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Monday, June 28, 2010

Something Glorious

Some things I want to experience at some point...


  • Some weddings...my brother's, a wonderful friend's, and, maybe someday, my own.
  • An outdoor concert...and I won't care who's playing...as long as it's a symphony.
  • Receiving an acceptance letter to that great college I'll find one of these days.
  • Find a love letter written by a long-ago family member.
  • See this band perform "Something Glorious" again.
  • Taking pictures of my children someday.
  • Casually bump into someone famous.
  • Read my journal in thirty years.
  • Glimpse a real movie premiere.
  • My 25-year class reunion.
  • A tailored outfit.
  • A great prom.
  • See Italy.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Won't You Help?

I'll get straight to the point: I need some new blogging friends. As much as I love the few blogs I frequent-and I do mean few-I'd like to get to know some of the other corners of the blog-o-sphere. If you'd like to suggest your own blog or someone else's you enjoy, please, please, please comment. I'm lonely here at it is best to be! Truly, (insert pathetic sad face) won't you be my friend?

Saturday, June 19, 2010

A Workout

You know those times when you say, "There is absolutely no way I'm doing that."? I love saying it. I don't have to do the thing then, because I'm being pathetic and whiny, and therefore no one feels like forcing me to do anything. Oh, I've used it on occasions like, say, spiders in my room, a 100 degree day when it's possible you'll be painting something...outside...So, let me share with you my latest experience with the afore-mentioned phrase.

I returned home this afternoon from the week-long camp my youth group goes to each year. Needless to say, it was a fantastic experience altogether, but the phrase...

Robert, my wonderful, amazing, cool youth pastor, whom I normally completely agree with, suggested, "Sometime this week, we'll probably be going to the ropes course on the property here."

At this point, I felt torn between wanting to slap poor Robert or running to hide.

How dare he offer something like that, I thought. I'm not physical! I have no upper body strength! I'm gonna feel like a total idiot! I'll be standing there the whole time! What's the point of climbing around thirty feet in the air on ropes and cables and whatnot?!

Somehow, I did it.

Yes, after all of my internal complaints, I just climbed up a cargo net (that gave me terrible rope burn and bruises), walked across a bridge made out of two-by-fours (forty feet up), and zip-lined down to the ground (three seconds of which were spent falling straight down). I, Elyse, just did it, and I'm so glad.

Maybe this stands out in my memory because I'm the kind of person who would love to just sit back, be comfortable, and watch extreme sports when...well...never. That's just who I'd accepted myself to be, and I planned on defending that personality trait whenever threatened.

Just doing it made me feel like I could do whatever else I wanted. Maybe it's a good idea for me to stop saying I'll never do something.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Tough

I'll tell you something: it's tough being a teenager. Especially one with morals. You want to be in but not of. How do you make the right decision? How do you deal with those who seem to think you're odd or out there because of what you believe to be true? How do you say no when it seems impossible, when there's easier options? How do you get over the fact that people around you have different priorities?

Sometimes I enjoy being the voice of reason, because I'm the one with the truth. But that's tough, too. Even when you know you're right, and that they need to hear this, you continue to doubt yourself, wondering if they even care or if any of it is sinking in.

They treat you differently, and you're torn between wanting it and wishing it away.

You want to fit, but know that you never completely can.

Leaving things your heart knows are wrong tears it apart sometimes.

I might sound hopeless, but I know it isn't. There's a point to it all...getting there is tough. *sigh* Sometimes I just wish things were simpler.

Friday, June 4, 2010

"happy birthday, dear elyse..."

I was born on the day of my baby shower. I apparently wanted to be at the party. It's also Angelina Jolie's birthday, and exactly one month before the fourth of July. However, these things don't really matter as much as the others that have happened over the years on June 4th. Here's some thoughts (well, really mostly my parents'...) on birthdays past.

  • I hiccupped in the womb. It was a great event for my mother's coworkers.
  • I didn't cry loudly when I was born, like my brother did. (Let me just say, the "loud" aspect hasn't changed much since then.) I whimpered, like a little lamb.
  • On my first birthday, I downed an entire Twinkie when my parents' backs were turned.
  • The sound of the shrieking peacocks mystified me when I went to the zoo at three years old. I guess the goats' tongues, did, too.
  • I had a cake with a Barbie stuck in the middle for a ballerina party. I loved that cake.
  • At one birthday, I made a movie with my friends. There were tater tots, photo booths, and guest appearances. Man, that was fun.
  • There have been tons of wonderful themes my mother is fantastic at planning for. Let's see...sunflowers, carousels, princesses, ballerinas, American Girl, the Wizard of Oz, a tea party, butterflies...

I so love my memories. Happy birthday to me.