I'm going to the zoo today!

And I'm going to see some giraffes! :D

So here's some random facts about giraffes that I know:

1. A newborn giraffe is usually about six feet tall. (WOAH!)

2. Each giraffe has a unique coat pattern. (Just like a snowflake)

3. A giraffe's heart weighs 24 pounds.

4. Giraffes can go longer without water than a camel can! (Take that camel lovers!)

5. A giraffe can kill a lion in one kick.

6. Giraffes sleep only for 10 - 30 minutes in one period of 24 hours.

7. Giraffes do not have tear ducts.

8. The gestation period for a giraffe is 15 months.

And that's all I know! (:

I love giraffes.

I don't even know what this is. It just came out.

Mama stared at me, begging to ask the question with her eyes - willing me to speak. I nodded as tears fell down my face and I smiled, holding up my left hand.

Casey came in the front screen door of our little blue rancher and Mama went to hug him with tears in her eyes saying, "Welcome to the family." He glided over to me and took both of my hands in his and leaned in his head so our foreheads were connected and we prayed. We prayed for God to bless our engagement - and for Jessie's quick recovery so she could be our flower girl in May. Mama agreed that May would be a beautiful choice for a wedding at the Lake - in honor of mama and daddy's would be thirtieth wedding anniversary.

Mama cried some more and pulled me into a tight hug. "He'd be so proud of the man you chose," she whispered. "He's a good man, and he'll take good care of you." Mama and I wept. For what I can't say - for daddy, for Casey, for me, for her, maybe for all; I don't know.

Some day, in the far off future.

This is my first summer home from college. I survived my first year of college and returned to my place of residence. And it's nice.

But I want to be on my own. I want to live alone so badly. And it's not because I don't love my family. But I've lived with them for nineteen years, and now that I've gotten my taste of freedom I want it back.

The thing is, I don't want an apartment. I want to move. I want to move to North Carolina in a small little town, live in a cute little cottage next to the river, have my own little dock to tie up a boat, and have a HUGE back yard for my dog to run around in because of course I'll get a little corgi and name him Oscar.

I like Virginia. But I like freedom. I like North Carolina. I like the idea of living on my own in my own house that I can decorate any way I want. Pictures of my family in every room of course, curtains instead of blinds, potted daisies on the front porch every spring, black-eyed Susan's in the backyard. I want to take my corgi out on the boat with me and fish, and swim with my friends. I want to be able to say "I'm going to visit my parents in Virginia for the weekend."

And maybe I won't live there forever, maybe it'll just be a year or two. Maybe I won't even like it. But I'll live and I'll learn.

I might possibly move out to New Mexico. I'll look out my window and see nothing but the beautiful red desert and turquoise sky. At night I'll watch the lightning dance across the earth and thank God that I could witness such a beauty. I'll drive out to Navajo lake every summer and spend all my time climbing the mesas and looking at the ruins at Chaco.

I don't know where I'll be. But I know that I want it to be fun.

Summer Nights

In bare feet I run around the yard at twilight with an empty mason jar in my hand. I am surrounded by dancing fireflies and an orchestra of crickets. It is summertime; the season with the most beautiful nights of all.

The boat house on the lake hides a rusty old 1980 Mastercraft ski boat along with years of priceless memories. And a newly wed couple sit with their feet hanging from the dock into the cool water, lightly splashing one another and chuckling at private jokes, sharing secret kisses while they think no one is watching.

Gran sits in her favorite rocking chair lulling her youngest grand child to sleep as Granddaddy sits beside her with his eyes closed saying a quiet prayer for this blessed day.

Except for the crickets I hear nothing but the sound of my own breathing. In. Out. In. Out. And as I look around me at all of this beauty I think.. This is what Heaven will be like.

Can't sleep? Count sheep.

Has anyone actually ever done that? Because I know I sure haven't.

I cannot sleep. I got into bed at 12:00 midnight and it is now 12:55. I hate not being able to sleep and I'm very thankful for the almost full water bottle beside my computer that I brought into my room today and forgot to drink, because walking down to the kitchen doesn't seem very appealing.

I don't know why I can't sleep. I guess because the television's on or I just have a lot on my mind but either way I hate not being able to sleep. Sleeping is what I do. I sleep all the time, and yes I waste the day, but a day well wasted is not a wasted day at all says John Lennon... or maybe it was Paul McCartney... one of the Beatles said something along those lines. Or maybe it was someone entirely different and they didn't say anything of the sort. Or maybe I dreamt up that quote.

If I could play an instrument, I'd write the music.

But for now I can only write the lyrics...

It's a work in progress.

I'm torn and I'm broken.

I'm ripped apart at the seams.

But You heal my wounds

and You love me unconditionally.

I'm soft and I'm fragile.

I'm faint and I'm weak.

But You hold me close.

You hold me close.

You are the refuge I seek.

You are my sanctuary.

And You never stop loving me.

My Lord and my Savior.

My sanctuary.

Searching

I am searching for meaning. I'm searching for life, for my way, for time.

I'm waiting for a letter, a sign, a confirmation.

I'm chasing a dream... maybe.

I'm trying to stay alive, to keep my cool, to remain calm.

But I am restless.

Extraordinary

I wish I had the patience for drawing. I always look at my friend Emily's masterpieces and wish I were as artistic as she.

And then there's this website that has adorable comics by this girl Li. (http://exocomics.com/127) She puts her personality into her drawings and that shines through. I do not know this girl, but she's awesome if she's anything like the character in her drawings.

I can draw certain things sometimes. Like stick figures, and I draw a pretty mean balloon. But people with skin and eyes and lips, noses, the whole shebang, forget about it.

Everyone has one

This is mine.

1. Graduate college

2. Go to grad school

3. Get married

4. Adopt a boxer (name it Hero)

5. Have kids

6. Road trip all the way to California

7. Buy a boat

8. Become a teacher

9. Do SOMETHING with Broadway (acting, stage manager, tech crew, casting director, director)

10. Move away from Virginia for at least one year

11. Visit Dublin, Venice, Vienna, Prague, and Austria.

12. Design my own house

13. Ride an elephant

14. Learn to play piano

15. Learn to play guitar

16. Learn to play drums

17. Meet a famous person

18. Write a novel

I have more, that I'll add as I go along.