7 Quick Special Occasion Takes

It's been a crazy past two weeks for me, full of special occasions. Here's a quick recap. Thanks as always to Jen for hosting this link-up.

1. One of my dearest college friends just married a Civil War historian. (What can I say, history nerds are attractive!) They got married in a little white historic church that I'd heard about, but never visited. Fun fact: Clara Barton nursed Civil War soldiers there. 

2. At my friend's reception, all the tables were named for ships in Star Trek and Star Wars. The sweetheart table was the Millenium Falcon, natch. 

Listen your worship, I think this whole reception would look a lot better
if we coordinated the groomsmen's pocket squares
with the cocktail napkins, don't you?

3. Then Brother #2 graduated from high school. He even got an "Unsung Hero" award from the faculty for all his hard work keeping up with school despite two concussions. I was so touched that they honored him and two other seniors battling chronic health conditions. Partial invalids represent!

4. The priest who said the graduation Mass gave some of the best Catholic high school advice I've ever heard. He told these bright eyed, catechism-filled kids to go out and befriend their peers who *gasp* aren't Catholic! People who don't share your faith aren't evil, and often they are searching for God's love. 

5. Best lines of the homily, which are my new evangelization motto: 

"Don't be weird. Don't go up to people at parties and say 'Want to hear about Jesus?' That's weird, and they will run away from you. Don't walk around with a huge picture of Mary saying 'Here is Our Lady of Guadalupe. LOVE HER."

LOVE HER OR LOSE YOUR SOULLLLL

6. After that, Brother #1 got married! It's still a little hard to believe my little brother is now "an old married man," but I am so happy for him and my new sister-in-law. Also, I am proud to belong to an extended family that firmly believes a marriage is not valid until everyone has danced their faces off. 

7. Lastly, one year from today will be my own wedding! The Betrothed and I have started marriage prep meetings with our museum buff priest, and are actually making decisions about (eeek) spending money on this shindig. Please pray for me that I find a job soon and can start building a nest egg. 

7 Quick Takes of a Lotus-Eating Summer

Well gosh, that blogging break was longer than I planned. It's been a weird few months since I finished grad school, and I've needed some time to reflect on all the changes in my life. I have a recurring feeling that I am on the island of the Lotus Eaters from the Odyssey: in the familiar comforts of home, I quickly forget what my previous life was like. Classes, the library, museum catalogs, blog posts, even visits from The Beau have felt very far away once I returned to my childhood home. It's a lazy, very unsettling feeling.

On the other hand, moving back home to northern Virginia has been a blessing in many ways. As I drive around the suburbs, passing familiar elementary schools, churches, and shopping centers makes my life flash before my eyes. There have been some great new developments as well. So here's what I did on my summer vacation.

• Attended two weddings, one of which involved an epic road trip with my grad school classmates, who are like the 7 siblings I never had. 
• Became an American History curriculum consultant for some homeschoolers. I have a new appreciation for textbook authors who can actually add interesting narrative details. 
• Attended the funeral of Dr. Warren Carroll, a warrior for the Truth and the first professor I ever heard lecture. He and his wife Anne are two of my greatest historian role models. 
• Threw out my back, and spent several hermit-like weeks at the mercy of a chiropractor. Having someone make your neck crack at 8am can actually be cool. 
• Took a spontaneous trip to Chicago to visit relatives I had not seen in 2 years. 
• Contrary to my fears, did not shrivel up and die of misery when The Beau went to England for 6 weeks of dissertation research on martyrdom. I went to adoration and wrote him letters, he befriended senior citizens at church and sent me postcards. I don't miss the 5 hour Skype time difference though. 
•  And now, for something completely different - I  got a job as an accounting clerk that has actually turned out to be pretty awesome. Something like half the employees at this software company are Steubenville alumni, which means I have a nice Catholic community in the office. Also, reconciling credit card statements is surprisingly satisfying. Invoice filing has also inspired me to be more vigilant about my own finances. I now monitor my accounts using Mint.com, a free, secure, online version of Quicken that I highly recommend. 

Now that I'm a working girl, I'm excited to resume blogging as a creative outlet. Stay tuned for reflections on homeschooling, Mormons, and random song lyrics.

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

Posts are going to be a little sporadic here as I deal with the aftermath of getting my master's and gradually move back to my parents' house. I'll be packing up my apartment, visiting friends, and maybe even reading history books for fun.

It's funny how graduating will get certain songs stuck in my head, No, I'm not talking about that Vitamin C 90's hit, although I am a shameless fan of Semisonic's one hit wonder, Closing Time. When I left college I got all weepy to the ballad "For Good" from Wicked, but this time around the mental soundtrack has been a little more random. Here are some songs helping me make the transition to the "real world."

"Little Wonders" by Rob Thomas

Let it go, let it roll right off your shoulder.
Don't you know the hardest part is over?...
Our lives are made in these small hours,
These little wonders,
These twists and turns of fate."

I think I cried for some reason every day last week, and one of those times was when this song came on Pandora when I was sorting photos for a professor's graduation slideshow. Let me tell you, with each note and click of the mouse, I was  this much closer to bawling. It's the everyday conversations, book recommendations, car trips, and goofy smiles that built my relationships in grad school. Knowing my classmates by their mannerisms and the color of their tote bags is one thing I'll miss the most. Luckily, we've taken hundreds of photos that each capture a moment of the 24 months that have changed our lives forever.

The lyrics are reassuring too, especially when you have no idea where your life is headed next. Good old Divine Providence got me into this M.A. program, so I shouldn't think God is gonna quit on me now.

"The Last Time" - Blind Boys of Alabama

This may be the last time, I don't know.

As I leave my museum alma mater, there are so many uncertainties - is this the last time I will see some of these people? Is this the last time I'll pas a professor in the hallway? Will I ever roam around the halls of the collections again? I intend to delay my last drive around the grounds as long as possible.

"You Got the Love" - Florence and the Machine  

(previously recorded by Candi Staton, The Source, and Joss Stone)

Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air

I know I can count on you

Sometimes I feel like saying Lord, I just don't care

But you've got the love I need to see me through

If anything can make you want to throw up your hands and yell, "Jesus take the wheel," it's grad school.

 The entire process can seem designed to make you doubt yourself and question your purpose in life. My degree is as much a testament to my support system as it is to my book learnin'. From my professors who always kept their doors open, to the classmates happy to vent in the library at 11pm, to the family and friends who have humored two years of geeking out over furniture, to The Beau who has stayed up past his bedtime helping me edit presentations, there's been an army of people I could count on. Sometimes it's been hard to keep caring, but in the end, I'm humbled and grateful to be surrounded by such love.