So the first thing that popped into my head when I read the prompt was this:
That is my opinion of love! "Baby, don't hurt me!" My last two relationships have been enough to make me pretty skittish about the whole thing. Obviously there are a lot of different kinds of love - family love/platonic love/romantic love. The last is something I've only experienced in brief flashes. I thought I was in love when I started up this blog back in February, but it wasn't reciprocal. I was in love with someone who *thought*, or perhaps even wanted to be, in love. Of course, I didn't know that until he broke my heart not so many months ago, so if you'd asked me this question back in February I probably would have had a very different answer for you.
I'm going to cop out on this Great Detail and cede to my favorite quote on love by Paramahansa Yogananda: "To describe love is very difficult, for the same reason that words cannot fully describe the flavor of an orange. You have to taste the fruit to know its flavor. So with love."
Sadly, I think all I've ever really tasted has been artificial orange flavoring.
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Your Life in Great Details: Your First Love
I am fortunate enough to be able to say that the relationship I currently maintain with my first love is a friendship I am so happy to still have. If you have been reading my blog all summer, you have already met him so I don't need to go into great detail about what kind of a person he is. It's SGT D. I met him while he was a 19 year old newly promoted Specialist on his first tour to Iraq and I was a senior in college. I was participating in a wonderful program called Adopt A Platoon that allowed me to show my support for our military in a more explicit way than just slapping a magnet onto my car. I was sending monthly care packages and weekly letters to a soldier, who happened to be SGT D's best friend. To this day I'll never know how D actually got my email address and contact info from his buddy, but we started talking and over the course of his deployment became great friends. Our friendship resumed when he returned to the states, but it wasn't until he got news that he was going to deploy again (just a mere seven months after returning from his last 14 month tour) did I finally fly down to meet him face to face. We met, we had a great time, I left. Only when I returned to NY did both our mutual feelings for each other come back so back to Georgia I went to spend one last glorious weekend with him before he deployed for 15 more months.
There are a multitude of reasons why our relationship did not work out in the long term. Among the largest reason was the fact that we were very different people at very different places in our lives. We had an awesome friendship, but as a boyfriend I wanted him to be someone he was not. We were both young and very immature as far as our experiences with relationships went. We ended up breaking up just four months after he returned to the states. It was an ugly breakup. He was my first love and consequently my first heartbreak and neither of us handled it well. It was awful and I was in a lot of pain for a very long time. Fortunately, the old saying that time heals all wounds was true. Looking back now, we can both admit that we made mistakes. We both realize rushing into a relationship like we did three days before he deployed probably wasn't the greatest idea in the first place. We were great friends, but not the most compatible couple. We fought over everything from his tattoos to how he spent his money to what time he should call me every night. We both are who we are today because of our failed relationship though. I learned so much about myself in my relationship with him and he recently paid me one of the highest compliments he possibly could by telling me a lot of who he is today is because of me. There is still a great amount of love for him in my heart, but it is a different kind of love. He is a wonderful person, but he was just never *my* person. I am proud to call him my friend and proud that, no matter how many mistakes I made, there is no regret when I look back at our relationship. After all, how could you ever regret a moment like this?
There are a multitude of reasons why our relationship did not work out in the long term. Among the largest reason was the fact that we were very different people at very different places in our lives. We had an awesome friendship, but as a boyfriend I wanted him to be someone he was not. We were both young and very immature as far as our experiences with relationships went. We ended up breaking up just four months after he returned to the states. It was an ugly breakup. He was my first love and consequently my first heartbreak and neither of us handled it well. It was awful and I was in a lot of pain for a very long time. Fortunately, the old saying that time heals all wounds was true. Looking back now, we can both admit that we made mistakes. We both realize rushing into a relationship like we did three days before he deployed probably wasn't the greatest idea in the first place. We were great friends, but not the most compatible couple. We fought over everything from his tattoos to how he spent his money to what time he should call me every night. We both are who we are today because of our failed relationship though. I learned so much about myself in my relationship with him and he recently paid me one of the highest compliments he possibly could by telling me a lot of who he is today is because of me. There is still a great amount of love for him in my heart, but it is a different kind of love. He is a wonderful person, but he was just never *my* person. I am proud to call him my friend and proud that, no matter how many mistakes I made, there is no regret when I look back at our relationship. After all, how could you ever regret a moment like this?
