the beginning of a beautiful summer

it’s not often that adults get the chance to really enjoy the freedom of summer, but since i have no kids, no house and no career ladder to climb…i’m doing it. school’s out, tax season is over and i’ve put in my two week notice at john knox. goodbye work...hello summer.

lest you think i have an aversion to work [although i’m sure some people would argue that i do] here are a few of the reasons i’m doing this...

• life is just better with other people. one of the reasons i so love to visit out of town friends is that i really get the chance to 'live life' with them. i’m not just stopping by for a few hours, i’m moving in. we laugh together, play together, cook together…it’s great. i wrote a 'life mission statement' a few months ago and one of the things it says is that i want to enjoy the people in my life. so what better way than to carve out a big chunk of time to spend with them? so whether you’re an out of town friend, or a lucky stay-at-home mom friend…get ready, ‘cause i’m probably coming to visit.


• i want to be available. another thing my mission statement says is that i want to be exceedingly generous with my time and talents. so i just want to free up my time to be helpful. some of this is already planned, like helping my mom finish painting her house and mission trips with her to africa and honduras. other things will be more spontaneous. either way, i want to be available.

i'm looking forward to spending time with my mom and many dear friends this summer. and i hope when i look back on these few months i can see it's been fruitful, both for me and the ones i love.

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we love the umpire

my cousin matt is an umpire for double-a baseball in the southern league. he's been working his way up the ranks for a few years and has one more level to go before he gets to the big leagues, which is pretty amazing. my mom and i were anxious to see him in action, sot we hopped in the car with christy and her three year old son tommy to head to jackson, tennessee.

the game wasn't exactly filled with thrills, but we were much more interested in the guy behind home plate, so it didn’t matter much. the second game was rained out, but matt was able to take us in the umpire clubhouse and out on the field instead, so that kinda made up for it.

matt working the plate

mom & tommy at the game [it was not raining]

mom & me on the field

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the end of an era

for the past five years i have been a big fan of walgreens. i've given them so much free publicity i've often thought i should be on the payroll. in the event you haven't heard me drone on and on about the benefits of the walgreens easy saver rebate program, i'll spare you the details and just tell you that it has supplemented my income significantly by providing free toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, soap, light bulbs and dozens of other household necessities.

but the day i feared would come has come at last...walgreens has discontinued the easy saver rebate program.

i'll give you a moment to compose yourself.

they are replacing it with the newer, confusing, register reward program that i am still stumbling through. something about "proceeding in an exciting direction" and "offering our consumers new and improved services"...which to me just sounds like a cover up for "we no longer wish to supplement your income by providing free household necessities".

it's been a good ride...i'm just so sad to see it end.

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