Letting Go

It rained tonight. Rain we've desperately needed. Well, I don't think it rained much at our house - but it was storming over near our community group, which is where we were at the time.

Tonight I hurried to the car because I had my baby in my arms, but it brought back another memory...

I was still in college, and had just gotten out of class. It was pouring and didn't seem like it would let up anytime soon. I didn't have anymore classes that day, so all that was left was to make the 45 minute drive home. The sooner I got going, the sooner I'd be home.

There was only one problem - that morning I had to park insanely far away from my classes. My truck was a good 15 minute walk from where I was. Fifteen minutes of torrential downpour away...

I had no choice but to just do it. I started walking. At first, it was uncomfortable - cold, wet, stinging sprays. I dodged the puddles and walked quickly. But, soon it became clear that there was no way I was going to be able to come out of this anywhere near dry. My jeans soon became soaked from the bottoms all the way up to my calves. My clothes were completely soaked through. And I still had 10 more minutes of walking.

In that moment, I let go. I let go of my need to keep dry, to play things my way. I took my flip flops off - which brought me another inch down in the puddles. I felt the water rushing around my feet. I pushed my hood back and felt the water dripping down my face and hair. I smiled. I felt the freshness of the cool rain, and it was almost cleansing.

I just let go.

I think there are a lot of times in my life where I could apply that same lesson. Letting go of what's behind. Letting go of what's ahead. Letting go of my incessant need for a plan. Letting go of my expectations.

The present is all I have. Right now. This moment. And I need to be present while it's here.

Photo credit: [jeremy]

Snow

Did you know that one year it snowed in Corpus Christi TX??!! Yeah, it did, on Christmas eve no less. And I have the pictures to prove it. Me, being from KY and all, was not impressed as everyone else. I was thinking, "It's just snow guys!! Come in already so we can open some gifts!! You don't even have mittens. Sheesh." But the guys were having too much fun. I think we did gifts at like 2pm that day.

Where I'm At

Here's where I am right now. These pics are from my parents home, Thanksgiving 05 I believe.

Notre Dame Campus

Back in '05 Mark and I took our "Domer" pilgrimage back to the homeland...aka Notre Dame. We hadn't been back since Mark graduated, and haven't gotten a chance to go back since.

It's so gorgeous up there and it brought back so many memories.


When I visited the campus for the first time in 1997 I saw a wedding taking place in the chapel (in the background of this pic). I saw the bride and bridesmaid rush into the side door and the ushers helping guests through the front. It was an impacting memory.


This is in the bookstore on campus. When I first came, the bookstore was just a tiny little building in the middle of campus. It grew into a huge "mega" bookstore where you could buy anything and everything ND.

Pre-Kids

So Pre-kids we used to throw a killer Halloween party. Were you one of the "lucky" ones who attended?

One of these days I'm sure we'll throw another. Maybe when the kids are old enough to go visit Grandma for a week.

This year, we are getting out for Halloween, but we're not hosting anything, we'll be at the ND game in San Antonio. Woot!

Here are some pics from our last party - see yourself anywhere?

Mt. Shasta

Here's a blast from the past. Mark and I visited my grandma a few years back and while we were there we went camping for a few days near beautiful Mt. Shasta. I was about 5 months pregnant with Hayden at the time.

The scenery is gorgeous and we had a great time fishing and hiking.