Some one shared this song by Joy Williams at a Bible study recently and I was struck by the lyrics and how true they are, especially during the first year of marriage
I'm In Love With You
I've been waiting all my life for this morning
Just to wake up next to you holding me
And your head is resting gently on my shoulder
Like you're whispering to me
I'm in love with you
I'm in love with you
So glad I found you
I'm in love with you
When we're leaving dreams and rolling back the covers
All at once we're getting ready for the day
It's when you look at me in the mirror while you're shaving
before I go on my way, you say
I'm in love with you
I'm in love with you
You're the one I choose
'Cause I'm in love
Love is joy and love is pain
It's kissing in the rain
It's doing dishes when it's late
Isn't it, baby
It's the act of compromise
It's helloes and long good-byes
It's the picture of our lives
Isn't it crazy
So I'll call you when I get where I'm going
And I'll let everyone we know you said hello
And without fail they'll ask me if I miss you
Of course I do, yo know I do
'Cause I'm in love with you
I'm in love with you
You're the one I choose
I'm in love
I'm in love with you
I love you just the same as I did the day
I fell in love with you
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
small talk
I think the general topics of small talk change with every significant period in your life. I remember in high school when you met someone new or were talking to an adult, once you got past the initial introduction "Hi, my name is Andrea," the conversation immediately turned to what school you went to and then if you kept someone's attention you would move onto what activities you were involved in. If you were a senior in high school, the inevitable question was where are you going to school, and if you were lucky enough to know that, the person would usually insist on pushing the subject even further and asking what you were going to study, which for some high school seniors seems insignificant as long as they know where they're going.
Once you're of the age when people expect you to be in college, the beginning of the conversation is the same, state your name and where you go to school, and if you don't go to school you pass go and talk about your job. If you are in college you go through the same motions of stating where, followed by what you're studying and what you're interested in and if the person really wants to probe they ask what your plans are when you graduate. Sometimes this is met by a deer-in-the-headlights look, and the said interogator realizes the said college student has given no thought to a time when their primary occupation no longer is student. This question seems especially cruel when posed to seniors who are quickly approaching graduation and if they haven't made plans for grad school are approaching the real world faster than they're comfortable with.
I have now graduated to adult small talk. Sometimes I am still pegged a student, which makes me miss the easier small talk consisting of school, major and interests. I find that it's harder to talk about your job. What are you supposed to say when someone tells you they are a bio chemical computer engineer? They lost my attention (and understanding) after bio, but i'm expected to still ask questions and figure out what it is they do. And then it's my turn to try to describe what I do. I don't want to bore the person, so I can give the pat answer, I write and edit stories for a remodeling magazine, which doesn't really say anything, but it's small talk. No one really cares, right?
I don't mean to be cynical. I am just realizing how hard it is to meet people sometimes. You have to get beneath all the layers of small talk before you even start to know who someone really is. And that's not always easy. But I'm headed to a wedding this weekend, and I'm sure I'll be asked more than once what my job is and what I do, and I'll ask the same questions, but maybe I'll stick around long enough to learn more about someone than where they go to school or what they do for a living. I don't want to be defined by my job, so why should I think anyone else does?
Once you're of the age when people expect you to be in college, the beginning of the conversation is the same, state your name and where you go to school, and if you don't go to school you pass go and talk about your job. If you are in college you go through the same motions of stating where, followed by what you're studying and what you're interested in and if the person really wants to probe they ask what your plans are when you graduate. Sometimes this is met by a deer-in-the-headlights look, and the said interogator realizes the said college student has given no thought to a time when their primary occupation no longer is student. This question seems especially cruel when posed to seniors who are quickly approaching graduation and if they haven't made plans for grad school are approaching the real world faster than they're comfortable with.
I have now graduated to adult small talk. Sometimes I am still pegged a student, which makes me miss the easier small talk consisting of school, major and interests. I find that it's harder to talk about your job. What are you supposed to say when someone tells you they are a bio chemical computer engineer? They lost my attention (and understanding) after bio, but i'm expected to still ask questions and figure out what it is they do. And then it's my turn to try to describe what I do. I don't want to bore the person, so I can give the pat answer, I write and edit stories for a remodeling magazine, which doesn't really say anything, but it's small talk. No one really cares, right?
I don't mean to be cynical. I am just realizing how hard it is to meet people sometimes. You have to get beneath all the layers of small talk before you even start to know who someone really is. And that's not always easy. But I'm headed to a wedding this weekend, and I'm sure I'll be asked more than once what my job is and what I do, and I'll ask the same questions, but maybe I'll stick around long enough to learn more about someone than where they go to school or what they do for a living. I don't want to be defined by my job, so why should I think anyone else does?
