[Bring on the Lipsincing and Dancing and Wedding and Family!]

So tomorrow I take off tomorrow right after Airband (roughly 11:30 p.m.)and hit the road to head back home to Michigan...I'm so pumped.  My brother is getting married this Saturday...I can't believe that he will be married in only 2 more days.  Our family is so excited... and I will be getting an an amazing sister-in-law:) 

Currently Listening Begin to Hope By Regina Spektor see related

[RD swap/ i'm a father for the first time...and last]

So...the latest news...for a while now the RDs here at Taylor have felt the need to put the kibosh on all the stereotypes that are associated with the type of people that live in each residence hall, and try to build a better community across campus.  And being that we believe that we should model the values that we want our students to have also,  that we think its important to get to know different students, that we think we could learn from the experiences that the other RDS have in different buildings, and we believe that we could have a better perspective on Taylor students as a whole, ...we have decided to trade lives with each other for three days! 

So starting yesterday I became the hall director in Bergwall Hall.   I packed up my belongings and traded keys after Chapel yesterday with Adam Hanna...I guess this is kind of like combinign Wife Swap with Trading Spaces.   Therefore I am living in his apartment and living according to his schedule...which means I do my one on ones with his RAs, I eat dinner with his parents when they came to visit his new baby (yes, this is true...).  Adam is married, so when Adam decided to move over to English Hall he left his wife Amy in the Berg because they have a four week old baby...so Isince yesterday I gained a roommate and a four week old baby named Wyatt William Hanna...he's adorable. Tonight I will be watching Wyatt and taking him to RD dinner because that's what Adam does on Tuesday nights while Amy goes to Bible Study.  All in all this has been great...I feel like I am on a retreat, yet I am still on Taylor's campus.  Late tonight Amy and I will be having a girls night...just Amy, Wyatt and myself with the girls of 3rd and 4th floor.  Needless to say, this is my first time "being a father" and I'm loving it.  OK, more to say later about this adventure, butmy battery is low and I can't find the charger right now...oy!

These pics are a little old (from July)...I do realize that I never did quite finish telling my Appalachian Trail stories, but I thought I would give you a little glimpse into my previous adventure.  The 2nd picture from the top is of Jamie (my oldest friend...we have been friends since 3rd grade).  The last picture is of me when we crossed into Virginia at the Tennessee/Virginia line...I look really happy because I only have four more miles to hike! 

Currently Reading PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives By Frank Warren see related

[Secrets/Vulnerability]

I haven't written on my blog for a while, because I sometimes feel like there is nothing worth talking about...but I have been babbling on about meaningless things for 25 years of so...so what would stop me now?  I once believed that if I kept telling stories, if I kept relating my life to other peoples lives it would encourage them...you know, make them feel less alone and normalize their experience, but here and there I lose hope...I think I am just babbling.  However, throughout my life I am drawn to those who are vulnerable, and drawn to be vulnerable myself, even though I end up being awkward at times.  I wish I could keep all my stories bottled up sometimes, I would like to be mysterious and intriguing, but I can't: my life is an open book.  

I read this book yesterday, pretty much from beginning to end, called "Post Secret."  It is a book that was published after an artist, Frank Warren, decided to host a gallery exhibit of other peoples secrets that they had creatively written or drawn onto on postcards.  He began his project by randomly leaving 300 postcards in library books and other public places where people would find them.  The postcards asked them to send back the postcard with a secret, and the rules were simple:  1) the secret had to be true. 2) this had to be the first time you shared the secret with anyone.  Postcards started flooding in, and not just 300, thousands...and from all over the world.  The project had exploded...  Today Warren travels across the US displaying postcards in gallery exhibits, and he has published serval books containing the secrets of ordinary lives with extraordinary secrets.  I found that when I read the book the other day some of the secrets broke my heart, made me laugh, grossed me out, and some gave me hope...  I imagine that for many people however, they read Post Secret and their lives become normalized...they feel less scared that they are not alone and that someone else relates. For some, they claim that sending in their secret has freed their soul.    I love it.  I think I love Post Secret!  I love this idea of getting something off your chest, in order to help someone, entertain someone, and bring perspective.  Its just like our lives' stories I think, if we are willing to share it, we offer our stories to bring hope, healing, perspective, and a sense that when someone has a thought or feeling they probably are not alone in that.  I think we all have this desire to belong, to relate, to connect...so why do we shake that at times? 

So, this may be a meaningless blog, like so many I have written before...but oh well...I got something I was thinking off my chest...I won't have much to send in to Post Secret.