Praying for my friends.

Yesterday, I told a friend that I was doing great physically.

Today, I woke up after 4 hours of sleep with a pulled muscle over my rib cage and a massive migraine.

And since I skipped my first Geography class to go see The Vespers two weeks ago, today was my first day of having class from 8:00 am to 8:30 pm.  The good news is my Geography class got let out early.

But honestly, I don't even care about that right now.  Today my heart's felt so heavy because several of the people that I hold very dear to my heart are going through some intense personal stuff.  Don't get me wrong; I feel so honored that these friends chose to come to me, but nothing breaks my heart more than seeing people I love so very much hurting and knowing there's nothing I can do about it except pray.  I think I'm finally getting to the point where I'm realizing that as much as I believe that my ability to support my friends is one of the gifts God has blessed me with, there's only so much I can do.  As much as I want to fix their pain, I'm finally understanding that I can't.  Only the Lord can.

It's just a horrible feeling.  These people are truly some of my absolute best friends, and nothing breaks my heart faster than seeing them in pain.  It feels so unfair to me to watch them suffer because they are kind, Godly, supportive and loving people, and to me, it feels like they deserve to be happy.   But none of us deserve happiness, God blesses us with it, just like He blesses us with everything else.

I'm not gonna lie, I like feeling needed and appreciated.  Don't we all?  But I'd much rather see my friends filled with the joy of the Lord and not weighed down by the problems of this world.  As one of these friends told me time and time again when I was dealing with my own stuff, joy is a choice.  It's a choice that is found beyond this crazy, messed up world we live in, with the One who fills our souls with His spirit.  And I'm thankful that because most of these friends are believers, they know that.  I totally understand feeling so stressed and down that you forget to look for that joy, so that's one of my biggest prayers for all of them, that they never lose sight of the fact that their joy is in the Lord who watches over them.

He will get them through this.  I have full faith that He will.  You wanna know why?  Romans 8:28.  Plain and simple.  These friends that are suffering right now have taught me so much about God, I know how much they really love Him.  He's got them.  Tonight, my prayer is that He will fill me with the wisdom, compassion, and the necessary words and actions to make sure they never forget how special they really are, how much God loves them, and how much I love them, too.  I pray that He will use me to help them the way He has used them to help me so many times.  It's my honor to be there for them, to feel their pain, just as He feels it.

His mercies are new each morning.  And for that, I am grateful.  I'll be doing everything I can to help keep these dear, dear friends of mine moving forward in His plan for them.  This life is so much easier when we do it together, and I am blessed to go to God on their behalf and to show Christ's love to them when they need it.  That's what this life is really about.

Bittersweet Beauty

Today...agh.  I felt like I was about to bust out in tears from the minute I woke up knowing that Paddy was leaving today.  Never has a weekend flown by so quickly.

But y'all know me, I can't stay focused on the bad stuff or my brain kind of goes into overdrive, so I decided to put a positive spin on it.  I was getting time with Paddy, Matt, my mom, and Holly all at the same time.  I finally got to introduce Matt and Paddy after spending the past 4 years telling them about each other; the verdict is in, I wasn't just imagining it in my head, they really are the American and British versions of each other.  Which I suppose is only fitting because they're the only two guys that consider me their little sister. :)

So yeah.  We basically just got ready and hung out until Mom got here about 12:30.  Holly and Matt, both habitually late people, actually beat us there, but that was probably due to the fact that we got stuck behind a tobacco truck going 10 mph for a bit and then Mom missed a turn.  But anyway, we got to Ruby Tuesday about 1:30 and I got a huge hug from Matt.  The interesting thing about him when he's not in a relationship is he's much more vocal about stuff like, for example, how excited he is to see me.  So he was stoked.  And that made me grin like a fool.  Man, I love that kid.

