Shells, sand, and friends

July 4th I was so fortunate to be able to go down to the beach near Georgetown, SC in DeBordieu.
I spent time with my friend's family- it was much like a fantasy world of large beautiful homes and pristine, private beach front.

Here are some photos from my time there:

Escalades and Waterfalls

Whoa, I've decided to break the silence. Has it been so long? Where has the time gone?
Anyway. Here I am.

I saw a woman driving an Escalade, smoking, and chatting away on a cell phone the other day and I got so mad for so many reasons. I pegged her as the reason that gas is hard to find these days in Spartanburg, I mean really- what does she need that huge car for? Does she have ten children? If she does, do they all have lung cancer from riding around in the smoke mobile? I admit, I honked my horn at her expressing my disappointment with her choices.

What is wrong with me?

The short answer is "a lot of things". One of those things is my stress level. It has been building and building for the past month and a couple of days ago it was like Mt. St. Helens all over Pine Street with that woman and her poor choices.
So, that said I am releiving some stress tomorrow by going on a hike with friends. We will hike 3 miles to Looking Glass falls, having lunch sometime in there, and then hike back down and come on home to Spartanburg.

I will do my best to capture the moment with my camera. Happy Weekend!

WAKA

Stands for World Adult Kickball Association. I kid you not. Barrett and I joined a team in Spartanburg in the SC Crossroads division. We are on a team called "Club Foot" and our color is burnt/rust/Texas orange. Here is most of our team:

We played our first real game yesterday and WON! Barrett and I had played the previous weekend with the team but it wasn't "regular season". I wasn't able to get on base for the practice games but was able to yesterday. It was a small victory but felt huge. No, really. It was a pristine day to be outside.
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Rewind to last Friday and the Bodies of Knowledge Symposium. It was a great success. I would estimate that we had 85 people coming and going at the event. The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences was there and made a speech, as was the Spartanburg PFLAG founder. I really enjoyed/connected with Dr. Bernadette Barton's work on The Toxic Closet: Being Gay in the Bible Belt. Another great speaker was Helen Boyd. Find out her story in a previous blog of mine.

It was a great weekend, and now I have to finish up the novel class- one paper, a final project, and an exam to go. Let the writing begin! (tomorrow)

Must be a clean chicken

The house is eerily empty tonight. Barrett has gone home for Christmas and Gio and Bailey are at the dog motel. It's left me with a lot of time just to think about everything. A friend of mine told me that all I do is think and never really act. I don't take criticism very well, and it kind of made me angry until I realized that I was thinking about how I felt. hahaha. Funny how I was shown the truth.

Anyway, back to me over-thinking things. I have been thinking about Christmas and what it is and what it means, and where it lives, etc. I've also been thinking about why it goes away and comes back again on a yearly basis. Why do we have a box labeled "Xmas stuff" in the attic/basement? If we don't put out a nativity scene, twinkle lights, a tree and some stockings are we atheists? On the flip side, if we leave out the nativity scene all year are we lazy or just thankful for Jesus? After a long debate with myself I've come up with no real answers.
What I've come up with is more questions of course, but also a basic statement that I hope I can remember when questions come up: "stop worrying and go outside". I did that today and saw a lot! I watched a man clean his tires at the top of our hilly street and waited for the water to trail down all the way until it reached my feet, I saw a couple drive up to a house across the street and watched them get the courage to finally go in. There were tiny raindrops on my car and the air smelled like fabric softener and fried chicken. It was amazing. Outside there are a lot of things. Water, bravery, and clean chicken smells. I highly recommend loosing yourself outside- get some things in your head that allow your brain to take a break.