Monday, August 9, 2010
Maybe we got lost somewhere...
I found myself among the ranks of the heartbroken last night as I left California for New York. I knew it was coming. In my heart, I knew this Rob Thomas song that I kept hearing all summer would be our anthem. Too many of the lyrics just rang too true. Somewhere along the line we got lost.
He is too rational a thinker to get caught up in a romance based around phone calls, emails, and a week here or a week there. Things have to make sense for him. I was really hoping that I would make sense in his life and I really think I did for a while. We got caught up in a romance that took us both by surprise at a time when we both really needed each other. For the first half of our relationship he ignored the rational part of his brain and we both just got way so wrapped up in each other. I'm not the kind of person that plans their wedding when they don't even have a boyfriend or names their unborn children, but he brought all that craziness out in me. He was figuring out which furniture of ours we would use when we moved in together and including me in choosing his next duty station. We were at a point, after only a few short months, that we were planning our futures around each other when we should have just been enjoying the time together. He realized way before I did that we were moving way too fast. The logical part of his brain caught up with him eventually. He didn't say anything and when he finally did, he didn't know how to go back to where we were before.
It was a very teary goodbye on both parts and definitely not something I'll be able to shake for a while. He is not a man to wear his heart on his sleeve so seeing him cry really shook me up. All he could keep saying as he hugged me was "you're going to be fine". I have no doubt that I will be. I know I have great friends and family who will support me and I will land on my feet and be okay in the end. I'll just miss him more than I can say. I loved sharing my life with him. For 1 1/2 years he was my confidante and best friend. And now just like that, he's not there. It's horrible how breakups work like that. He wants to still be a part of my life and hear that I got in alright and made it to Virginia and that I havegood students in my classes. I'm not built like that though. Maybe down the road a friendship will make sense with him, but I don't see it happening anytime soon. I will miss him with all my heart, but I need to do what's best for me. So here starts Day 1 of JC detox. Wish me luck on the last endeavor I ever wished to embark on...
Friday, July 16, 2010
Five for Friday
1. You bring me a glass of juice to bed
2. You're appreciative
3. You pick me up from class every day when you don’t have to
4. You like to cook (or at least try to!)
5. You got me a birthday present we can enjoy together
2. You're appreciative
3. You pick me up from class every day when you don’t have to
4. You like to cook (or at least try to!)
5. You got me a birthday present we can enjoy together
Friday, July 9, 2010
Five For Friday
Thought I'd try something new for a change. I stole this from my friend Bri's blog (http://mylifeasbrianne.blogspot.com) and thought it would be fun. I'm not sure what the future holds for the boy and me, but I do know a few things. So here we go...
1. You know the best kinds of weekends are the ones where you do nothing.
2. You’re as competitive as I am and never let me win anything (and I love you for it).
3. You always smell great.
4. When you set your mind on something, I know there’s no doubt you will attain it.
5. You love to learn.
1. You know the best kinds of weekends are the ones where you do nothing.
2. You’re as competitive as I am and never let me win anything (and I love you for it).
3. You always smell great.
4. When you set your mind on something, I know there’s no doubt you will attain it.
5. You love to learn.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Feeling old
Is it bad when the weekend arrives and all I want to do when I get back from work is collapse on the couch and sleep? I miss the days when Friday night meant making plans and going out and having fun. Now all Friday night means to me is I can go to sleep early! I am so wiped from this week. I had a field trip with my seniors and 2 track meets this week. I didn't get back to the school from one of the meets until about 9:30. Add in a 40 minute commute home and you have a very long "hump day" on Wednesday. This week just felt super super long. It took forever just to get to Wednesday and I feel like I barely made it to Friday.
Now Friday is here and all I want to do is sleep. I just hate being this exhausted all the time. I want to do fun things on the weekend and learn how to play tennis with Kendra and go visit my grad school pals up in Charlottesville. By the end of the week I'm so exhausted and backlogged with grading and cleaning and laundry that I hardly ever leave my room. I'm only 26, but I feel so old!