:)  I got this while we were waiting to be seated.  My boys.  I know they're not "mine," but that's just what I think every time I look at this picture.  It was honestly a little surreal to be with both of them at the same time.    Then, we got seated, I got an awesome steak, and we spent over an hour just laughing and talking.  Matt barely ate because he couldn't stop acting like a goofball.  He and Paddy got along great, though.  We left there just before 3:00, but of course, I had to get some pictures.

He looks like a giant next to them, hahaha.  

I think it's safe to say he's Mom's second "adopted" son. :)  It was adorable, he was genuinely excited to see Mom.

And this is because, well, I get a picture with Matt every time we get together. :)

Seriously, that lunch with everyone was so much fun, I really forgot that Paddy was leaving.  Well, I don't know that I forgot he was leaving, but I forgot to be sad about it.  I mean, Matt and I, our relationship just keeps getting better and better.  I'm so proud of seeing how far he's come, finally breaking up with Simone (for good!), realizing he'd gotten himself in a cycle of drama and leaving.  We literally have grown up together.  Ten years later, and this kid still knows me better than anyone on the planet.  It's so beautiful.  I realize again and again just how blessed I am to have him in my life after everything we've been through.

After that, we found a grocery store because Paddy promised some buddies of his that he'd bring them back some American chocolate, and he wanted to get this seasoning salt that some guy he stayed with cooked on his chicken and he said it was amazing.  Luckily there was a Harris Teeter fairly close to the restaurant.  I don't think I've ever been in a Harris Teeter before today, random fact.

Then, we drove by the house of one lady he stayed with because he left a jacket there and it had a present he brought for me attached to it.  It was a button for his band Orange Pulp.  :)  It's now attached to the front of my purse, where everyone can see it.  What can I say?  I'm a proud sister.

Then, we took him to the airport.  He gave me like five hugs and a kiss on the cheek before he went inside.  I really thought that was when I'd start crying, because I HATE HATE HATE goodbyes, especially when they're with someone that I barely ever get to see, but I didn't.  I guess I was just overwhelmed by realizing how blessed I was that I even got to see him period.  A plane ticket from England to NC is really, really, really not cheap, but he did it.  I got to see my British brother whom I haven't seen in 4+ years, and until he made these plans official, I honestly didn't think I'd get to see him anytime soon.  I know it was his birthday present (his parents paid for half the ticket), but this weekend felt like it was a present for me, too.

Then, Mom just drove me back to school.  I did laundry, and showered and shaved, and finally did a little bit of French homework!  Haha, I don't know that I've ever gone an entire weekend during school without doing any homework before, but I think this time was a pretty good excuse.  I wasn't going to miss time with Paddy to have my head stuck in a book.  Priorities, right?

And to top off this absolutely amazing weekend, The Vespers debuted their newest music video for "Lawdy."  And I finally cried.  I know I don't exactly have an unbiased opinion when it comes to these kids (haha!), but this video is truly one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.  It's pure, raw, unadulterated artistry, in both picture and sound.  I couldn't be more proud to know them.  They inspire me every day.  Watch it and let me know what you think. :)



It's past 1 am, and I have to get up at 6:30 for class.  This weekend had a bittersweet feel to it, but it was so, so beautiful. I am so blessed.

I'm so happy right now.

It's 2:30 am, and this is literally the first chance I've had to blog all day.  I've never been so happy to be this exhausted.  Today was really, really great, but I'M SO TIRED.

So, uh, yeah, Paddy and I went canoeing this morning.  We were in the back lobby last night playing pool and Kristen, the 3rd floor RA, came in and I introduced her to Paddy, and then she asked if we were doing anything today, and we didn't really have anything planned, so she invited us to the event she was hosting for the dorm: kayaking and canoeing.  Paddy said it sounded fun, and I readily agreed without thinking about how physically hard it would be.

