>I love quotes. This is one I found today, and reminded me of myself!
“Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity… we cherish books even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access, reassurance.”
-A.E. Newton
>Here are four words that will give you a glimpse into my life: I love Tom Petty.
Simple.
There are some who will argue with my taste (Mike), but to those people, I say, “Back off!” I love Tom Petty.
Matt and I were recently in Cleveland to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Let me tell you something: the Rock Hall is amazing! It’s worth the trip to Cleveland just to go. When we were there, they had a big special exhibit just for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I cried. Seriously. I love Tom Petty.
My parents are musicians (did you know that?). I had a pretty fun childhood. While most of you were being rocked to sleep by the sounds of Brahms’s Lullaby, I was being lulled into dreamland by the sounds of The Beatles and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. When I was about 4 or 5 my favorite song was “The Waiting” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. For my fifth birthday I got to go to their concert. I don’t remember much, but I do remember reddish stage lights and Tom Petty looking down at me and smiling. Awesome. I love Tom Petty.
“The Waiting” is still my favorite Tom Petty song. I can’t tell you why. It’s definitely not his most accomplished piece of music, but for some reason I can’t help but love this song. It makes me feel younger, and it reminds me of a much simpler time when my parents were still faultless and heroic and my biggest problems in life happened when I tried to decide which Barbie to play with. I love Tom Petty.
Mom and I were talking on the phone today about my current life situation. For those who haven’t been keeping up, here’s the scoop: Matt is graduating in 24 days, and we have no idea where we will be going after that. Yeah. It’s a little crazy. Okay…it’s a lot crazy! We’re dealing. We do have something in the works that might pan out, but that is yet to be seen. Besides the job mess, we are also experiencing some fertility issues. I have been on some wacky fertility drugs for the past 4 months or so, and we’ve had no luck. (On a side note, I think I’m going to stop the drugs for a little bit. Just until we get settled somewhere…) Needless to say, most of my conversations these days end up being some variation of this: “Hi! Oh, no…we don’t know where we’re going yet. Yeah, we are going a little crazy. No, we’re trying not to be worried. Why? Do you think we should be worried? What’s that? Oh, no we’re not pregnant yet either. Yeah, I’m sure it will happen in God’s timing. Huh? I’m pouring sweat? No, it’s not hot in here. My drugs give me hot flashes. Yeah – it’s hilarious. You can stop laughing now. Seriously…”
I was having one of these conversations with Mom today when she began doing what she does best – saying encouraging things to try to make me feel better. They usually do make me feel better, and today they did not disappoint. In the midst of this encouraging pep talk, she sighed and said, “You know, the waiting IS the hardest part.” Huh? Mom loves Tom Petty too, it seems.
She then began to note the prophetic meaning behind me loving “The Waiting”. She reminded me that I have had to do a lot of waiting in my young life. I knew at the age of 19 that God wanted me to marry Matt. We got engaged soon after that, but didn’t marry until I was almost 22. For almost 3 years I waited to marry him while he was away at college. We’re trying to have a baby. Since January of last year I have been waiting for that little miracle to happen. I’m still waiting, but I hear from mothers that the waiting, at least in this instance, definitely will NOT be the hardest part. Now I find myself waiting to hear about our life after Asbury. It’s been an exciting experience so far, but I think I’m ready for it to be over. I find myself waking up in the middle of the night wondering where we will be, where we will live, where we will work, etc. I dream of a bigger home where we might get another bathroom, a garage, an office. Where we will be able to have pets and hopefully bring home our first of many children. The waiting has definitely been hard here.
So, what do I learn from all of this? Well, I’m sure God wants me to learn a bit of patience, but maybe even more than that He wants me to remember that in all of these situations he has cared for me, provided for me and never left me hanging. To God the waiting is not the hardest part. He sees beyond the waiting and beckons me to trust that He still has our best in mind.
I do love Tom Petty. Who knew when I was 5 that the song I was dancing and singing to would be a song that encouraged me throughout my life? God did. I love Him too.
“The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part”
-Tom Petty
>I have formed a new theory today. Hear me out – it’s a good one.
I believe that each person is born with a set amount of phone time. Some people plan their time wisely and stretch it out over years to last until death. I, on the other hand, blew my entire phone allowance when I was a teenager. Therefore, I am no allergic to the telephone.