Honestly, I can't figure out if I feel "old" or I just don't know what 26 feels like. I feel like it's a very diverse age and you can have young single people who still live it up on the weekends and people who are also married with kids. I get told all the time that "I'm still young" and should be out having fun, but maybe it's the fact that the only people I ever hang out with and see on a regular basis here are all married and/or have kids. I had my share of fun in and after college, but I've never been one for going out. I'm definitely attracted to a slower pace and lifestyle. Maybe that makes me boring, maybe it makes me old, I don't know.
Today I had a couple students come in off their lunch break to make up a test and I had my pathetic little teacher lunch out on the desk and I was reminded of a My So Called Life episode where Angela comments on how sad teachers' lives are and they zoom in on this frumpy middle-aged woman eating a tuna sandwich. When my kids came in and I took out my pathetic lunch I suddenly felt like that frumpy middle aged woman. I'm sure I look awful some days when I go into work. Most days I barely have time to run a comb through my hair nevertheless put on makeup. Lots of days I forget to eat breakfast and run out the door without taking a lunch. I end up eating school lunches or grabbing one of the frozen dinners I have stored up in the teacher's lounge. I have to remind myself that this whole 'being exhausted all the time' gig that comes with being a first year teacher is only temporary. Next year HAS to be better than this year and if I end up at a different school I don't know if coaching will be on my repertoire. As much as I love it, it is sucking the life out of me.
I miss blogging and wish I could get to a computer more often. Until June 11 I think once a week will pretty much be par for the course for me.
Thankfully, we only have one meet next week and it is a varsity meet that I think we are hosting. We run a pretty quick meet and usually finish up in about 2 hours, which means I will hopefully be home before 8 PM. I start my SOL review next week, which is the 2 week review for the big Virginia state test. It will be stressful to review everything we have learned since August, but will be nice not to have to plan actual lessons anymore. SOL review is just drill, drill, drill, drill.
My Seniors have their prom this weekend and I was asked about 12 times today by my kids if I was going to be there. It's Saturday night and I've already been invited by my grad school friends to go up to Charlottesville and hang with them for the weekend so I am torn. I honestly would just like to stay here and do nothing. I get so lazy on the weekends it's not even funny. I think I will probably end up donning a dress and going to prom. I was flattered they asked me to attend. I figured they would want it to be "their" night and wouldn't want teachers anywhere within a 5 mile radius. The faculty sponsor for the seniors, the 12th grade English teacher who I conference with all the time about my kids, encouraged me to go. She will be there so who knows. Maybe I'll revisit my high school days and go hit up the prom for an hour or so. It will probably make me feel even older than ever!
Right now all I want to do is collapse on the couch though. I think before I do I may order Chinese and go pop in the "Brothers At War" DVD that I never finished from back in February. JC is going to a San Francisco Giants baseball game tonight, which he is super excited about. He's had a rough couple of weeks and didn't do as well on his speaking test this week as he wanted to so I'm happy he's going out and doing something fun. We've hardly talked this week at all, aside from a couple 5 minute phone calls and some texts and emails. I love talking to him and it is usually one of the highlights of my day, but twice this week he called and I was already passed out and slept right through it. He left me a super sweet voicemail and I replied the next day with an email. And that's just how we roll. I know he's thinking about me. He know I'm thinking about him. We just have to focus on our careers right now so we're making good decisions and focusing on our studies. Do I hate that I'm so busy? Yes. Do I know there is an end in sight? Absolutely. The end of the school year is now only 7 weeks away!
And I'll see him soon enough and we'll have an awesome time tog ether this summer. I thought these weeks after our spring break together would be so painful and, no doubt, the first one back was. But we're back into the old routine now. We set aside time on the weekend to "be together" on Skype. We have our dinner dates. We email during the day. It's all good. Whether we have 2 months left of it or 12 more, we can kick this long-distance thing in the butt. Of that I am confident.
And on that note, I'm going to go order my crab rangoons, egg drop soup and Kung Pao chicken. Ah, Friday....