But anyway, we got up this morning, ate breakfast, and I packed my lunch while Paddy went to go buy one from Subway down the street.  (YAY! There's now a Subway within walking distance.) We met the group at 10:30, and headed to a 400-acre "pond" in a nearby town.  Kristen said she was really happy Paddy would come because there was only one other guy there because he was driving one of the vans, and they were so nice and unloaded all ten canoes and four kayaks off this giant rack thing down by the pond.  They saved us so much work! :)

The boy comes all the way from England to visit me, and I put him to work. :p  Anyway, then we all went all over the water.  It was really pretty and SO big!  Paddy was nice and shared a canoe with me even though he wanted a kayak because I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of anyone else.  Haha!  I don't know  why I didn't realize until I was actually doing it just how hard rowing a canoe actually is!  We only did it for about an hour before lunch and my arms felt like jelly at the end.  I also managed to peel a layer of skin off part of my thumb simply from sweating so much and rubbing it against the oar.  But surprisingly, it was actually really fun!  And we didn't capsize, so there's another plus. ;)

This is me with Kristen.  This is our 3rd year in the same dorm and we've never taken a picture together before!

Poor pasty white Paddy.  The sun doesn't shine much in England. :p

Anyway, after we all ate, no one really felt like going out again because we'd all pretty much gone over the whole pond, so we came back to campus and got here around 2:00.  Paddy and I both took showers; he because he was so sweaty, me because I was soaked with dirty water.  After that, I just went down to Louis's apartment and hung out with them as Paddy got some stuff sorted out about where he'll be living while he goes to school this year.  Then, I took him to Chick-Fil-A because he loves it and we needed dinner.  I also took him to the bookstore and he got a Campbell t-shirt to go with the other university t-shirts he's gotten during his travels the past couple of weeks.

Well, he also needed a t-shirt because I took him to Campbell's football game!

He's gotten quite the fascination with American football the past couple of weeks.  They don't have cheerleading for sports in the UK, so he and the other British boy (who's a student here for sports) thoroughly enjoyed a front row shot of the cute and super talented cheerleaders.

This is actually my friend Drew (the one I met at the Anniversary Ball last October) and his stunt partner.  Our cheerleaders are so good.  I have immense respect for the physical strength they must have.  Then Gaylord showed up, and since Paddy rode a giant camel yesterday, he had to get a picture with the "live" Gaylord (though we actually do have real live camels come to some of the games).

I didn't realize until afterwards that Gaylord was pretending to twist Paddy's nipple.  Ha.  Of course.  Now he can say he's been felt up by a giant camel. :p

We came back to my dorm for a minute so I could show him some pictures.  As I was walking from "checking him in" with the lobby attendant (told you, strict rules on the opposite sex in dorm rooms), he noticed all the whiteboards hanging next to people's doors, so he asked if he could write on one of them.  I said sure because, hey, why not?  It erases.

I know it's really blurry, but it just says "hello from liverpool, uk :)"  haha, silly boy.  Whoever lives in that room is going to be confused.  This is what he wrote on mine when I wasn't looking. :)

Then, he went to a bar with that same girl he stayed with on Thursday, so I stayed in my dorm.  I hung out for a few minutes getting caught up on Twitter and whatnot before I saw that sweetheart Alex was coming down to the Creek for the night.  So yay!  I got to see him, too.  That boy...agh, I am crushing on him bad, I have since last semester, but I'm okay with the way things are.  I really have no expectations because he was clear from the beginning where his head is.  He's so sweet and genuine and was there for me time and time again this summer.  He really is one of my best friends, which is crazy to me because I didn't meet him until March, and we didn't really start hanging out until April, and then by May when I was home he was totally there for me through all of the family drama.  And of course, since he did TFAS last summer, we ended up talking at least once a week during that.  Things just click with him, even just in terms of our friendship.  I wanted to get a picture with him, but he only had a few minutes to talk before he had to go meet his friends and there was no one around to take it, so oh well.  I did get four hugs in a five minute conversation, though. :)

Oh, I didn't get a picture with him, but I did get a picture of this.  :D

Oh yes.  Since this was the first time I've seen him since May, I finally got the money he owed me from that bet back in June.  So yay money.  I needed it.

