Sunday, January 18, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Ending the Year
Jennifer, Matt, and Laura stuff their faces with ice cream
December began and ended in a tempestuous flurry of activity and, wonderfully, snow! This is going to be a weighty entry since I haven't written in a while but I will try not to be dull.
Item #1: Modgnik...ahem, that would be kingdom spelled backwards and the title of Trinity's annual middle school retreat
I, along with all the Fellows, went into this weekend retreat with a sour attitude. It was the second weekend in December and days before our three hour final in Bill Wilder's theology class. How could they do this to us? But, having weathered life for a bit of time (almost a quarter of a century!), I knew that because I was being so moody that I would be surprised and blessed by the trip.
Too true. Right at the beginning my dire predictions were turned on their head when we arrived at the immaculate Rockbridge, a Young Life Camp. I had been expecting a few cabins in the woods from the '70s with the appropriate layers of mildew and bug carcasses. But no, no. Young Life's philosophy, I learned, is to present everything with excellence and to make self-conscious, peevish, cliquish kids feel loved and valued. Meaning? Gorgeous facilities with ropes courses, game rooms, an ice cream parlor with kid-friendly prices, and much more.
A fun event was when Jennifer (Jsher), Matt, and Laura took on The Big Ten ice cream challenge. One had to eat ten scoops of ice cream ($8), beat the current record (2:23 minutes), and keep it all down for 10 minutes (eek!) to get your money back and the fame and glory of having your name on the board with the new record. As soon as Ashley and I saw this challenge we thought of Jsher because she had won an ice cream eating contest in college (2.5 lbs in 18 minutes!). Well, the three of them squared off and it was great entertainment for everyone. Jsher crushed the competition and the record by devouring 5 scoops of vanilla and 5 scoops of sherbert in only 2:02! Go Tigers. (She went to Princeton -- a constant joke).
Jennifer at Rockbridge Ice Cream Parlor -- she adds her name to the board after winning The Big Ten Challenge
But the real boon of the weekend was getting to know and befriend all the middle school girls under Team Middle School's charge (the Fellows are split between middle school and high school), especially the eight girls in my cabin. It was also bizarre to see them experiencing the off-kilter emotions and thoughts of pre-teen-ness. So glad I'm past those stages! I also had the pleasure of co-counseling with fellow Fellow Ashley Nunes. She does exactly what she strives to: make everything beautiful. She embraces authentic womanhood so well and I love learning from her and it was easy to see that the younger girls did, too.
Item #2: Time Square, NYC
D-Lautz, Jennifer, Laura Comeau (three fellows), and I all bused to NYC for New Year's Eve! To let you know, the day after Christmas more than half my family was smote with an evil, 24hr bug. Greg, Dad, Little Grandma, Big Grandma, perhaps Dan, and I spent some quality time loosing every non-attached particle in our guts, to put it succinctly. At which time I swore to never have children, sorry Mom. Nausea makes me want to die. Word. I lost 5 lbs (not so bad) and had to eat Chicken and Rice for Sick Puppies for four days (really bad).
This is to say that my plans to drive to D.C. to spend the night at Laura's to take the Jewish bus the next morning to NYC to spend New Year's Eve in Time Square to get up the next morning to take the Jewish bus back to D.C. to drive back to Charlottesville the same day to get up the next morning to sit on a bus for the next two days driving to New Orleans -- BIG BREATH -- seemed exhausting.
But, I also knew that once I got this all started I would love it. So I did it. All.
Time Square: Dodging barriers and police officers who said, "Don't go that way" but then didn't stop people from going, prolonging a dinner at Applebee's to put off as long as possible standing in the cold, and, finally, three hours of standing in 13 degree temperatures with a windchill of -1. I danced from foot-to-foot all three hours because I stupidly wore my Converse which, don't ya-know, have two small, circular holes in each shoe. Cozy.
My New Year's experience definitely wasn't of the Sleepless in Seattle ilk but it was a twangy, spontaneous, twentysomething bash that I enjoyed. Not on a balcony over the Square but instead grateful to be able to see the ball at all and content to make up little jingles to pass the time and to call all our friends; to become chummy with our equally frigid neighbors and to ring in the new year with hugs with strangers.
My only regret? At the final countdown, I was so intent on counting down with the flashy screen that I actually forgot to glance at the ball going down. Oh well, there's always next year!
New Orleans info to follow. I'll just say that I am now thinking of moving there!
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