Now Friday is here and all I want to do is sleep. I just hate being this exhausted all the time. I want to do fun things on the weekend and learn how to play tennis with Kendra and go visit my grad school pals up in Charlottesville. By the end of the week I'm so exhausted and backlogged with grading and cleaning and laundry that I hardly ever leave my room. I'm only 26, but I feel so old!
Honestly, I can't figure out if I feel "old" or I just don't know what 26 feels like. I feel like it's a very diverse age and you can have young single people who still live it up on the weekends and people who are also married with kids. I get told all the time that "I'm still young" and should be out having fun, but maybe it's the fact that the only people I ever hang out with and see on a regular basis here are all married and/or have kids. I had my share of fun in and after college, but I've never been one for going out. I'm definitely attracted to a slower pace and lifestyle. Maybe that makes me boring, maybe it makes me old, I don't know.
Today I had a couple students come in off their lunch break to make up a test and I had my pathetic little teacher lunch out on the desk and I was reminded of a My So Called Life episode where Angela comments on how sad teachers' lives are and they zoom in on this frumpy middle-aged woman eating a tuna sandwich. When my kids came in and I took out my pathetic lunch I suddenly felt like that frumpy middle aged woman. I'm sure I look awful some days when I go into work. Most days I barely have time to run a comb through my hair nevertheless put on makeup. Lots of days I forget to eat breakfast and run out the door without taking a lunch. I end up eating school lunches or grabbing one of the frozen dinners I have stored up in the teacher's lounge. I have to remind myself that this whole 'being exhausted all the time' gig that comes with being a first year teacher is only temporary. Next year HAS to be better than this year and if I end up at a different school I don't know if coaching will be on my repertoire. As much as I love it, it is sucking the life out of me.
I miss blogging and wish I could get to a computer more often. Until June 11 I think once a week will pretty much be par for the course for me.
Thankfully, we only have one meet next week and it is a varsity meet that I think we are hosting. We run a pretty quick meet and usually finish up in about 2 hours, which means I will hopefully be home before 8 PM. I start my SOL review next week, which is the 2 week review for the big Virginia state test. It will be stressful to review everything we have learned since August, but will be nice not to have to plan actual lessons anymore. SOL review is just drill, drill, drill, drill.
My Seniors have their prom this weekend and I was asked about 12 times today by my kids if I was going to be there. It's Saturday night and I've already been invited by my grad school friends to go up to Charlottesville and hang with them for the weekend so I am torn. I honestly would just like to stay here and do nothing. I get so lazy on the weekends it's not even funny. I think I will probably end up donning a dress and going to prom. I was flattered they asked me to attend. I figured they would want it to be "their" night and wouldn't want teachers anywhere within a 5 mile radius. The faculty sponsor for the seniors, the 12th grade English teacher who I conference with all the time about my kids, encouraged me to go. She will be there so who knows. Maybe I'll revisit my high school days and go hit up the prom for an hour or so. It will probably make me feel even older than ever!
Right now all I want to do is collapse on the couch though. I think before I do I may order Chinese and go pop in the "Brothers At War" DVD that I never finished from back in February. JC is going to a San Francisco Giants baseball game tonight, which he is super excited about. He's had a rough couple of weeks and didn't do as well on his speaking test this week as he wanted to so I'm happy he's going out and doing something fun. We've hardly talked this week at all, aside from a couple 5 minute phone calls and some texts and emails. I love talking to him and it is usually one of the highlights of my day, but twice this week he called and I was already passed out and slept right through it. He left me a super sweet voicemail and I replied the next day with an email. And that's just how we roll. I know he's thinking about me. He know I'm thinking about him. We just have to focus on our careers right now so we're making good decisions and focusing on our studies. Do I hate that I'm so busy? Yes. Do I know there is an end in sight? Absolutely. The end of the school year is now only 7 weeks away!
And I'll see him soon enough and we'll have an awesome time tog ether this summer. I thought these weeks after our spring break together would be so painful and, no doubt, the first one back was. But we're back into the old routine now. We set aside time on the weekend to "be together" on Skype. We have our dinner dates. We email during the day. It's all good. Whether we have 2 months left of it or 12 more, we can kick this long-distance thing in the butt. Of that I am confident.
