Happy Decade

I know 30 is supposed to be the big number, but it came and went without much hoopla. For me 31 seems to be far more significant. You see, it’s been a whole decade since I turned 21. Whoa, right?!

When I think back over the last 10 years, I think of the many things I’ve done: backpacking in Kentucky, Arkansas, California, Texas, Tennessee and Kentucky; roadtripping to Iowa, Missouri, Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Colorado; flying to the Ukraine and England; touring Baltimore, St. Louis, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles and all the randomness in between: canoeing through swamps, showering under waterfalls in the forest, spelunking in the Longview sewer system, frolicking on Pike’s Peak, roller-hockey games at 1am, replacing my own fuel pump in a random person’s garage during an ice-storm, watching my car burn up and much more.

But I think even more of the people in those 10 years. The first five years were filled with G2 & 4B, a group of girls and guys more fabulous than anyone could ever find conglomerated. The things they did for me: for my soul and my heart, for my mind and my spirit, and for the liveliness of my life, are indescribable.

And then I moved and it was heartrendingly rough. Until I settled on this magical street called St. Mary’s and the world of deep friendship unfolded literally all around me.

I clung to the liveliness which had sprung up in me during college. Sometimes I thought it was too much for them (Texan and Southern are completely different cultures) but they didn’t run away and I slowly discovered that they were lively kindred spirits too. And they taught me how to live with nuanced beauty instead of just randomness. And they taught me how to dance. And I wish I had a heck of a lot more pictures from that time than I do.

I also think about my husband and how some would see that relationship as the most important thing about these past ten years. But I think of it differently. Matt is and will be the most important thing about the coming ten years (and the ten years after that, etc.) The decade behind me, though, will belong to the beautiful women who inspired me to be exactly what I was created to be and helped me be strong enough to love Matt and be his wife (and infuse his live with beauty and chaos :D) And if I were to remove any of those women from the picture the decade just wouldn’t be as happy. And so an ode to the past is really an ode to them. And with Matthew by my side I expect this next decade will be even more happy.

So hello 31, and welcome to my life, it’s a crazy good one.

Biking

I haven’t blogged in over a month. I admit that I’m tempted to stop blogging. After all, blogging wasn’t one of my new year’s resolutions and there’s only so many hours in the day! :}

Yesterday, I went biking on a local paved trail through woods next to a Creek. It was 10.6 total miles (there and back) and took me an hour and a half. That’s a big chunk of time in a day when I have two jobs to work. It rained recently and parts of the trail were muddy from the Creek overflow. Sunny and slightly cool and right at sunset, it was beautiful outside and I’m so glad I did. My resolution to ride more remains in good stead.

I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a road bike, even though I live in a city very unfriendly in their approach to sharing the road. I love the idea of carrying around a basket of books straight from the library. But Matthew says I first have to prove myself by using the mountain bike I have much more than I do. So I’m on a mission :D. And here’s the end goal (cute huh?):

Saturday Morning Chores

Garden Journal: Jan. 15, 2012

Today, I planted pansies in the hanging pots which sat derelict. Three pansy plants are in each pot, various shades of purple and one white with a purple center in each pot. Then I hung them from the wrought-iron work on the front porch. I felt a bit British taking so much care to have a front garden in winter when all the lawns and trees are bare and color is so out-of-place.

I also sowed an oat/pea cover-crop in one of the square garden plots. It should be a mild enough winter that the crop grows fast. 56 days to mature, then we’ll till it under in time to transplant our seed starters for spring. It should help improve the soil without wasting the winter months on an empty garden plot. There are advantages to gardening in Texas! We (Matt & I) also planted about 30 slip onions in one of our gardens. Hopefully they have enough of a head start to give us at least baby onions (for stew!) before we have to put in a spring crop. Matthew also added a purple cabbage (to serve in his ritual morning vegetable and fruit smoothie).

I know it’s the Lord’s day, but Sunday is the only day Matt and I have off of work together and its surprising how restful working in the garden can be. It took us about an hour to do all the work mentioned above.