Then, I was seriously planning on coming back in and taking a shower, but as soon as I posted the picture of the money on Twitter (he knew I was gonna brag a little bit :p), my friend Summer messaged me and she ended up inviting me over to her apartment for pizza and so I could tell her about Alex.  That turned into an hour and a half of girl talk.  Haha!  What can I say?  She and I get along really well.  So I didn't even get back to my room until just after 1 am, and then I took a shower and blowdried my hair and answered a few messages, and then yeah, I blogged.

And that is the end of today's recap.  It's now 3 am, and I need sleep.  I have to get up early (for me on a weekend) tomorrow to help Paddy finish packing (haha, of course. boys.) before Mom gets here.  Then, we're going to Cary and meeting Holly (and probably Michael) and Matt for lunch.  Ah, I get to spend time with Matt and Paddy together.  That's going to be interesting.  The only two guys who openly call me their little sister. :)

My brother is here!

I've gained a few readers over the past few months, so here's a little explanation as to who my "brother" is for those who need it.  If you remember me talking about Paddy, feel free to skip this bit.  Okay, so this?

Is me and Paddy back in July 2008.  We were both 16 there, me a month after my 16th birthday and he a month before his 17th.  This was taken one of the first days of the exchange trip that some students at my mom's high school took to Liverpool, England.  My mom was helping her best friend chaperone it, and she somehow got me permission to go along, too.  Mom and I stayed with Paddy and his family.

(His dad was taking the photo.)  Search Liverpool on this old blog and I'm sure you can some of me reminiscing about this trip.

Well, anyway, from pretty much the beginning of that trip, I fit right in with this family.  Eleanor and Sara (second from left and far right, respectively) felt like what sisters were supposed to be.  I called Marie (middle) Mum from the start.  And seeing as I was crazy about Matt at this point, he didn't quite feel like my brother back then, so Paddy was my first experience at feeling like what it meant to have a brother.  Everything just fit.

This is when I thank the good Lord for Facebook and Skype because aside from Jay, these beautiful people are the only ones I talk to from that trip anymore.  Mum told me multiple times this year how proud of me she was for doing my internship in DC.  She still calls me her "American daughter."  We are family in every way that counts.

Well, Paddy actually went on the exchange trip the year before and came to America, so he has a bunch of friends over here that he missed.  He's in college and has a full-time job, so he's been trying to save up money for quite a while.  His 21st birthday was a couple weeks ago, and his oh-so-generous parents agreed to pay for half a plane ticket for him to come to America for two weeks. :)

I've been busy with school and the College Democrats convention, and Mom was just getting back to work and could only come up to see him on a weekend, so since he had so many people he wanted to see, he was traveling all over North Carolina from the day he got in until now seeing people, and then a girl who was on the exchange trip the year he came to America and actually goes to Campbell hosted him last night, and she drove him over to my dorm about 12:30.  :)

Louis and his roommates are being incredibly kind and letting him crash at their apartment since Campbell has very strict rules about the opposite sex in dorm rooms.  Luckily, their apartment is right down the street from me.

Anyway, as soon as he arrived, I dropped his bags in my room and we headed off to my two afternoon classes.  I had Comparative Foreign Government first, and the funny thing was that our "case study" for the week is Great Britain.  Paddy said that he actually learned a lot he didn't know about Britain's government!  Then I had Municipal Government, and Paddy said Dr. Mero made him laugh and he was fascinated to see what "American uni" classes are like.

After that, I had to go run and check my mailbox, and then we took his stuff down to Louis's apartment so they could meet.  We hung out there for a bit, then Paddy said he was hungry, so I took him to Jole Mole for some good, greasy, Americanized Mexican food.  Crazy boy thought I was going to let him spend money when I could put it on my meal card!  He said the chicken quesadilla he ate was the best thing he'd eaten the whole trip.  Hahaha, boys are so easy to please when it comes to food.

