memorable

Well, I'm certainly glad I decided early on to not try to do a blog post a day because if I did I would feel like a miserable failure by now. There have been a lot of things happening that I think are interesting, but in the past month or so when I get a spare minute it's been spent doing something else--catching up on sleep, calling my family on the phone, cleaning my ever-unruly room (I am typically a neat housekeeper but there's only so much you can do without enough organizational space for things!), or other mundane housekeeping kind of things. It's amazing how much time the necessities plus a full time job can actually take--from 7am to 7pm I'm pretty much booked, getting ready, commuting, going to work, and making and cleaning up from dinner.

At any rate, there are things that I do want to record about this summer, so here goes.

Last year, when my family went to Kiawah Island for the week (we typically go every year), one day we decided that we were going to ride the Thriller boat. None of us were quite sure how good it would be but Dad was really excited so we started driving into town for it.

On the way from Kiawah to Charleston, it started pouring down rain--not just a summer shower, but cold, hard rain, and wind. The boat ride was rain or shine, though, and the tickets were already paid for and nonrefundable, so we proceeded on to the parking lot. We were all in kind of a poor mood; things that day weren't turning out as planned overall. Once we parked, all of us continued to take refuge in the car, except my middle sister, Victoria. She told us that the trip would at least be memorable, and proceeded to dance in the rain in the parking lot. (This is the way Victoria consistently lives. She has had the most difficult struggle in school of anyone I know, yet she never loses hope and has continued to live with generosity, compassion, hope, and joy.)

The boat ride turned out to be great fun, despite being slapped in the face by the rain and the waves. However, one of the priceless snapshots in my mind, is looking back at my youngest sister, Briana, who we affectionately nickname Squidward for her occasional indifferent-to-negative outlook on life (although she has so many excellent qualities, which I will later write about!). When I looked back at her, she had the perfect Squidward expression on her face and was evidently not enjoying herself at all. I believe that we captured that moment on film and often laugh about it as a family.

Things this summer have definitely not gone as I planned them in most every aspect of life. There have been a lot of days of pouring rain (both literally and figuratively!) that have made it more difficult than it had to be. Some days I know I've been a Squidward and have been turned skeptical and calloused by the circumstances, but in the past few weeks I've been thinking more and more about Victoria dancing in the rain in the parking lot, making it memorable. If it can't be good, it might as well be memorable, so that is what I will aim for.  I want to have enough courage, hope, and sense to step back from the immediate circumstance and see how I can at least make this a good story in the end, becoming a strong character, growing richly, choosing the path of adventure and not wavering when it comes to the things I know are most important.

Thanks, Victoria, for your example. I admire you so much more than you can imagine!