Sunday, May 14, 2006
summer
It's graduation time. Summer time. Time to be done with school. I'm still programmed to anticipate the end of May. The time when whatever you've been doing for the last nine months, some great and some unbearable comes to an end and you have 3 months of freedom, adventure, a change of pace before starting it all over again. But I'm not doing that this year. I will just keep working 40 hours a week at my job, looking out the window at the hot, sunny days and hoping it stays that way for the weekend when I have a chance to enjoy it. I realized this week, that this is my first real summer as an adult. Looking back over the last 4 summers they all involved something new and exciting. Last year at this time I was moving in with Laura for my last summer as a single girl, living it up in Des Moines with my closest friends, planning a wedding and only working 25 hours a week. The year before I packed up and headed east to Pennsylvania for an internship and enjoyed complete freedom. Before that I spent my first summer in Des Moines, living with Becca in our first apartment, working and taking a class. And every summer before that, for as long as I can remember summer meant sleeping in, working, laying out, drinking kool-aid, reading summer romance novels on the beach, and most importantly NO SCHOOL. Well, I have the no school thing taken care of, but with that comes responsibility, and a job that is the same one I've been doing for nine months and will still be the same one I have when the summer's over.
It's not that I'm not looking forward to this summer. Technically this is something new too, on change, no big move, no major transition. I guess that's part of being an adult. And I know there are still plenty of crazy things to discover, but I have to atleast pretend to be responsible and keep doing the same thing during the week, even though it seems like the natural time to take off and do something new.
It's not that I'm not looking forward to this summer. Technically this is something new too, on change, no big move, no major transition. I guess that's part of being an adult. And I know there are still plenty of crazy things to discover, but I have to atleast pretend to be responsible and keep doing the same thing during the week, even though it seems like the natural time to take off and do something new.
family time
Adam and I were in Cedar Rapids this weekend for Mother's Day. It seems like I haven't been with my mom on Mother's Day since I started college. Somehow that weekend always coincided with graduation and moving, so it was great to spend time with her and the family.
Most of Saturday, Adam was with his family and friends and I was home with my family. I realized how long it's been since the five of us have been a family without Adam around. Not that he's not totally welcome and part of the family now that we're married, but I had this realization that when I'm home with Adam, I feel more grown up. With him I'm a wife, still a sister and daughter, but primarily a wife. When he wasn't there I so easily reverted back to being a daughter. Goofing off with Karen and Kyle, arguing about silly little things, having my mom fix me lunch. And sitting down for dinner with my immediate family felt so comfortable and natural even though in the back of my mind there was the sense that Adam was missing and that by him not being there I wasn't quite complete. While my immediate will always be there and the ones I love and care about unconditionally, I left them the cleave to Adam, my husband. We are now our own family unit. Not completely separate from our parents, we will always be a part of those families, but now we are something more. Even though we've been married for 9 months now, I feel like I'm still only just realizing how much my life has changed and that I can't avoid being a grown up.
Most of Saturday, Adam was with his family and friends and I was home with my family. I realized how long it's been since the five of us have been a family without Adam around. Not that he's not totally welcome and part of the family now that we're married, but I had this realization that when I'm home with Adam, I feel more grown up. With him I'm a wife, still a sister and daughter, but primarily a wife. When he wasn't there I so easily reverted back to being a daughter. Goofing off with Karen and Kyle, arguing about silly little things, having my mom fix me lunch. And sitting down for dinner with my immediate family felt so comfortable and natural even though in the back of my mind there was the sense that Adam was missing and that by him not being there I wasn't quite complete. While my immediate will always be there and the ones I love and care about unconditionally, I left them the cleave to Adam, my husband. We are now our own family unit. Not completely separate from our parents, we will always be a part of those families, but now we are something more. Even though we've been married for 9 months now, I feel like I'm still only just realizing how much my life has changed and that I can't avoid being a grown up.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Sunday, May 07, 2006
tulip time
You can't go wrong with 32,000 tulips, dutch letters and a lighted parade. It's Pella in Spring :)
umbrella weather
The Drake Stadium got a facelift this year, of course the track is still blue. Even though it was raining we still showed our school spirit (at least long enough to take a picture)
girlfriends
Some things never change, no matter how many miles apart we are. When we get together we always end up chatting on someone's bed. Thanks for coming back for Relays Lynn and Laura :)
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