Then we walked down to the Convocation Center (which is basically a really fancy phrase for the sports arena) because he wanted to see it and it was locked last night when he tried.  This may be the best picture I've ever taken of him.

That would be Paddy, sitting atop the giant bronze camel that stands outside the Convocation Center.  He was so funny, he thought he was going to get yelled at despite the fact that I told him people take pictures on it ALL the time.  And he made it his new profile picture on Facebook just for me. :D  I'm sorry, I see that camel all the time but I find watching my British brother climb on it and grin so proudly hilarious.

Then I actually took him inside the arena (which is actually named for my Uncle Ed and Aunt Dinah's son that died when he was 4) and I believe his exact words were "I've never seen anything like this before, not at a college!"  Sorry you can't see him well, the lighting is really weird in there when there isn't a game and it looked like this with and without a flash.

Then, we came back and played pool for like two hours, and laughed pretty much the entire time.  Yes, he beat me every single time.  Small tip: If you know you have horrible coordination and motor skills, don't play pool against a guy who plays it after work and on break almost every day at the pub where he works.  But hey, most of the games he only beat me by 2 or 3 balls, and one time it was only by 1 ball.  Luckily he's nice and didn't laugh at me. :p

We talked about all sorts of stuff while we ate and played pool, but after a couple hours of that, I was starting to get a headache, so we went down to Louis's apartment.  He and Deagan were hanging out, watching Risky Business (Deagan has an obsession with the '80s), and eating Freeze Pops.  Ha.  (Side note: I had NO clue Risky Business was about a high school kid that started a brothel in his parents' house.)  After that, we watched Catch Me If You Can with Leonardo DiCaprio, and I haven't seen that movie in so long it was like I was watching it for the first time.  It was a lot of fun.

Then, we went to go get Paddy another quesadilla, but Jole Mole changed their hours this year (lame!) so they were closed, so we each got a slice of pizza instead.  By this point it was close to 11:00, so I came in to  take a shower and he went to Louis's apartment.  We're getting up early tomorrow (for a Saturday, anyway), so we need sleep!  

If you wanna know what we do tomorrow, well, I guess you'll just have to read the blog. It wouldn't be fun if I ruined the surprise! ;)

Oh, yeah, this is us today.

Love my brother.  So, so much. :) <3  I don't know how I could be any happier, but I'm fairly sure my heart is going to explode when I get to have him AND Matt at the same time on Sunday.

Change of plans.

When you wake up on an unexpected day off with horrendous migraine, and then sleep all day, you don't get work done.

When it's 10:45 pm, and you have a 2-page paper due at 2:00 the next day that you haven't started yet, and you have an early wake-up call for class, you don't have time to blog about a topic that's been weighing on you.

I have to get this paper written and I can't stop watching Barack Obama speak at the DNC.  Fun fact: My mom watched him speak (on TV) at the 2004 DNC when he was just a Senator from Illinois and said, "Mal, there's our first African-American president."

Anyway, sorry for no blog, but school must come first!  I have get this paper done tonight, as opposed to during the break I have between classes tomorrow because YAY, Paddy is coming! :)

It's gonna be a good weekend....as soon as this stupid paper gets out of my way.

Isaac, you suck.

I mean, really?  Of all the directions you could've gone after you passed Florida, you picked to go RIGHT OVER CHARLOTTE?

Not cool.  Seriously, not cool.

So uh yeah.  I'm not going to the DNC tomorrow.  Hurricane Isaac (or is it a Tropical Storm now?) is currently sitting over Charlotte and brought all sorts of lovely thunderstorms with him.  You can't exactly hold a political convention in an uncovered arena with 70,000 people during a thunderstorm, sooooo.....they moved it.  They moved it to the Time Warner Cable Arena, which has about 50,000 less seats than the Bank  of America Stadium does.  There's barely going to be enough space for all of the delegates, so all Community Credentials are officially null and void.