And on that note, I'm going to go order my crab rangoons, egg drop soup and Kung Pao chicken. Ah, Friday....
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Long Distance Dinner Date
So I don't have much time to blog (STUPID DAYLIGHT SAVINGS!) since this day has flown by, but I have been told by numerous people that I should share my and JC's new weekend tradition with the world. So obviously maintaining a long-distance relationship is not easy. When your whole relationship for months at a time is the phone, things can get old very very fast. I know many people in LDRs say they run out of things to talk about. JC and I haven't run into that problem yet, but maybe that's because we're pursuing a "strategic theory of preventive action". (Seriously, how much of a military history dork am I?) What I mean by that is that we do things to make our relationship as new and different and fun as possible to avoid the boredom or monotony of phone call after phone call. Last month, we went on a "movie date". We both went to the theater - him in California and myself in Virginia - to see Avatar. Then we called each other and talked about favorite scenes, what we thought etc.
Our newest long distance date has been cooking dinner together from across the miles. We both have set goals for ourselves to try to cook better and eat right and one of the ways we've started doing that is by cooking together. How do we cook together from across the miles? Through the miracle of Skype, of course!
Seriously, Skype has made this distance thing a piece of cake. Whether we're playing each other online in a not-so-friendly (we are both uber-competitive) game of backgammon or Scrabble, or watching the Olympic hockey finals together, we have been able to spend lots of afternoons and evenings 'together' without actually being together.
So onto the dinner date. What happens is that each week one of us picks out a new meal for us to try out and make on Sunday night. We both are super busy during the week and so making one giant meal that can feed us for most of the week is the best way to go. I always TRIED to do this back in the fall, but most Sundays in the fall I am parked out watching football and planning lessons around the clock so I never did. It doesn't take me hours to plan lessons now and cooking with him over Skype is so much fun I love doing it. This weekend he picked out a lemon-poppyseed chicken dish. I suggested adding veggies and roasted red potatoes on the side and so we are set with what we need. Usually, we get that to each other on Saturday so we have plenty of time to go shopping. Now with the 3 hour time difference, it usually happens that I eat late and he eats early, but compromise is a part of every relationship, right?
So we'll usually text back and forth about when we want to start dinner. When we're ready, we'll both sign on Skype and I'll park my laptop on the breakfast bar and position it so he can see everything I'm doing. He'll do the same and then we get to work, chatting with each other as we go. I will say it can get pretty comical. Neither of us are the greatest cooks so there is a lot of: "when did you add in that?" or "how long does this need to cook for?". It's all very amusing though. And we're both so proud of ourselves when we finish. The best part is definitely sitting back - still on Skype of course - and enjoying the meal together. It is a wonderful new tradition that I hope we continue. I get to scratch off so many of my goals for the year - eat better, learn new recipes, become a better cook and do more fun things with JC! So that's one tip out of the Abigail and JC long-distance book of love. We've only been at this long-distance thing about 4 months and certainly don't claim to be experts at this, but it's definitely working for us!
Next week I get to pick the recipe so anyone have a good one to share??
Our newest long distance date has been cooking dinner together from across the miles. We both have set goals for ourselves to try to cook better and eat right and one of the ways we've started doing that is by cooking together. How do we cook together from across the miles? Through the miracle of Skype, of course!
Seriously, Skype has made this distance thing a piece of cake. Whether we're playing each other online in a not-so-friendly (we are both uber-competitive) game of backgammon or Scrabble, or watching the Olympic hockey finals together, we have been able to spend lots of afternoons and evenings 'together' without actually being together.
So onto the dinner date. What happens is that each week one of us picks out a new meal for us to try out and make on Sunday night. We both are super busy during the week and so making one giant meal that can feed us for most of the week is the best way to go. I always TRIED to do this back in the fall, but most Sundays in the fall I am parked out watching football and planning lessons around the clock so I never did. It doesn't take me hours to plan lessons now and cooking with him over Skype is so much fun I love doing it. This weekend he picked out a lemon-poppyseed chicken dish. I suggested adding veggies and roasted red potatoes on the side and so we are set with what we need. Usually, we get that to each other on Saturday so we have plenty of time to go shopping. Now with the 3 hour time difference, it usually happens that I eat late and he eats early, but compromise is a part of every relationship, right?
