Old Photographs

     Sometimes I don't realize how quickly time disappears until an event or milestone comes up that marks an event which I have already completed and I think about how much time has passed. My good friend, Captain Something Fun, is graduating in a little over a month. I cannot believe it has been a whole year since I was in her shoes! I miss Berea so much and I think she is cherishing her last moments there (as much as possible with final papers, exams and other deadlines looming). I would love to go back, even for a week, to be in that moment and live in it just for a short time. Don't get me wrong, I don't think of myself as someone who lives in the past. I know that time in my life is over and I am very happy that it happened (and that I gained some very good friends, acquaintances, and my beau!). But I still miss it and love looking back at old memories. The looking back on it may be the best part of all- just being able to reminisce and think about the fun that happened, without having to think about the stress of Berea--and all the homework that was due at the time.
     Looking back is fun, but so is looking forward. And most important, is living in the present. I am at an in-between stage in my life. Sort of like those pesky years as a tween. I'm done with my bachelor's degree, but I'm not in graduate school yet. I'm a part-time student and I have a part-time job, and I am crossing my fingers I get into graduate school this year! I am looking forward to what is to come and hoping it works out this time around, but I'm trying to cherish the moments in the present. Sometimes I really enjoy living at home, (there are many perks!), and I enjoy getting to see my parents and my brother regularly. Sometimes it can be trying, and in many ways, I am ready to be living on my own. I am trying to enjoy the present and when I'm not feeling so thankful, all I need to do is remind myself that I will miss this one day.
     I have obviously been feeling reflective. I was looking through old photos the other day when I was putting Captain Something Fun's birthday gift together. Looking at photos can be very emotional- they take you back to a certain place and time. I was looking at photos from Berea days and of my niece. Even though my little niece is just two years old, it's amazing how she has changed. I hardly see the resemblance between her now and her baby photos. Anyway..I was looking at these photos, and then my beau and I were visiting with my best friend from high school and her husband, after watching the new Cinderella movie. Eating icecream after the movie, we were talking about our nieces and nephews, what we'd been up to, and college. One of us said, "when I was in college..." and I felt old.
     Between this encounter with old friends, looking back at old photos, and thinking about our friend C.S.F. graduating in May, I have been feeling reflective. I hope I haven't rambled on too much, but if you don't take anything else from this post, remember this: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present." (-Bil Keane) Look back and reflect, and then look forward and think about what may come; but don't spend too much time doing either of these because the most important time is now. Enjoy your day! 

Signing off,
The Farmer's Daughter

The Bystander Effect and Other Events

So yesterday started off a little earlier than normal for me 330 in the morning to be exact. There was a huge power outage all through Berea, and my dorm just happens to have a faulty fire alarm system that likes to squeal very loudly whenever the power is shut off. I learned an interesting bit of information by experiencing the bystander effect first hand that morning which is very coincidental because that was what I had just learned more about in my social psychology course on Tuesday. So here it is 330 in the a.m. and I go out in the hall to make sure we weren't having a real fire alarm or something, which thank goodness that was not the case. One girl is going downstairs to check and see what is going on, while another girl is coming out of her room to see what the awful sound was. The girl coming up the steps didn't see me because she just went back to her room but the other girl and I started talking trying to figure out what to do about the sound. After a couple of minutes of debating on the best course of action which involved checking the breaker box on both floors I heard another voice coming out of the room where the first girl walked in. From what I could gather through my listening in the girl was calling public safety to see what they could do. After about ten more minutes public safety came did so messing around on the system and the sound finally stopped. I tell all of this to say that out of the eleven girls who live in the house only three of us came out to see what was going on and actually try and do something to fix the situation. I should give the other 8 girls the benefit of the doubt and say they just did not hear the awfully loud sound and that is why they never came to check on it. But it does show that when there are more people around, responsibility is taken away so people don't feel as obligated to help.

In other news I have started to fill out job applications for the real world. It is a bit intimidating trying to figure out where and what in the world am suppose to be doing. I have been praying a lot for God to show me the path, just need to be patient and receptive to what His plan for me is.

We had a little get together tonight which was extremely nice, I missed seeing Martha S. but it was good to see Miss Ellaneous, The Farmers Daughter and Granny Eyre. We had a scrumptious and somewhat healthier meals at Panera Bread. Then we did something very spur of the moment for our group which was buy a groupon for bowling. It was exciting though. I very much enjoyed spending the evening with these fine friends :) Oh and for the first time in my life I tried a frappuccino (sp) it was very delicious maybe I can work myself up to just plain coffee eventually but for right now it's a bit strong for my liking.

Since I have just seen the majority of you all tonight there is not much more to tell you about. Signing off until next time - Captain Something Fun

Oh I forgot to say, Last weekend I went to the movies and saw Do You Believe? This movie is super powerful and very moving. It follows 12 individuals in the course of just a couple of days as their lives intercept one another. I have to admit I did tear up a bit. I rate it a 4.5 on a 5 point scale. Here is the link to the movie trailer. You all should give it a watch at the very least.

Beautiful Dance

Tonight I experienced true beauty.

There are those rare moments when everything is hushed and loud at the same time, when you just know beauty is before your eyes. These are the moments that I know God is real. How else could something be so beautiful?