On the upside, all Community Credentials holders get a special conference call with the President tomorrow afternoon, and the Democratic Party is doing everything they can to get him back to NC before Election Day to have a special event with Community Credentials holders.  Plus, I won't be up before the sun and stay up for almost 24 hours and I'll be well rested for Paddy when he arrives Friday.

On the downside, I WAS GOING TO SEE BARACK OBAMA IN PERSON!

Sigh.  You can't control the weather.

I posted about this on  Facebook, and my British mum (Paddy's mom) commented "You are so positive and upbeat in the face of such a disappointment."  Um, well, let's see.  My British brother is coming to spend the weekend with me the day after tomorrow.  I get to catch up on some precious sleep tomorrow so I'll actually be conscious and lively when he gets here.  Sunday, I get to see my mom and my best friend on the planet, and I get to introduce said best friend to the British version of him (which is surely going to be hilarious).  It's pretty darn simple to be positive and upbeat when something so amazing is waiting for you.

Speaking of said best friend, I texted him on-and-off for like eight hours today, and part of that conversation is still cracking me up.

Me: By the way, I'm still laughing about you telling me it's your "role" to protect me. :)
Matt: Well it is!
Me: And I'm not allowed to protect you?
Matt: No, damn it! That's not how it woooorrrkkksss!
Me: So what is MY role, oh wise one? Lol.
Matt:  Be my lil sis and stay outta trouble so I ain't gotta come whoop some ass.
Me: That's hilarious coming from you since you're quite possibly the least physically confrontational guy I've ever met.
Matt: Cause it hasn't had to come out yet!
Me: Hahahaha. Oh gosh. If all the guys in my past treating me like crap wasn't enough to bring that out, I wonder what will.  And just so we're clear, what trouble do I need to stay out of, Mr. "I want you to have life experiences"? (This conversation? Hands down the highlight of my day.)
Matt: Lol, I mean I want you to experience but when you fall in love, have sex, and then get crushed, that's when it'll come out!
Me: Hahahahahahahahaha. Oh, I love you and your heart for me, sweetheart.  That still doesn't tell me what trouble I need to stay out of, though. :p
Matt: Ya know, don't get arrested.  Experience everything, just don't get caught.

He's such a good influence on me. ;)  Then, we got into details about something that is probably going to be my blog post for tomorrow, so that's all you get for now.  Seriously, though, I love that kid.  Few people get the kind of relationship he and I now have, so it's not lost on me how lucky I am.

But yeah.  I'm gonna save the rest of that for tomorrow.  I'm tired.  I just want to finish listening to the DNC and go to bed.  Since I don't have to go to my one class since I took the test yesterday, I plan on staying in my pajamas the entire day.

And it will be AWESOME.

Clear Sight

So there's this song.  It was released in March 1995, but seeing as I was two and a half then, I only heard it for the first time when Glee covered it.



If God had a name, what would it be,
and would you call it to his face?
If you were faced with Him in all His glory,
what would you ask if you had just one question?

If I had one question?  Only one?  You'd think this would be a difficult question to answer for someone as indecisive as me, but surprisingly it's not.  I've had this song on repeat for a good portion of the evening, and my mind kept going back to this post by my friend Lauren.  I knew my question.

How do I see me the way that You see me?

Well, that's where this song comes in.  The chorus of the song says:

What if God was one of us,
Just a slob like one of us,
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home?

And in those words, I see it.  I see that God is all around me.  He's in the hearts of the people He so graciously put in my life.  If I want to see me the way He sees me, I can start by looking at the way they see me.  I can start by listening to the people who are as equally unafraid to point out my good qualities as they are to challenge me to take my flaws and be better, not because I'm not good enough for them; they just want me to be more like Christ because that's what I want.