So we'll usually text back and forth about when we want to start dinner. When we're ready, we'll both sign on Skype and I'll park my laptop on the breakfast bar and position it so he can see everything I'm doing. He'll do the same and then we get to work, chatting with each other as we go. I will say it can get pretty comical. Neither of us are the greatest cooks so there is a lot of: "when did you add in that?" or "how long does this need to cook for?". It's all very amusing though. And we're both so proud of ourselves when we finish. The best part is definitely sitting back - still on Skype of course - and enjoying the meal together. It is a wonderful new tradition that I hope we continue. I get to scratch off so many of my goals for the year - eat better, learn new recipes, become a better cook and do more fun things with JC! So that's one tip out of the Abigail and JC long-distance book of love. We've only been at this long-distance thing about 4 months and certainly don't claim to be experts at this, but it's definitely working for us!
Next week I get to pick the recipe so anyone have a good one to share??
Friday, February 12, 2010
Anti anti-Valentine's
As the inevitable Hallmark holiday draws nearer and every aisle from Kroger to K-Mart is filled with pink teddy bears and aisles full of heart-shaped candy boxes one would think I would be somehow sadder with JC on the other side of the country. I guess I should be more bummed out, but I'm not really. There's not really much to the holiday aside from delivering a Valentine and saying "Happy Valentine's Day". I have someone to say it to this year so I'm more than happy!
I didn't have anyone to spend Valentine's with for the longest time, but that never really bummed me out all that much. Holidays like Christmas and New Years - especially in recent years - were way worse to spend alone. I never hated Valentine's Day. I honestly don't really get people who rage about what an awful 'Hallmark holiday' is and how it makes single people feel miserable. I think it makes them sound bitter and very petty. Halloween and Christmas are just as commercialized as the 14th of February. My beef with Valentine's Day has more to do with the ridiculous things that stores sell than the holiday itself I just don't see the point in giving some of the things that are sold in stores. Does a fluffy pink gorilla holding a heart actually have any sentimental value? I really can't wrap my head around it. I don't think any of my silly high school students would buy half of the junk these stores sell. I suppose there must be demand for all the silly stuff or it wouldn't be in the stores, but man...I'm left scratching my head. If I got some of that stuff I don't think I could even feign excitement.
Back to my anti-anti-Valentine's rant. I don't love the holiday or anything, but I really don't think there's anything wrong with setting aside a special day (even if you do it every day) just to tell people you love them. Like I said, up until very recently I spent most of my Valentine's alone. It sounds lame, but I would just send Valentine's to my friends and family. In fact, my favorite Valentine's memory (aside from 10 minutes ago when I just opened JC's card) was my senior year of high school. I was in the goofiest ten-person AP bio class ever with a teacher who was the nicest/most laidback/clueless man ever. Quite spontaneously, we decided as a class the day before to have a Valentine's party. People brought in cupcakes, cookies and we exchanged those awesome Valentines you used to get in grade school. None of us were best friends, but we had a blast writing each other cards. Most said silly things like "you're the best at crossword puzzles!" or "thanks for dissecting the fetal pig for me!", but they all made us smile. I really think I might even still have one of the cards in between the pages of one of my yearbooks! Man, that was a great day. Good times...crazy to think it was almost a decade ago.
Anyway, when JC asked what I wanted for the big day this year, I made the decision that - since it was our first one together - we should set a precedent of 'low-keying it'. Then in the future there's no expectation for anything big. I do love sending care packages though so I did send him a housewarming box with a couple little things in it and he (unbeknownst to me) did the same. Kind of crazy that without telling each other we both did the same thing. His box was awesome and contained all kinds of deliciousness from Trader Joe's, which is a store Lynchburg will never see in a million years, but is on pretty much every street corner where he is. Oh, and reason 10,512 I love him? He included cat treats in the package for my two crazy cats. Fat little Journey gobbled them up, but crazy Hobbes could care less about the treats. He was way more excited about the box! See if you can find Hobbes in this picture. (Sorry about the poor photo quality and bad lighting. If I turned on the flash he had 'demon eyes' that the red eye couldn't fix.)