Tonight was Kinetic Expressions 2015. For non-Berea readers, Berea College Dance Programs puts on a performance every year of modern dance. They invite dancers and non-dancers to audition. For some performers, this is their first time dancing on stage. It was always something I considered trying but chickened out of on the day of auditions. Add that to my list of regrets in life.

Even though I've graduated, I had to go back for this one BC event, and just like every year it left me in awe and feeling a bit empty. There is now this empty jittery hole inside of me that wants to dance and be beautiful. Maybe it's the idea that they accept anyone or maybe it's the fact that I know and recognize so many of the dancers.

I don't think I have a favorite piece, but I always like the culminating piece when all of the dancers come out to dance together. It's fun and full of energy.

The entire show is just magical. Maybe it's the costumes or the lights or the dance, but something about the combination of those creates an aura that lingers with me for a while.

It was truly beautiful.

Photo taken by Hannah Williams-Beaver

A Beautiful Rainy Day

Today was a beautiful day, even though it was rainy and I had to get up early. I agreed to sub for Olivia, my brother's girlfriend who teaches at Madison Central. Since it decided to not snow this time, I actually got to sub for her today. I was a bit nervous when I woke up since it was only my second sub job, the first time I've taught in a high school since Thanksgiving, and Madison Central is huge. My first sub job was at a middle school and I was utterly bored since the student teacher did everything. Today was totally different without being overwhelming. Olivia was still in the building; she just had to run the sound in the auditorium all day for an event. She met me at the front office and showed me around the building. Since she's the assistant choir director, she has classes in a couple different classrooms. It was fun to be in front of a classroom again even if I couldn't do direct instruction since I don't know music theory well enough. Some of the students were friendly, even. I especially appreciated that Madison Central has thirty minutes set aside each day for what they call Silent Sustained Reading. In theory it's a great idea to encourage students to read. If I were a teacher, I would use that time to read to my class, but since it wasn't my class I had to follow the protocol of letting the students read a book or their phone as long as they were quiet. It really saddens me that most of the students chose to browse the internet on their phones rather than read. I wonder what our society is coming to when students just don't love reading because they are so attached to their phones and devices. But that's a rant for another day. I just take solace in the fact that one student read a real book out of the 15 in the class.

After school I visited Four Sister's Tea Emporium and Soap Shop. It smelled wonderful when I walked in. I liked that it wasn't crowded in there like coffee shops generally are. Kudos to Martha S. for the recommendation. I was going to go back to Purdy's but I have a feeling that it was crawling with high schoolers at that hour since I know I heard a group from Central talking about going there after school. This little shop and tea room was perfect to have some tea and read. I enjoyed a chai tea latte made with real chai tea instead of that nasty powdered stuff that coffee shops tend to serve. Maybe it's the tea snob in me but I appreciated that they had at least 30 varieties of tea without any coffee selection. I have nothing against coffee drinkers, but I always feel a bit jipped when I go to a coffee shop with friends and have no choice for tea or am only offered a store bought tea bag and water for the price of an entire box of tea bags at the store. (I will give Purdy's that. They do have a small selection of loose leaf tea, but I didn't appreciate that my tea was room temperature when I got it there.) I was alone but it was a pleasant experience. I imagine it would be more pleasant with friends. Also a plus was that the tea is all organic and fair-trade. I know those are words thrown around to attract people these days, but it still sounds nice whether it's true or not.

Now I'm going to curl up with a book and maybe a movie for the night. (I heard recently that your health improves if you can read for at least 30 minutes a day without any technology distractions. Who knows if it's true but I like the theory!)

Will you succeed? Yes, you will indeed. (983⁄4% guaranteed.)

So I have noticed that no one has made a post for the month of March and can you all believe it, the month is almost halfway over O.O
So some super exciting news... I get to graduate on May 3rd officially I got the email from Kathy Wallace. (I tried making a copy of it to show yall but it's not working right). 51 is the number of days I have, so be ready!

I had a super fun experience yesterday while at work. But first some back story to set the tone. March is Theodor Geisel aka Dr. Seuss's birthday month. Also all around in schools March is known as Literacy Month. Well every Wednesday and Friday for the whole month the child development lab has special guest readers come and visit with the children. There is also special appearances from The Cat in the Hat, and Thing 1 and Thing 2. Yesterday I got an email around lunch time asking if I would be willing to dress up as the Cat. Having worked at the child development lab for three years I have always been afraid to volunteer for dressing up but something in me changed apparently because I quickly responded to the email saying yes I would be the Cat. It was a super exciting experience the children all loved seeing the Cat in the hat they have grown to know and love come to life. I did kind of have an epic fail though. I was the first Cat to ever talk at the cdl so that went over well as you can imagine. I just couldn't go visit all the children and not talk and nobody told me this unspoken rule for the cat in the hat. My supervisor was okay with it though she told me as long as I enjoyed it and the children enjoyed it that is all that matters.

In the spirit of Dr. Seuss's birthday I challenge all of you to read at least one of his books this month and write about it. My favorite book is Oh, The Places You'll Go. It is chuck full of good quotes and a good tale.