Friday, March 07, 2008

march madness and merriment

I was having the hardest time getting out of bed this morning, when I received a text message, "It's snowing right now!" That sure got me out of bed! I put on my glasses, threw on my robe, and ran to open the back door. Unfortunately, I set off the house alarm which awoke my third roommate. Oh well, at least she got to see the snow before crawling back into bed. After disarming the alarm, I stepped outside to watch the flurries. Unbelievable. It was so magical, to watch the snowflakes flying in MARCH! I was jealous of my friends and family yesterday in North Texas who received about two inches of snow. I never thought it would come this far south, but it did! It didn't stick on the ground at all, and after about 10 or 15 minutes it was finished, but I'm thankful to have experienced that moment of incredible weather phenomena.

I'm done with midterms, and tomorrow I drive home to see friends and family for spring break! I'm very excited, though somehow a week doesn't feel long enough for all the dear people that I want to connect with. I fear that some friend or even my mom or dad are going to feel left out. I'm beginning to realize that one of the realities of living away from home, is that when you come home, you inevitably feel stretched thin. It's hard too now that most of my friends are working, I can only see them in the evenings, which limits my time with them even more. Oh well, I promised my mom I'd help her clean up the attic, so I'll have that, and some class projects to keep me busy during the day.

I'm not sure the best way to fulfill my Lenten commitment to not use the internet while I'm at home while I'm home over Spring break. In my home town, I'm racking my brain, but I don't know of any public places that have free wifi. All of the trendy independent coffee shops with free wifi are at least half an hour away, and one of the best ones has recently closed. There's a library near my house that has a computer station. It wouldn't be that big of a deal, but I'm coordinating plans with friends and family over the break, and so far, I've been mostly making those plans over email. I think I'll email all of those people, and let them know that my internet use will be limited, and they should call me if they need to make arrangements with me. This will take a great load off my mind, and allow me to wake up each morning and not feel like I have to use the internet as soon as possible, which is one of those urges that I'm hoping, with God's grace, my Lenten commitment will help me conquer.

You know, the more I think about, I think the freedom I will experience will outweigh the inconvenience of limited internet use this next week. I have a couple of books I started over Christmas break that just maybe I can finish this week. I can wake up, make breakfast for me and my mom, do some reading, help work on the attic, and then spend my evenings out socializing. When I'm done for the evening, I'll watch an episode or two of Will and Grace or Frasier with my mom, and then head to bed because I'm not staying up for hours on the internet. I think this will be a good week. I look forward to it :)