The Beginning of Advent

Seems like everything in my life is busy. No other way to slice the bread on that one. JUST BUSY. I accepted my very first "big girl" job; I launched HCA (an e-zine I've been working on for months); I accepted an internship with a publishing house; I fell in love....see what I mean? BUSY. But Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year. In light of everything that has happened over the last few months, and honestly, the last year has been hellacious, I've decided to do something a little different this year. Over the next 25 days I will do one nice thing for someone. Then each day I will write about it. Reflect on how this little experiment helps me see the good in the world. Because that's what this time of year is about seeing the good in the world.

This is my list of 25 things:

1. Pay for someone behind me in the drive thru
2. Let someone out in traffic, even when it's not convenient
3. Call my Grandmother each week of the month
4. Send out Christmas cards to all my loved ones
5. Mail packages for the loved ones I won't see this Holiday
6. Smile, at everyone
7. Keep the door open for someone coming in from the cold
8. Just be there for someone who needs me
9. Randomly watch my niece to give her Momma a break, as a surprise
10. Tip excellent service 25%
11. Give blood
12. Write thank you notes for my teachers this semester that have really taught me something
13. Let someone else go first
14. Pick up some litter
15. Make a new friend
16. Say the rosary each Sunday
17. Offer someone help
18. Help someone Christmas shopping
19. Offer someone a ride home
20. Try to be less judgmental
21. Do something nice for my mean neighbor Sarah Anne
22. Go an entire day without complaining
23. Bring something special for my Stepmother this year
24. Help Momma cook Christmas Eve dinner
25. Donate $5 to the Humane Society of West Alabama for everything that is not completed by Christmas day

Some are a little more ambiguous than others, but, for the most part, I know what I meant when I wrote them. Yesterday, I decided to start with going an entire day without complaining, which was very difficult. Not because I complain all the time, but because I have strep throat! I get whiney when I'm sick! (Who doesn't?!!?) It felt good to not be constantly reminding myself, and those around me how miserable I was. I'll consider this a job well done for Day 1. This Friday is still young, I cannot wait to see what opportunity for good I come across.

Prayer Request

The last few days have been a complete whirlwind. As my sweet family mourns the loss of Bella; Heaven gains a new angel. Kristen sent me this prayer and I thought it was worth sharing. Please keep Bella and her best friend Kristen in your thoughts over the next few days.

Bella Scarlett Johnson Watson

August 8, 2001-August 14, 2011

A Pet Owner’s Plea

Please, God, if You should hear a scratch on Heaven's Gate tonight,

A gentle whine, a muffled bark, have Peter take a light

And open up the Pearly Gates and call her sweet soul in,

For I think she lived in Heaven once; please take her back again.

She may have been a bit of mutt, without a pedigree,

Yet she was noble, kind and good; I think You will agree.

She’ll be very useful in Heaven where the souls of children play.

She'll romp with them, and see, Dear God, they do not go astray.

Please tell her that we're sorry that we cannot pat her head,

And whisper how we love her still although her spirit fled.

I pray that when death beckons, and my soul surmounts life's fog,

I'll be granted a place in Heaven, Dear God, beside our beloved dog.

~Author Unknown

Summer of Over-Scheduling

This summer has been nothing but a giant test of character. Living at home has taught me just how much I love (and hate) having my family always around. You could say that I bit off more than I could chew. I'm interning 15 hours a week, teaching around 15/20 hours a week and then squeezing in a social life.

For me a typical day looks like this:
3:15AM Wake-up/Shower
4:45AM Internship starts
10:15AM Internship ends
10:45AM Home for lunch/nap/errands
2:00PM Begin teaching
6:45PM Last of my kids are picked up/my room is cleaned
7:15PM Home for dinner/errands/free time/whatever time
10:15PM Lights out! Bed time!
Doesn't my typical day sound wonderful? (please imagine my rueful laugh here)

My crazy schedule has allowed me some awesome experiences, and some...not so awesome experiences.

Interning at a radio station for a morning show is not exactly what I thought. It was more, less and everything in between. I tried not to get TOO caught up in the drama the cast created with the interns....BUT it couldn't be avoided at times. You can listen to a sample of it here.

But thanks to the drama and this silly challenge I was about to talk to one of my favorite reality stars. You can listen to my 5 minutes of trying to actively not gush here.

I love my job but I sometimes get stuck into some bizarre situations/talking about some embarrassing things. For example, in this sample, I sound a little silly. But hey, it's true! On air, I'm me 100% and this job is putting me on the fast track for some thick skin.

What a summer this has turned out to be! I'll be trying to keep blogging since I once again fell off the wagon!

