My friends write about their days, ins and outs, ups and downs. They writing about their big adventures, everything from an exciting trip to Munich and a first triathlon. But most of all, I can hear their voice in their writing. If you don’t know what that means, just trust me as a writing teacher, your voice comes through in your writing. In a busy world, where we are all living different lives, blogs, including microblogging, keeps us connected, and that makes me happy.

I also love looking at wedding pictures, even if I don’t know the couple. Whenever someone on Facebook uploads their wedding pictures or pictures from a friend’s wedding, I look through every single one of them. Partially for the photography, I admit, but mostly for the happiness and love visible on everyone’s face.

(By the way, Sunday will be our 4-year, 4-month anniversary! Not that we’re celebrating, but it seems relevant to mention.)

At the first house I clearly remember living in, there was a sweetgum tree in the front yard with a branch just low enough for me to reach as a 5-year-old. We used to climb that thing all the time, Daniel and me. While climbing that tree and playing with those gumballs are my only memories of this tree, it still makes me happy when I see those little sticky, spiny seed pods, brown and dried up or green still hanging on the tress.

Image source.

Ever since we moved to Neosho when I was 10, I loved seeing the beautiful dogwoods along with the redbuds which burst out into all their colorful glory. I don’t actually know why Neosho has so many dogwoods all around town, but it really gives this little city personality.

There is a legend about the meaning behind the dogwood tree’s flower and the twisted shape its branches grown in that I–and probably every Neoshoan–pretty much know by heart:

At the time of the crucifixion, the dogwood had reached the size of the mighty oak tree. So strong and firm was the wood that it was chosen as the timber for Jesus’ cross.

To be used for such a cruel purpose greatly distressed the dogwood. While nailed upon it, Jesus sensed this, and in his compassion said, “Because of your pity for my suffering, never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used for a cross. Henceforth, it shall be slender, bent, and twisted, and its blossoms shall be in the form of a cross–two long and two short petals.

“In the center of the outer edge of each petal will be the print of nails. In the center of the flower, stained with blood, will be a crown of thorns so that all who see it will remember.”

Like so many of the items on my list, dogwood trees make me happy because they are both beautiful and remind me of my childhood. Whenever I see one, wherever I am, I think of Neosho and spring days as a teenager.

Legend Source.

Image Source.

I like quotes so much that I spent an entire week during my first NaBloPoMo sharing my favorites in several different categories:

• Quote Week, Day 7: Life
• Quote Week, Day 6: Success, a.k.a. Hard Work
• Quote Week, Day 5: Productivity
• Quote Week, Day 4: Writing
• Quote Week, Day 3: Friendship
• Quote Week, Day 2: Food
• Quote Week, Day 1: Happiness

Quotes make me happy because so often they touch me deeply. Right here, I feel like I should tell you my favorite quote, the one that has touched me the deepest. But I can’t really do that because there are so many. So here are three that have really been on my heart lately.

Love each other and you will be happy. It is as simply and as complicated as that. MEH

It’s so true. Marriage is as simple and as difficult as just loving each other.

Life, if well lived, is long enough. Seneca

Am I living life well? If I died right now, would I be satisfied with the life I have lived? If not, then I’d better get at it!

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. Carl Sandburg

Am I really in charge of my life? Or am I letting other people, other tasks, other responsibilities take me away from the ones that are truly my top priorities?

What are some of your favorite quotes?

There are other people who don’t miss a holiday, but Tammie stands out in my mind. Tammie always sent me a birthday and Christmas card–sometimes even a St. Patrick’s Day or Thanksgiving card, too. All through high school and college, even when I didn’t respond regularly, or at all. Since she isn’t family, we didn’t see each other at holidays or ever, but she kept our connection open despite all that Not only did I learn how valuable it is to have such a deep connection to my childhood, but I also learned how incredibly impactful that regular, unrequited contact mean to me.

Now, however, since I’m living so far away, I love getting real emails–something other than student emails, colleague emails, one of the thousands of JLU emails, newsletters, notifications. You know, all that crap that isn’t friends and family.