I'm kind of horrible at taking compliments.  I'm really bad at it when people start talking about my character. People tell me I'm strong, and I tell them I'm not.  People tell me I inspire and teach them, and I tell them I don't understand why they say that.  People tell me I'm giving, and I tell them I didn't really do anything big.  Start to tell me what a wonderful person I am and I will stop just short of telling you you're crazy.

So often I find myself wondering if I'm living this life the way that God wants me to, if He takes pride in seeing the woman I'm becoming, if I'm giving the right impression to people.  Yet I miss all of the times when He's trying to show me that I'm showing my heart just fine.  I'm fairly certain these people don't say these sorts of things because they think I need the ego boost; they say them because they're true, because that's the person God made me to be.

I'll be the first person to tell you that I am a perfectionist, but I think until now I've kind of been ignoring the fact that I'm hardest on myself when thinking about the person I am, as opposed to grades or whatever.  I spent so long surrounded by voices telling me that I'm not good enough, that I'm worthless, that I'm a failure, that I started to believe them.  The past couple months have been full of people pointing out all of my flaws, all of the ways I let them down and didn't live up to what they wanted me to be.  So I think I got my head caught in the voices that are nothing but satan trying to turn me back into that scared little girl with no self-esteem.

It's not going to work this time.  The difference between me then and me now is that I know the Truth.  I am good enough, I am worthy, and I'm not a failure.  I'm a work in progress.  And when I get down and lose sight of His guidance for me, He just so happens to be clever enough to shove me right in the middle of a conversation that clears up my vision.  I get my eyes back on His Truth:  I am loved.  I am beautiful.  I am His.

Maybe I don't know what my question would be, after all...

Only at CU.

So today, in between all the reading I had on my to-do list, I went to see Ryann and the Campbell Women's soccer team play Marshall (yes, as in "We Are Marshall").  I left about 3:25 because it takes me about 15 minutes or so to walk to the soccer field, which is literally about as far on the other side of campus as you can get from my dorm and still be on campus, and the game was due to start at 4:00.  Well, about 5 minutes after I got there, a guy got on the microphone and said "Ladies and gentlemen, the start of today's game has been temporarily delayed."

Uh, what?  The sun was shining and the clouds were white as cotton, so it wasn't the weather.  What else could it be?

Ha.  Then I got a text from Ryann.  No referees were there.  No referees were there because Campbell forgot to tell them that the game was at 4:00 instead of 7:00, even though it'd been on the s chedule like that for at least two weeks.  Seriously?  Who does that?  Only at Campbell.

Did I mention the sun was shining bright?  Because it totally was.  Thank the Lord there was a good breeze and I brought water with me because I don't think I could've sat there even longer than necessary without it.  It was hot, as it usually is in NC in September.  It's a good thing I kind of like Ryann a little bit because I wouldn't have sat there in the heat for an extra hour for just anyone. ;)

So yeah.  There was my humor for the day.  The game started just after 5:00, and it was amazing.  We were up 3-0 after 14 minutes.  I don't remember the last time I saw something like that.  We ended up winning 4-2, so yay for that.  And there was a feast afterward for everyone to enjoy, which means I got to hug this lovely girl.

85 minutes of soccer (she sat out the last 5 because her knee was killing her) and an icing knee and she still looks gorgeous.  Totally not fair. :p  I love this girl to pieces.  Mom's pretty much adopted her as her 4th daughter, too.

After that, it was a shower more reading.  I only got through one of my two chapters for Comparative Foreign Government, so I'll have to read the other one tomorrow.  It'll probably take me a good three and a half hours. Boo.  Then, all I'll have is a two-page paper to write on Wednesday.  I won't be able to do any work on Thursday because of the DNC trip (which is going to make me be awake for close to 24 hours), and then Friday Paddy arrives.  YAY.  This week is going to be so, so amazing, even if I am dead tired by the end of it.

I live a blessed life.  No question about it.

Exhaustion reigns.

I slept way too late today.

I slept way too late and I'm still. so. tired.