He seriously slept and played in that box for 2 hours. I wish I could be amused by a box for an hour! After the shortest work week ever (2 days and only 25 minute class periods), I am headed out tonight to go see a coworker and friend of mine play a show at a local restaurant. He is one of the first friends I made at my school and I love hanging out with him. He is a huge college football fan and loves to root on the Wahoos, which is a rarity here in Tech country! We were even thinking about driving up to Charlottesville this fall to go to a game together, but that fell through. The funny think about Mike being one of my best pals? He's 42, married and has 2 kids. It never even occurs to me that he's close to two decades older than me, which is pretty crazy to think about. He likes to get my input for what 'new' songs from the last 5 years he should include in his set. I told him he doesn't need any help, he already has a great set so I'm off to go hear him play some Keith Urban, Sister Hazel and Billy Joel (he plays a mean harmonica!)
I leave you with a question about Valentine's. Are you an anti-Valentine's day person, do you love it or are you just kind of 'meh' about it like I am (but completely confused by the ridiculous candy and toys!)
I didn't have anyone to spend Valentine's with for the longest time, but that never really bummed me out all that much. Holidays like Christmas and New Years - especially in recent years - were way worse to spend alone. I never hated Valentine's Day. I honestly don't really get people who rage about what an awful 'Hallmark holiday' is and how it makes single people feel miserable. I think it makes them sound bitter and very petty. Halloween and Christmas are just as commercialized as the 14th of February. My beef with Valentine's Day has more to do with the ridiculous things that stores sell than the holiday itself I just don't see the point in giving some of the things that are sold in stores. Does a fluffy pink gorilla holding a heart actually have any sentimental value? I really can't wrap my head around it. I don't think any of my silly high school students would buy half of the junk these stores sell. I suppose there must be demand for all the silly stuff or it wouldn't be in the stores, but man...I'm left scratching my head. If I got some of that stuff I don't think I could even feign excitement.
Back to my anti-anti-Valentine's rant. I don't love the holiday or anything, but I really don't think there's anything wrong with setting aside a special day (even if you do it every day) just to tell people you love them. Like I said, up until very recently I spent most of my Valentine's alone. It sounds lame, but I would just send Valentine's to my friends and family. In fact, my favorite Valentine's memory (aside from 10 minutes ago when I just opened JC's card) was my senior year of high school. I was in the goofiest ten-person AP bio class ever with a teacher who was the nicest/most laidback/clueless man ever. Quite spontaneously, we decided as a class the day before to have a Valentine's party. People brought in cupcakes, cookies and we exchanged those awesome Valentines you used to get in grade school. None of us were best friends, but we had a blast writing each other cards. Most said silly things like "you're the best at crossword puzzles!" or "thanks for dissecting the fetal pig for me!", but they all made us smile. I really think I might even still have one of the cards in between the pages of one of my yearbooks! Man, that was a great day. Good times...crazy to think it was almost a decade ago.
Anyway, when JC asked what I wanted for the big day this year, I made the decision that - since it was our first one together - we should set a precedent of 'low-keying it'. Then in the future there's no expectation for anything big. I do love sending care packages though so I did send him a housewarming box with a couple little things in it and he (unbeknownst to me) did the same. Kind of crazy that without telling each other we both did the same thing. His box was awesome and contained all kinds of deliciousness from Trader Joe's, which is a store Lynchburg will never see in a million years, but is on pretty much every street corner where he is. Oh, and reason 10,512 I love him? He included cat treats in the package for my two crazy cats. Fat little Journey gobbled them up, but crazy Hobbes could care less about the treats. He was way more excited about the box! See if you can find Hobbes in this picture. (Sorry about the poor photo quality and bad lighting. If I turned on the flash he had 'demon eyes' that the red eye couldn't fix.)