As I’ve said in another post, I try so hard to answer those emails quickly, but those work emails so often get in the way, which makes this post both sweet and bitter. There are at least four emails that I need to respond to right now, and that hurts. But once I’m done with this email, I have some more work to do and then it’ll be bedtime. I can hear your protests: Maybe my priorities are out of whack.

But blogging gives me a release from the day. It’s writing, and writing heals me.

It happened more times than I can count while Beth and I were playing cards as teenagers, at Beth’s place during college, and even a few times in Lawrence. In fact, once time, we had to clean the water I’d spewed into the dining room, onto the table, and onto Jame’s cool picture (luckily it had a class cover!). Sometimes Rob does it to me too, and usually in the wee hours of the night when we’re silly-tired.

You know the type of laughter. Your stomach hurts. Your cheeks hurt. You are crying because you’ve been squeezing your face up all tight in glee. And then it happens! You become silent because you’ve laughed all the air out of your chest, and you take a huge, deep breath, and even then sometimes you still can’t breathe because your laughing-breathing timing is all off and you can’t quite get it back in sync.

It hurts so good.

On a related note, during those laugh-until-it-hurts (or you pee ) sessions, I have always wished that the one scene in Mary Poppins was real. You know the one I’m talking about, where they start floating because they were laughing too hard? That would be so much fun! Like flying, but better because you are laughing at the same time! Just in case you don’t remember what I’m talking about, take a minute to watch this clip from YouTube.

Thunder claps sound so powerful and sometimes they’re funny. When I was a girl, Mom always told me that thunder is just God and the angels bowling, and so many times, that’s what thunder sounds like to me, even today. Plus, you can even figure out how far away the storm is by counting the seconds between the flash of lighting and the beginning of the thunder: 5 seconds per mile (or 3 seconds per kilometer).

Lightning is so amazing to watch. It lights up the sky, illuminating the clouds in a way the sun just doesn’t: from the inside. I love seeing pictures of lightning, and someday, maybe I can start taking my own.

The last apartment we lived in in Springfield had a west-facing sliding glass windows, which was perfect for watching the famous Missouri spring thunderstorms. The amazing power of storms awes me, just like eclipses.

Image Source

I got into quite the great routine during grad school. On days when Rob had to work early, I would listen to NPR as I showered, got ready for the day, and drove to school. When I got an MP3 player with FM radio, I listened to NPR as I walked from the parking lot to the English building. Same routine on the way home. I love getting high-quality news with fun pieces mixed in.

Even though Morning Edition repeated every hour, I still listened to it for as many hours as I my morning permitted. I don’t know why it never annoyed me. Maybe it is the soothing, varied theme song. Maybe it’s the announcer’s voices that kept me enthralled.

“This I Believe” is one of my tippy-top utmost favorite programs. If you haven’t ever listened to a This I Believe essay, you should. I had my English composition students at Missouri State write This I Believe essays, and I’ve worked on several myself, but I have never written one that I wanted to submit to NPR. Maybe I should do that. Anyway, here are three of my favorites.

• Tomorrow Will Be a Better Day
• Live Your Life So That You Will Have No Regrets
• The Artistry in Hidden Talents

My local NPR station (well, what used to be my local NPR station), KSMU, plays classical music in the mornings after Morning Edition, and jazz in the evenings after All Things Considered. No doubt this blog will eventually reveal how classical and jazz make me feel, so this is yet another reason I like NPR. I know not all stations play my two favorite musical genres, but what matters is that mine does.

My eclipse pics taken in Springfield, Missouri, on 28 August 2008

This is closely related to yesterday’s topic, but different. You see, you can’t see Saturn from close up on your back porch. But you can enjoy an eclipse from anywhere (as long as it’s visible where you’re at).

Lunar, solar, total, partial, or annular, eclipses are amazing. In a lunar eclipse, the Earth casts it’s shadow on the Moon because it has come between the Sun and the Moon. In a solar eclipse, the Moon comes between the Sun and the Earth, blocking out the light of the Sun. Isn’t that crazy?!

Eclipses make me happy because they remind me of how exactly small I am. There are Things bigger than me, moving outside of my and my little world.

Most of the time, we don’t have to think about them, we don’t have to understand how they work or all the effects they have on us. But they keep on dancing around each other.

Wow.