Just around the river bend...

Today was among the best days I've had. First, I had the day off work. Because I'm a real person now, I got paid to not go to work today. How crazy is that? So, I attempted to sleep in. Tragically, my body doesn't know how to sleep past 6:30 anymore, so between 6:30 and 9, it was more like a half-sleep where I simply didn't want to get up. Finally, around 9, I got up, got dressed, filled up my car with gas (it's been running on empty for several days now), and got the oil changed in my car. It's been due since June. Yipes! But, good news, it was free. I saw Jack at the dealership... the guy that is 15 years older than me and my brothers were trying to set me up with. Last decision: when I'm 25 and he's 40, if we're both still single, he'll take me on a date. Ha! We talked for a few minutes, laughed about stories he heard from Brother about Jerusalem... or, rather, Jordan, then I went back to reading the Book of Atrus and he went back to work. So then I read for the 30 minutes I waited for my oil change, which was really nice. I've missed reading. And I rather like this book. So it was nice to have a chance to just sit and read. Then my mom called, so as I ran more errands, I talked to her for the next half hour. I really like my mom. She really has been my best friend my entire life. I finally stopped at Michaels and bought the jars I've been promising Brother I'd buy to put our dirt from around the Middle East in. Then it was answering Board questions and emails, chatting with good friends, then trimming the hedges. That went much easier than expected, but my arms still shook afterwards from holding the trimmer for so long. The hedges look 100 times better now, but if you look closely, the one right out front resembles a bad male-haircut. It makes me smile. It was my first time trimming hedges. Give me a break.

Then it was time for a nice, long, relaxing shower. I even shaved my legs so that I could wear capris all day. Yay... Not wanting to spend a half hour making my hair look decent, I ignored it and got back online for a wee bit. Twenty minutes or so later, I realized that I had to leave soon, so I should probably do something with my hair. 10 minutes later, I had the fastest and easiest hair style of my life. I think it may have even looked good. I wonder if I could ever duplicate it... My roommate made dinner—the most amazing chicken noodle vegetable soup ever. And poppy bread. Oh, it was divine. Even had homemade noodles. (She also made symphony brownies that morning... which were also divine.) Just before dinner, an old friend of mine showed up, so we invited him to eat with us, then headed over to Kiwanis for a rousing game of croquet. I ended up being the third person to make poison but died soon thereafter. I love croquet. I think it's one of my favorite games. Uffish... we really need to go play in front of the library.

Returning home, I wasn't ready to stop playing games, so out came Sorry. Traditional style, I came in 2nd place. (Out of three... ehh...) Adult style, I came in 1st. Apparently I play better as an adult than a child. I have more strategy than luck, I suppose. Yellow then came over and [enter the bad part of the day... yet one of those things that will definitely be laughed at later] while opening my screen door, got stung by a bee. I'm sure he'll write about it in his blog. We decided he was gallant because, if he hadn't been stung, one of us would have been. We gave him ice to stop the swelling, then headed over to Olympus' for a pie party. My piece of pie was delicious. I re-met a girl that I met at a summer program at Ricks when I was still in high school. There were some great memories tied up with her. I spent the evening in great company; it was my favorite company to spend time with. Happy and comfortable. Content, even. It's a pity that it was limited to just a few hour this evening.

I looked up the Hebrew for 'gnashing' tonight. Turns out it really is simply translated as 'gnashing' or 'grinding the teeth.' Perhaps I should study my vocab more.

The night couldn't have ended better. I checked my email before bed to find a completely unexpected email that made me very happy. In the words of my roommate on a completely unrelated matter earlier today, "There is a God, and he loves me." Sometimes, God answers prayers in completely unexpected times, ways and places. Tonight was a reassurance that things can go right in my life. That there doesn't have to be something bad to counteract every good. Sometimes, life can just be good. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Happy Tuesday.