Unlike myself my roommate/coworker Amber has found a really wonderful Mormon church community nearby where she goes most Sundays. The leader of her congregation has a large family and every Sunday evening they set the table for 18 people and whoever shows up gets to eat, biological family or not. We were all invited (pretty much any Sunday we want) but today Amber and I headed down into Pineville and then up to the top of the mountain to their home for dinner. It's a gorgeous little home that they built themselves and has an incredible panoramic view of mountains and trees. We spent most of dinner being entertained by 7 year-old Isaac and his 3 year-old sister Braylynn. While Isaac went the academic route; quizzing us on dinosaurs, math problems, and what his favorite fish are (#1 whale shark, #2 flying fish, #3 all other sharks, by the way), his sister went the artistic route; playing (hitting) the piano, singing (making up the words to) songs, and just general stage performance (climbing to the top of things and yelling "ta-da!") Add in some homemade chicken and tortilla soup (and I don't even usually like soup) and you know it was a good night. Even though I was intimidated by the Church of Latter Day Saints worship service playing on the TV when we first walked into the house, the whole evening turned out to be incredible. It was nice to feel like we were in a real home with a real family at a real family dinner, even this far from our actual homes in Michigan.
Monday, February 25th:
Here's a pop-quiz:
Q: How do you know when you have a great roommate?
A: When you're trying to decide where to go for dinner, and your suggestion of "Olive Garden" is met with an emphatic "YES."
Q: How do you know when you have one of the best roommates in DA WORLD?
A: When it's 7pm and, yeah, that Olive Garden you mentioned? It's an hour away. Without blinking she's already halfway to the car with a new driving playlist and a look in her eye that says "I'd do anything for a breadstick."
Here's to (easily) finding beauty in the breadsticks.
Tuesday, February 26th:
I know that I've used the whole "beauty in productivity" thing a lot during my attempt at making the days seem more positive, but I truly think that feeling accomplished is so important. Maybe I'm still used to late nights in school when I was in the library last minute writing a paper, or coming home from class knowing that I really should be studying tonight instead of watching 16 & Pregnant with my best friend and his roommates...but having a 9-5 job (that is, when volunteers aren't here) throws me off. I always feel like it's not possible to just shut off at 5:00. Maybe that's just because I'm controlling, I don't know. Filling an 8 hour day with tangible evidence that I've been working hard, though, is a good way to overcome that feeling of "I could be doing more" which is certainly unhealthy if you're already doing a lot. Today we got organized for at least the first two weeks of March and the way these crews have been working, it seems hard to believe that there will be any substandard housing left in the county when I leave in September. We found at least two new long-term projects and tied up some loose ends at various families' homes. (Sidebar on that: it's a really neat feeling to walk back into a home we worked on almost 4 months ago and find that the relationships we built are still there.)
The best part about a truly productive day is when you accomplish a lot but still had time for being silly. When I was at home a family friend gave me this hat and asked that I put a picture of me in it on my blog. So here you go, Paula! :)
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| In the "Konstruct-shun Korner"--so named because of the local hair salon called "Hair K-Nect-Shun" |
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