Strangers

I'm waking up at 6:15 AM to take the LSAT. It could last up to 7 hours. I can't have my cell phone. I'm getting thumb-printed.

Sounds a tad like jail.

Stressful. Possibly life-changing.

Spent all week stressing and studying, not just for this but for a whole bunch of school stuff.
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Mom called today to tell me that two kids at a school in my cousins' neighborhood were injured.

These kids live in California. Suffice it to say, I was utterly confused. The only thing I could think of was that perhaps one of my precious little cousin had punched a friend or something and THAT'S why mom was telling me.

"What do you mean?" I said.

And she proceeded to tell me that my aunt had sent her an email which said something along the lines of "Carlsbad school shooting. Picking up kids."

(She never was one for long emails.)

A gunman showed up at the school playground (if my cousins lived one block over, they would have gone to school here), got out of his car, and began shooting. Somehow, he only narrowly shot two kids (bullets grazed them and they're okay) before nearby construction workers were able to take him down.

Thank God for caring strangers.

... it's the little things today.

The LSAT? Not so bad. Counting my blessings today that my family is safe. It's the little things, guys. Random acts of kindness--bravery--instinctual gut reactions to life-threatening situations. Saving lives.

Unsure how to feel

I don't even want to explain myself. Life is just... well, life. It never ceases to amaze, excite, annoy, and trouble me. All at the same time. 

So instead of trying to craft meaning of it all today, I'm just going to post a picture that made me smile. 

If that isn't true love, I don't know what is...

Welcome October...

It is officially October. Time for pumpkin carving, leaf falling (and leaf raking, leaf blowing, and leaf jumping), hopefully a bit of snow falling, probably some nose blowing, trick-or-treating and I hope to squeeze in a smooch or two with my honey.

My motto for this month is gonna' be: focus on the little things.

As anxious as I am to put September in the past and behind me, I want to keep it with us here for one more blog post just so we can recognize it's contribution to our lives. All the trials and tribulations we go through in the Septembers of our lives leave marks on our hearts, and while we should move on from those, they will forever be there, and though we might not want them to, they will change the course of our lives from here on out, even if we don't notice it. My point amid all this wordiness is that September taught me something: God gives us happiness in the little things, and sometimes we forget to see that.

Today was absolutely crazy. Here's a rundown:
10:00 Took my car to the dealer. It didn't blow up on the way there. Arrived safe and sound and smoking.
10:30 Friend picked me up from taking the car.
11:00 Friend and I eat a delicious lunch at Jimmy John's, where the meat-to-lettuce ratio was perfection.
12-ish I arrive back to my room to find 3 wasps. Oh joy.
1-ish I find out the car stuff will cost upwards of $200. Expensive, but not as bad as the $500 it could've been
2:00 Battle with wasps is still ensuing. Two are trapped between windowpanes and a fourth has appeared (so two are untrapped)
2:05 I start to cry.
2:10 A maintenance man offers to take care of the wasp problem for me. He kills them (FIVE now), locates the problem, tells me they'll seal up my window, and in the middle of it all, stops to say, "I'm not trying to flirt with you, but you have beautiful eyes," and I can't help but smile.
3:00 I do crafts to destress from the 2 hours of wasps.
6:35 My friend takes me to the mechanic to pick up my car
8:00 My car still isn't fixed
8:10 Mechanic lends me HIS car because mine is "unsafe."
8:35 The dining hall guy gives me free mozzarella sticks.

I'm not going to lie, the bad definitely outweighed the good, however, I couldn't help but be amazed with my own calmness through the whole car situation, and even the wasp situation (until the 4th one appeared...but I didn't lose it until then). I'm the person that gets incredibly stressed out and freaked out when something doesn't go as planned, but this, after last month, was almost laughable. There were five wasps in my room. How the hell does that happen? And in the middle of a giant wasp-killing session, a sweet old guy stops to tell me I have pretty eyes? My heart melted. That made my day. Keith the dinner man gave me free mozzarella sticks... how sweet is THAT? And my car has been smoking out of the hood all week. Sounds like a blow-up waiting to happen, yet I'm still alive. How lucky am I? I have been blessed with GOOD things today despite the bad. And the bad? It isn't so bad... not in the grand scheme of things.

My point is, October, I hope you get better--I could do without $200 mechanic payments and wasps, but if it's that or the death and sickness that raged September, I'll take it.