He seriously slept and played in that box for 2 hours. I wish I could be amused by a box for an hour! After the shortest work week ever (2 days and only 25 minute class periods), I am headed out tonight to go see a coworker and friend of mine play a show at a local restaurant. He is one of the first friends I made at my school and I love hanging out with him. He is a huge college football fan and loves to root on the Wahoos, which is a rarity here in Tech country! We were even thinking about driving up to Charlottesville this fall to go to a game together, but that fell through. The funny think about Mike being one of my best pals? He's 42, married and has 2 kids. It never even occurs to me that he's close to two decades older than me, which is pretty crazy to think about. He likes to get my input for what 'new' songs from the last 5 years he should include in his set. I told him he doesn't need any help, he already has a great set so I'm off to go hear him play some Keith Urban, Sister Hazel and Billy Joel (he plays a mean harmonica!)
I leave you with a question about Valentine's. Are you an anti-Valentine's day person, do you love it or are you just kind of 'meh' about it like I am (but completely confused by the ridiculous candy and toys!)
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Here goes...
I always dreaded the first day of school - whether it was 2nd grade, 10th grade or graduate school - because I always hated the awkward icebreaker introductions the teachers and professors inevitably always made you do. The ones where you stand up and share things like a) why you're in the class b) your favorite dessert c) what you did during the summer...you know the drill. I sort of feel like this introductory blogpost is just like those icebreakers. It's slightly awkward. I don't think anybody really cares and you're really just waiting for class to start, which is the whole reason you're there in the first place. I'll try to make this succinct. Here goes...
* I'm Abigail.
* I'm 26.
* I grew up in New York and currently live in south-central Virginia.
* I'm a (struggling) first year high school teacher.
* I still have to check the single box, but am very much in love with one of the finest officers in the United States Army.
* I am the 'mom' to 2 crazy cats, who I adopted from the local Humane Society back in August.
* I used to be a pretty serious long-distance runner and am trying to get back into it.
* I have never been much of a cook and desperately want to work on my cooking skills.
* I thought I was an organized person, but teaching has seriously challenged that notion.
I moved to a sleepy little Virginia town (that likes to call itself a city) back in August. I didn't know the area. I didn't know a soul in the area. I was completely unprepared - despite a Master's degree - to start teaching high school. It was one of the scariest/most exciting things I have ever done.
I like to write and what I want this blog to be is a sounding board, of sorts. I want to catalog any and all progress towards accomplishing my goals. I want this to be a log of what I eat and what I cook throughout the week. I want this to be a running journal that catalogs my mileage and training routine. I want to share my journey as a first year teacher, including my uphill battle to get apathetic seniors to care about their government and to get my tenth graders to pass their state administered World History test. I want to discuss life as an Army girlfriend and all that that entails. I want to share tips for nurturing a healthy and successful long-distance relationship, which is no piece of cake. I want to share the highs and lows of life on my own. I want to meet new people sharing any of the same experiences I am. I want this blog to be many things, but for now...I just want to say hi and thanks for reading this far!
* I'm Abigail.
* I'm 26.
* I grew up in New York and currently live in south-central Virginia.
* I'm a (struggling) first year high school teacher.
* I still have to check the single box, but am very much in love with one of the finest officers in the United States Army.
* I am the 'mom' to 2 crazy cats, who I adopted from the local Humane Society back in August.
* I used to be a pretty serious long-distance runner and am trying to get back into it.
* I have never been much of a cook and desperately want to work on my cooking skills.
* I thought I was an organized person, but teaching has seriously challenged that notion.
I moved to a sleepy little Virginia town (that likes to call itself a city) back in August. I didn't know the area. I didn't know a soul in the area. I was completely unprepared - despite a Master's degree - to start teaching high school. It was one of the scariest/most exciting things I have ever done.
I like to write and what I want this blog to be is a sounding board, of sorts. I want to catalog any and all progress towards accomplishing my goals. I want this to be a log of what I eat and what I cook throughout the week. I want this to be a running journal that catalogs my mileage and training routine. I want to share my journey as a first year teacher, including my uphill battle to get apathetic seniors to care about their government and to get my tenth graders to pass their state administered World History test. I want to discuss life as an Army girlfriend and all that that entails. I want to share tips for nurturing a healthy and successful long-distance relationship, which is no piece of cake. I want to share the highs and lows of life on my own. I want to meet new people sharing any of the same experiences I am. I want this blog to be many things, but for now...I just want to say hi and thanks for reading this far!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)