Jumping Back into the Swing of Things

Reading one of my sorority sister's blogs hit home for me. I haven't been posting on my blog in quite a while and not for any particular reason. I have been doing some great things that I find very inspiring. Yet, I haven't shared. Life has changed in a big way for me. Yet, I haven't shared. I guess, I feel like nothing is "share" worthy. I read many different blogs every few days and I love getting glimpses into others' lives. But I always feel like they are doing something great: planning a wedding, raising a family, navigating a job, something substantial. And me? Well, I have a dog that snores. I just always felt like I wasn't doing anything substantial. But I guess that's the point isn't it? Substance comes from the every day details.

This summer I am taking on an internship with a company and program I am proud to be a part of. As I work and live at home, I am going to push myself to keep this online journal afloat. This summer is going to be filled with challenges and joy. Hopefully I'll think it is "share" worthy.

Picture Story

A lot has happened since I last wrote. Life is a giant roller coaster and clearly I went up and down and about six loop de loops in the last few months. I'm not really sure how I feel about the way my life has gone and I'm even more unsure if I want to put my thoughts on some digital paper. Instead of going into the whole story I've decided to do a picture story. In the English Major world, a picture story is short, choppy sentences with snapshot pictures that tell a more detailed story. So here's JJ's Ways from May to Now:

End of May: Journey to Fla to see Kristen's nesting extravaganza.

June: It's just me and Grace Kelly now, enjoying taking a few summer literature classes, making new friends and interning with a GREAT group of rising 10th graders.

July: Senior seminar with Dr. Phil Beidler changes my outlook a bit on the whole English Major thing in a good way; the Johnson-Watson family welcomes the CUTEST little guy I've ever seen!
August: Cue up Fall Senior Semester Take One, Momma's birthday and the excitement of new classes.

September: A new football season brings an anxious air to Tuscaloosa, last year's Titletown. Saturdays bring friends and family decked out in their crimson, white and houndstooth: Roll Tide Roll!

October: Really feeling the pressure of taking 12 hours of advanced English and teaching courses and trying to have fun. The Braves enter the playoffs during Bobby's last year. I was lucky enough to go to the last game, with spectacular seats. Go Bravos! Alabama decided not to have a true Autumn and I frequently run around town in shorts/skirts/dresses while friends up North wear sweaters!

November: So far so good. I am writing a novel as part of NaNoWriMo and enjoying the days get cooler. College football keeps Saturdays interesting and lots of text messages back and forth with my Dad.

Life has changed for the better in my small cluttered apartment and I am looking forward to being extra thankful this Thanksgiving for the hidden blessings I have been given these last few months.

One Word for Wednesday

AHHHHH!!!

Okay, I said it would only be one word but I lied. This week, last week and next week are all SUPER DUPER stressful for me. And really I feel like screaming...so:

AHHHHH!!!!!

Postcards

So I wish life was as easy as a Spring day. Sadly, mine is not. Now, do I absolutely LOVE my life? Yes. Do I wish it was easier? Not really, I just wish I had about three extra hours in the day and more energy. But as the French say, c'est la vie. (It's just life). There isn't anything exciting around here to report except, work, work, work all day long!

I was fortunate enough to be a part of a poetry reading in my American Literature class last Tuesday. It's very rare that inspiration and a warm-ness wash over you while sitting inside a classroom on a wonderful Spring day. But hearing some of Ms. Andrea Barton's poems did that for me. I just sometimes forget to stop and smell the roses I guess. Well, this is her poem "Postcards" I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Postcards

I have to find a different space. I think the way that I will hurt you back
is to go to every city that makes postcards of itself and send you one with the directive,
“Wish you were here.”

I won’t stay anywhere for very long—stop at a gas station for a postcard or two,
a state-shaped magnet, diet coke and cheese crackers.

Every familiarity will change in proportion to my distance,
will mark that I am opening my car door in the elsewhere of corn fields
and distressed billboards until I recognize nothing in the foreign faces.

I will drive with purpose. I will drive in a way that throws up dust
or pothole debris, the wet muck sopping against my undercarriage.

When I am tired of driving, I will tell my friends stories that have nothing to do with you:
of how I slept at a rest area just past the bridge between Memphis and Arkansas
or met a couple in Arlington who made soaps for a living.

I will tell them how the accents became thicker, more difficult to understand,
how I rose to the occasion in a chess match with a farmer named Temple.

I will pray every day for people on the interstate with somewhere to get to,
will love them for being strangers.

And I will tell friends later if they ask, that I am wonderful—that I have been every place—
that I have learned to interpret loss and how it is always the same:
an empty postcard of a solitary windmill that stutters on an unused field.

Andrea Barton