When I was in high school, I would spend all moments not in school either sleeping or on the telephone – sometimes both at the same time. I would spend HOURS on the phone with whatever boyfriend I might have at the time and then call my best friends to tell them everything I had just discussed with the boyfriend. I would take a small break to do trivial things like shower, eat or homework, then I would be right back on the phone with said boyfriend to “say goodnight”. Ridiculous…
Now I CAN’T STAND THE PHONE!!! Every time it rings at work, I cringe. And let me tell you what: I strongly believe that Caller ID is the best invention of our time. Seriously. If it’s not my mother, I’M NOT PICKING UP! It’s like I have forgotten how to talk on the phone. Obviously that’s not the case, so the only other logical explanation is that I have used my lifetime phone allowance and am now rendered allergic to using the telephone.
Now, there are a few of you who are reading this and thinking, “What a witch! She’s been avoiding my calls!” That’s not entirely true. I have not singled you out – I am avoiding EVERYONE’s calls! I love you – really I do. I just don’t have the energy to talk on the phone anymore. I’m way too busy working and cleaning and running errands and grown-up crap like that. I would rather just get together with you in person…let’s make a date! 🙂
That said, I had a fun day today. Matt had to work, so rather than being stuck at home all day (We only have one car. My office is seriously not even a mile away. I walk a lot.), I decided to take him in and use the car for errands. I piddled around Target for a while (one of my favorite stores), went to the mall for a while and then decided to get my hair cut. Now, let me tell you, my hair hasn’t really been cut since September of 2003. I have had it trimmed a couple times, but other than that, it has just grown and grown and grown. Plus, I have been taking pre-natal vitamins lately (we’re not pregnant – it’s just in case…) and they make my hair and nails grow FAST! So, this morning I woke up with hair half-way down my back. Tonight my hair just hits my shoulders (and flips out just a smidge – very cute!). I love it! Anyway – after the haircut I decided that I didn’t want to drive the 20 miles back to Wilmore, so I went to see a movie. I really wanted to see Brokeback Mountain, but no one was showing it around the time I wanted, so ended up seeing Dreamer. If you have a heart at all, you will love this movie! I thought it was great. I don’t know what it is – maybe I’ve just lived in the Lexington area for too long – but I’m really beginning to love horses! They’re just beautiful animals. Plus, the horse farms around here are fab-you-luss. Gorgeous, lush, green, rolling hills with white fences as far as you can see. It’s awesome. Dreamer was filmed near my house in Versailles, KY, so it was fun watching it and thinking, “I know that farm! I drive by that place all the time!” Cute movie. After the movie I went to Joseph Beth Booksellers, and had a reall nice 2 hours to myself. Joe-Beth is a HUGE bookstore/music store/cafe that has some of the most amazingly comfortable chairs you will ever find. I went in, headed straight to the “Staff Picks” shelf (my favorite place to find new books) and picked up “Cash” by Johnny Cash. I don’t know why I was interested in that. Usually I like fiction, but something about that book just called to me. Once I picked out the book, I headed to a comfy chair near a fireplace and read for a few hours. GREAT BOOK. I’m totally going to buy it – just not from Joe-Beth. They’re so expensive. After my reading, I went to listen to some music and ended up buying Marc Broussard’s “Carencro” CD. LOVE IT. I then went to the mall to get Matt, came home and ate veggies and homemade hummus for dinner. It’s been a full day. Do you even care? If you have read this far, God bless you…you are one patient person! I don’t know why I feel like I need to share every bit of my day with you…
Tomorrow is Sunday, and I’m feeling like skipping church. We had some really funky weather here today. It kept switching from rain to snow and back and forth. Now we have slushy roads and it’s cold. I love my church, but it’s all the way in Lexington, and the roads around here just aren’t safe in the snow and ice. We’ll see what happens tomorrow. Maybe it will be sunny and 60 degrees. It wouldn’t suprise me…
I’ve bored you long enough. I won’t even tell you about “The Office” party I had last night. Suffice it to say, I had my co-workers over and we had a great time. I love that show…is Jim not the hottest guy on TV? Really – I could eat him up… 🙂
Have a good night y’all!
Mrs. Swish 