I'm Leaving

I'm leaving on a jet plane! I am going to NH to see my mom and Bob! 

Truly, it is a magical adventure whenever my mom is part of my plans. She still creates magic for me - I have no idea how. 

I hope to see some ocean, maybe hike a little, maybe eat some really great comfort food and sit by the fire. 

Do you know what I hope for the very most, though? A scare-free plane ride. Both ways. 

                                    The beach not too far away from the Boston International Airport - 2007

Pricey Bargains

Garage sales are so fascinating! It's like gambling (only most of the time it's cheaper) because you could come across a treasure...or not. I am safer than most from the siren call of the garage sale as I never carry cash (which is also a problem).

Today I stumbled across a garage sale in my own neighborhood. Actually, right across the street. Turns out the couple that has been living there for the past 25 years is moving. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to meet them as I had never seen them before. Not once in the last eight years that I have been here.

Anyway, as I moseyed my way through the piles of "stuff" they were hawking, l noticed that they had some interesting goblets here and there. One particular goblet looked like it was silver - tarnished, yes, but silver nonetheless. I brought it down off of it's perch to get a closer look, and quickly returned it as it felt too light to be the quality I hoped it was. And wouldn't you know? It fell off of the shelf and crashed to the ground in two pieces. Guh. The base had snapped right off of the stem.

I have never broken anything at a garage sale before, so I didn't know what protocol was. The neighbor hadn't seen it, and no one was around. So I left.

I went back to my house, got the two quarters that was the asking price, and returned to let the garage seller know what had happened. He didn't seem to care much - as was my anticipation. But if I had not paid for it (although I left it with him to dispose of), I would have been waiting for Karma's swift retribution my whole life. And I wasn't willing to go through that for a fake silver goblet.

Or anything else, really.

Tweet Tweet Tweet

Writing has always been my "thing". My blogging started in '05 with MSN's Spaces ( I was writing at the Tow Away Zone! Clever, huh?) and then migrated to Blogger in '06 when all of my fellow bloggers did. I think Facebook was the death of our blogging. I can't be for sure of that fact, but as evidence, our blogging decreased as our FB'ing increased.

Twitter is another factor responsible for our (collective) decreased writing. I really haven't enjoyed Twitter all that much - that may be because 90% the tweets in my feed were either upsetting to me, offensive or political.  I never saw anything from people I actually knew, and if I did, I had already seen their post on Facebook! I refused to delete anyone because doing that made it seem that I am close-minded, judgmental and not open to anyone else's point of view. Which is exactly the opposite of who I want to be.

But, holy cats! My Twitter feed! It. Was. Infuriating.

So, I decided to take a look at who I was following - and who was following me. I guess I didn't know enough about what a good follower/followee relationship looked like when I started my tweeting...nor was there any rhyme or reason to who was included in my twits. I started hitting the unfollow button. And that brought me so much happiness that I kept hitting the unfollow button until there was nothing left but people I WANTED to follow (and who were following me)! My whole experience with this particular social media has just changed for the better. I know there is a life metaphor in there somewhere about how when we choose our companions well it makes our life happier...when I get it worded better I will be sure to tweet it!

(@terilyn1610) :-)

See You At the Pole

Today was See You at the Pole day for my kids and their high school. Truly, I was impressed that they went - mostly because it entailed getting up and being to school even before the sun came up.

Both of the boys have been active with their youth group, our church and summer church camp for about a year, and all on their own accord! I am so grateful for that. They even have a school bible study that meets at lunch on Tuesdays. Now, I went to Christian schools when I was growing up - I don't think I had near as much God in my life as these boys do. They seem to be comfortable with their spirituality around their peers and adults alike.

But even in their cool Godliness, they are still teenaged boys. As my youngest was leaving for the school this morning I hollered,"Love you! See you at the flagpole!". Horrified, he stopped in his tracks to look back and ask, "Uh, you aren't coming, are you, Mom?"

Haha! I really did think about going after that. In my jammies.

