this temporary office job in the bud and be ready to start Junior year by September.


Brianna: Well, I'm surviving. That's for sure. My plan for the month is to juggle (sucessfully, mind you) both work and school. Easier said then done...I'm guessing so.

Happy August!

There is a trailer park of sorts that I pass everytime I go into town from where I live. It's pretty dumpy looking. There's three trailers. They're all very small and only one of them-that I can tell-has air conditioning. It's a window unit in a window facing the street. The yard around the three trailers is littered with anything, everything: car parts, toys, broken trampolines, just everything. Right smack in the middle of the community yard is a car. It's jacked up on a box (I think) and is in pretty bad shape. The front bumper is hurting and there is something the matter with the general engine-area. I know this because in the last few months I have seen the inhabitants of these mobile homes out there working on it. They're always sweating it out, drinking out of plastic cups and cans, and looking generally raggedy, and there is always more than one of these people out there. That's what I like about them. They get it. They really get it.
Instead of insisting on quiet while he works, Mr. Fix-it is surrounded by his kids as he invests his time in this white car. Instead of staying in that one air-conditioned room, Mr. Fix-its brother sits on the porch talking to the Old Man of the Blue House, whose trailer has no air conditioning. Instead of telling her daughter off, Ms. Fix-it joins her thirteen-year-old outside on the trampoline. These people know; they see that it isn't about popularity, or education, or careers, or trades. They understand that concept which still manages to elude me, day after day: that people are the most rewarding way to spend your time.

As Victor Hugo says in his (fantastic, amazing, epic, life-changing) work "Les Miserables", There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul.

Mr. Hugo, like the Fix-its sees that people are the most important things that happen to us in this life. So let's be the Fix-its, and get it. Really get it.

(Funny the way it is)

Lydia

Check out my new sandals! I got them from some Hollywood store in Branson. The guy who worked there has had his for thirteen years! I'm hoping mine will stay around that long.

Now, there's a strong likelihood that if you read this blog regularly, or know me personally, you know about my foot problems. And these sandals just don't look like they would help relieve chronic foot pain, right? Yes. They are not going to correct my foot pain. Not at all. By buying them I'm not trying to be arrogant and say that I am to good to take advice, either. I just promised myself that even though I have a problem, even though it makes things kinda tough, I'm not going to change myself to suit my situation. I am who I am and I like what I like. I am not going to allow a little bit (ok, a LOT) of pain change me. I'm not running now, because of the pain, and I try and wear squishy and comfortable shoes most of the time-so I am trying to correct this problem-I just really wanted those sandals.

Lydia

There's a lot here. Like, right here: religions, and cultures, and books, and booze, and light, and transportation. It's all so dang available, and all so custom-made. There are twenty different colours of ten different styles. There are six different flavors for 3 different sizes. There are tall people, and short people, and happy people, and downers. And we are surrounded by this diversity. It is, once again, right here. What if it wasn't, though?
One day this planet has got to run out of oil. There just can't be an endless supply. Maybe there will be a day without taxis or buses or personal vehicles. A day without jet planes; big or small.
No matter which one comes first-my death, or the end of modern travel, there are a few things I want to experience before then, (i.e....)
I want to have flown helicopters over more rural villages than I can name.
I want to have seen life at it's best, I want to have seen life at its worst.
I want to have peed in at least thirteen countries.
I don't want to have spent my time being bored-I want to have been entertained by diversity.
I am going to be sure that I have listened to the music of the world without really listening to the tune stuck in my own head.
I am going see to it that all my relationships with those whose paths have crossed mine are one-hundred percent solid.
I want to be sure and see the things I need to see, and learn the things I need to learn.
I want to have climbed the trees, I want to have flown the kite, I want to have chanted the chanted, I want to have lept the leap, I want to have fought the battle, I want to have kicked the futbol, I want to have believed in the failure, I want to have tagged the skyscraper, I want to have fed off the earth, I want to have painted the sky, I want to have delivered the message, I want to have smelled the exotic flower, I want to have made the choice; I want to have lived the life.

Lydia

Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverence, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For me to to life is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more neccessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

Philippians 1:18b-26

Life is progressing. That is the natural course of things in our world, and that's a good thing. Right now, though, it feels as if life for me is starting to move incredibly fast. This week and the next two weeks of my life I can tell you the three predominant things I'll be doing: go to church, volunteer at Children's Hospital, and work. All three of these things are great, but I can tell you that when this time is up, I'm going to be exhausted. I'm already really tired and it's only been one week of this.

My life is changing. I'm becoming more and more busy. I'm participating in things that are growing and shaping who I am, and who I will be in the future. I'm learning valuable lessons that will make me a better person. For this, I am grateful. The downside, it is HARD. It's NOT easy. I can tell you this: I will meet this stage of my life head on, feet dug hard into the ground, and with much prayer and encouragement from the Word. I will succeed and I will learn something from all of this. Life is not easy, it's not meant to be.


Brianna