The Summer Recap

Much to my chagrin, the summer has come to an end. Today was On-Campus staff development, which is a fancy phrase that means, "getting you back into the habit of waking up at 6:00am and dealing with commuting before you have to deal with kids, so you don't snap when they do show up". It also, unfortunately, means, "the kids are going to show up." So I thought it would be appropriate to look back at what I accomplished with all of my free time this summer. In other words, this will be a short post. I've got to tell you, it would be kind of depressing to see how little I've done in the last two and a half months if I hadn't set out at the beginning of June to be as lazy as humanly possible. So, here we have Summer 2007 in review.

The Booger Crisis

Despite my best plans of lounging around and watching TV in a totally self-absorbed manner, we discovered in early June that one of our cats, the ever-agreeable Booger, had little kitty cancer. This is one of those things that still amazes me as I look back on it, as the vet was less than subtle in his views that we should put Booger to sleep. More than two months later, Boog is living life more closely to normal than should be expected with the only inconvenience being that we have to give him medicine twice a day. Now, I won't say that we are out the woods here, and things could turn tragically tomorrow, but I know that I've made two months of memories with Booger that I will never forget, and he has not been loved and babied more in his life than he has in these last few weeks.

The Greatest Animated Movie Ever

It tells you how slow my summer was when a movie premier ranks in my top three moments. In fairness, however, The Simpson's Movie was more than a movie. The advertising, especially the cross promotion with 7-eleven, was genius beyond words, and it didn't hurt that the movie itself was very good. By the way, the picture is of a "Simpsonized" Jennifer. You may be able to get a "simpsonized" version of yourself here, depending on if the site is working when you try it. It's been unpredictable for me.

Meet-on-a-stick (Did you catch what I did there?)
Our annual Paul-Fest was, as always, a success. Boi Na Braza made some dramatic improvements in the way that they deal with large groups, which really made the affair all the better. More than the food and the service, however, was being able to spend an evening with my favorite people ever. That fellowship is important beyond words, and it humbles me to know that so many of the people that I love are willing to take time out of their busy lives to celebrate with me. It's strange and counterintuitive, but it occured recently to me that this is the true mark of a connected people. We often feel so much pressure to serve that we help one another unthinkingly. Of course I would help Eric and Larissa move or Ryan and Ashley paint, but the truth is that if just about anyone asked for my help, I would probably pitch in and do my part because it is the "right" thing to do. It takes a real connection, however, to take the time to celebrate something with someone. There's always something more "important", more pressing, than going to a party or sharing a meal, but when someone invites you into these special moments of your life, your response says a great deal about how you regard that relationship. Again, I'm just humbled that so many of you wanted to share this celebration with me.

Well, that was my summer in a nutshell. It was restful, but rest is something I could always use more of. Pray for me this week, and especially next week, as those darned kids will actually be in class.