Oily Happenstances

I bought a new car. (See picture- it's cute, right?) I spent many hours searching the internet for this specific car: Chevrolet Sonic RS. The RS part is important because it means I have a turbo, leather and a sunroof. I don't know why those things indicate luxury to me, but they do and I had to have them. So I got them. I also get 35 MPG on the highway - not luxurious, but very practical. 

To date, I have put 30K on my new little car in 10 months - somebody quick figure out my monthly average, but I'll estimate that it's pretty high what with all of the commuting for work and my long-distance relationship. And, oh yeah, the road trip we took to Yellowstone this summer. 

A couple of weeks ago, the kids and I were "flying low" down the highway when I heard a terrible thump under the car, and saw something that looked like a rock careening down the lane behind me. Thinking I must have hit a dirt clod or something similar, I didn't take too much notice. Until oil started covering my back window. (Oil? How in the hell would oil get on my back window?) As my oil pressure lamp lit up and the oil pressure alarm sounded off  (like this: DINGDINGGGDING!!!), I wobbled my way off of the highway to a gas station parking lot. Ugh.

The kids and I sat on the curb next to my little car, bewildered and waiting for roadside assistance. Believe it or not, I have never had to use roadside in my life. It's pretty easy, all in all. However, I was so shaky that my sons were dialing dueling phones for me while we arranged for rides, advice, etc. 

The tow truck driver was a young kid, burly and earnest. As he jumped out of the truck, he let out a low whistle at the puddle of oil now staining the parking lot. "Threw a rod", he says, "Wow - that stinks". (What? What? WHAT?? I have thrown a rod in a vehicle before...it was my fault...I was waiting for the Change Your Oil light to come on. It never did come on. It was a 76 Toyota pickup that didn't even have a Check Your Rattling Engine light. I have been very good about oil ever since. I could not have thrown a rod in this little car.)  "Would you mind looking at the hole in the pan, Sir, to see if the hole is coming out or going in? I am sure that I just hit a rock," I said, trembly voice full of panic. Trying to scootch his large frame under my tiny Chevy, he finally located the spot where the oil had been pouring out of. "Huh. This hole is threaded - this is where your oil plug should be!", he nodded wisely to me. 

So - apparently - when you are flying low down the highway, your oil plug can just FALL OUT. This is not something I have ever heard of, and of course was not prepared for. 

Now I am well versed in all things Oil Plug, Oil Light, Overhead Cam, Turbos, dealerships who promise you the moon but give you moonrocks, other dealerships who pick up the slack and restore your faith in some dealerships, and roadside assistance. Go ahead - ask me anything. 

Privacy, Please

Oh! Now, that feels nice. I can say whatever I want to and I don't have to worry that somehow, someway my words will be read by people who will take them the wrong way. And I also don't need to worry that I sound whiney or too happy or too ANYTHING, really.

I really do like to write. Well - mostly, I like to muse. And I like to look back to see what it looked like in my head in the past, if for no other reason but to make sure that I am growing as a human.

Unfortunately, I also like the feedback and the communications with others that an open blog provides. I miss my old bloggy friends. Sarah, Colleen, Jock, Brenda - I miss them. I miss the tremendous influence that they had in my everyday life.

I hope they are all well.

Maybe I should reach out...

Regret and Breadcrumbs

I feel an incredible amount of shame in regards to who I have been. It can be overwhelming. And this blog is a written record of it.

Deleting the blog is an obvious option. So is turning the more "odious" posts back in to drafts (which I have done already with some), so that I don't lose the content but am not displaying it for the world to see. And judge. Like I do.

I dunno. We'll see. I kinda like being able to see where I left my breadcrumbs of words so that I can tell which paths I should not traverse again.

I truly have lost touch with a couple of the people I used to be. And that is okay.

A few things.

• At Atlas today we learned that how we perceive Jesus Christ informs how we treat others. I LOVE Him...I just don't trust Him. Wow. Pretty great discovery. 
• Also, why am I making sacrifices for someone who can't remember to call me in the morning? Who has no pictures of me anywhere? Who is fine with me just being his girlfriend? For EIGHT years? Why? What is wrong with me? 
• Sigh.