That means I'm not going to get nearly enough work done today.

So the question is do I stay up late and get some more work done, or get up ridiculously early tomorrow and do it?  Hm...

Yeah, my day can be summed up in three words: sleep, food, homework.

Yay college.

And just like that, it was over.

I got up at 6:30 and got ready and went down to the hotel restaurant to eat breakfast...not knowing the convention was providing breakfast upstairs for free.  Of course.  At least the food was good.

At 8:00, the LGBT Caucus started, and I was SO excited to get to hear Zach Wahls speak.  You may or may not know who he is.  He's a now 21-year-old guy from Iowa who got Internet-famous at the beginning of last year when this video of him went viral.



One week he's a 19-year-old college kid in Iowa talking to the State House about why the marriage of his two lesbian moms is just as valid as heterosexual marriages, the next week the dude is on Ellen Degeneres.   Ah, the power of the 21st century.  This video now has over 17 million views; I watched it again tonight since I got to see him in person today, and it still makes me cry.

Anyway, I have been a huge fan of Zach since I first saw this video not long after it hit the web.  So getting up that early was more than worth it for me.  There were a couple of other speakers before him, and it was just a really powerful and moving and still funny meeting.  Zach, though...that kid seems like he was born for public speaking.  It's a good thing he put his environmental engineering degree on hold for public speaking and a book deal.  Can you imagine getting all of that from one Youtube video?!

I haven't seen very many speakers who could blend humor and seriousness as seamlessly as he can.  I was nearly in tears at one point and laughing loudly at others.  The best part, though, was getting to talk to him afterwards.  To most of us, it felt like we were meeting a celebrity at first (because, well, we kind of were), but he's just real, down-to-earth and so funny, he put us all right at ease.  I had actually met him last night at the reception, and when I asked him if I could get a picture there, he responded, "Well, uh, can we do it tomorrow when I'm not holding a glass of whiskey?"  That's just who he is.  So when he was standing around talking to about 10 of us adoring girls, Jillian asked for a picture first, and I was standing right next to her.  After I took one for her, Zach asked me if I wanted one, too.  I responded, "Yes, of course.  After all, you promised me one last night."  And he laughed and replied, "Yes, yes, I did! You remembered!"

After pictures, I mentioned something from his speech, where he talked about some Conservatives that his family with two moms isn't a "real" family, and I said, "I come at that from a different perspective.  My dad died when I was 7."  He immediately responded, "Well, I guess you don't have a real family then.  Too bad for you!"  And all of us cracked up.  Jillian and I got to talk to him for about 15 minutes after the rest of the crowd trickled out before he had to go start digging through his ginormous email inbox.

Okay, that's all the Zach stories.  I promise.  It was just such an honor to meet and talk to him, I can't help but ramble on a bit about it.  He and Duke were hands down the highlights of the convention for me. :)

After that, I wasn't really interested in any of the caucuses that were going on, so I went back up to my room and took a nap until Louis texted me to bring my suitcase to the boys' room so they could take it down to the car.  Then, I went to this training session on using digital media, but Chris interrupted before it started and said we were leaving.

Yeah, I was disappointed.  Apparently Louis and Chris were unhappy with the planning of the weekend and they weren't interested in staying, which basically meant I had no choice in the matter.  But oh well, at least I had some good memories from the time I was actually there.

We left about 12:15, stopped at Cookout for lunch (my first time there, delicious!), and got back to Campbell about 3:45.  I spent the rest of the day dealing with drama (not important for now, please don't ask), unpacking, and generally just trying to wind down.  Thank God this is Labor Day weekend because I'm gonna need the next two days to get caught up on all the homework I have from missing classes Friday and getting the reading done for this coming week.  I gave myself tonight off, though, because it was a really long day.  I did do laundry, though, so at least I did something productive.

Now, I'm off to bed.  My first political convention is done.  I'm really happy.  This field is definitely where I belong.  :)