Stab in the Dark goes Off the Edge

So...apparently my friend Fencerscott was inspired by me to insert those handy "read more" tags into his blog.

With the result that all his hundreds of previous blog posts turned invisible.

Oops - um, sorry about that, Fencerscott. *gulp*

So, in minor recompense, I give you a link to his new blog. Just a Stab in the Dark is now Off the Edge of the Map. Take a look-see. And tell him I said sorry.

(Heh, heh, heh, heh...I'm certain no one suspects this was intentional, as I test out my death-to-competing-blogs-o-ray, preparatory to taking over the blogosphere. Oh, yes - Soon, I Will Be Invincible!)

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Laverne & Shirley - er, make that Lisa & Leanna

Making our Dreams Come True by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox
(Laverne and Shirley Lyrics)

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Schlemeel, schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated.
We're gonna do it!

Give us any chance, we'll take it.
Give us any rule, we'll break it.
We're gonna make our dreams come true.
Doin' it our way.

Nothin's gonna turn us back now,
Straight ahead and on the track now.
We're gonna make our dreams come true,
Doin' it our way.

There is nothing we won't try,
Never heard the word impossible.
This time there's no stopping us.
We're gonna do it....

My friend Lisa's having a baby.

Another baby, I should say - Leland will just be 21 months old when the new little boy is born in August.

My friend Lisa is *brave.* (brave=crazy)

Lisa and Leanna graduated from Furman with me. They were roommates and grew up together in Birmingham, and they each, in their own ways, have always seemed fearless to me. Leanna has been a chaplain and a church staff member and is far along on a doctorate from Vanderbilt Divinity. She's brilliant - you wouldn't know quite how brilliant because she's so quiet about it, but she was Valedictorian of our class at Furman. I think she was quiet about it, at least in part, because she didn't need the validation of other people realizing how smart she is.

This is in contrast to the Chris version of things, where you want everyone to tell you how smart (or good, or nice, or musical, or...) you are so you can believe it yourself.

Leanna's never sought that in the time that I've known her. What I've been working to gain the last several years - a trust in myself - she's always seemed to me to have. Fearless.

Lisa was an Education major - early childhood, Lisa? But she never takes the easy or normal path. In the first few years after Furman, she was a ballroom dance instructor (having tried out for the job w/o knowing any ballroom dances!?!), a host at the Opryland Hotel (one of those things where you show the stars and famous people around - another job she had no experience or training for, she just thought it would be neat or something), and ultimately a missionary for a couple of years in Kyrgyzstan.

Fearless.

She came back and moved to Charleston - not back home to Birmingham, or to Nashville where she'd been living, or Greenville, Charleston. She didn't, as best I can recall, have a job or anything lined up - she just wanted to live in Charleston. So she went. She was sure she'd find something. She liked the beach (once during exams she got tired of studying and wanted to see the beach, so she left campus after midnight, drove four hours to the beach, walked on the sand for 15 minutes or so, and drove back), she wanted to live in Charleston, she moved to Charleston.

This is in contrast to the Chris version of things, where you want to do something, call up six or eight friends to talk it over - for 6 months to a year - while you dither and agonize and, probably, write blog posts describing the existential angst caused by the possibility of making a change.

I don't demean this, exactly; this is often my process. But Lisa's process always looked different to me. Want to live in Charleston, announce move to Charleston, move to Charleston. Simple.

Fearless.

Lisa and Leanna have remained among my closest friends. Granted, we can go a year or two without seeing each other (hey, ladies, we've got to start planning this year's get-together! When's Dust free?), but they're still among the people whose friendship I most value. They have always been fun, creative, entertaining - one day I'll get them to re-enact their version of Simon&Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence" and post it on Youtube, it's about the funniest thing I've ever seen - they could've gone on the road and sold tickets for that performance! They always had lots of friends because they were so full of life - and when you became their friend, they introduced you to a dozen others. My college experience, and my post-college life, have been much fuller because of the friends they introduced me to. In their energy and their fearlessness (brave=crazy), they always reminded me of Laverne & Shirley. (Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days were among my favorite shows growing up. I mention Happy Days gratuitously, so Leanna and Lisa can mock me for it - it's an insider thing.) Oh, I know they're human - they have their doubts just like anybody. But their doubts don't stop them. Nothing's impossible, nothing's gonna hold us back, we're gonna do it - we're gonna make our dreams come true.

And they do.

And that's why, in addition to being great friends, they've also always, kind of, been heroes to me. They helped pull me out of my introverted INFJ life (I wonder if it's their fault my J became a P?), helped me make great friendships, gave me lots of laughter and acceptance - and taught me, sometimes, to be fearless. Or at least less fearful.

Brave=crazy.

We were often crazy, at Furman.

Brave=crazy?

May we all be so lucky as to be so crazy.

Lisa, congratulations. Love and prayers are with you. Tell John and Leland to take good care of you - not that you need it! Scott, keep being good to Leanna. Don't be strangers, folks. I've posted a picture to the right - another of my heroes ;) who won't be held back - that's in your honor, you two.

Thanks for the inspiration. At this time in my life, I need the reminder. I'm not backing down or taking the easy path. I'm walking the way.

Fearlessly.

On your mark, get set, and go now,
Got a dream and we just know now,
We're gonna make our dream come true.
And we'll do it our way, yes our way.
Make all our dreams come true,
And do it our way, yes our way,
Make all our dreams come true
For me and you.

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Recommendations and Excuses

I'm not going to write much today - not on the blog, that is. I've written tons elsewhere! Mostly, responding to suggestions from a placement person at the CBF to rewrite my resume, plus writing cover letters to go with it. It's a strange and conflicting process - all the resume advice says to really sell yourself, and talk boldy about what you accomplished, and how you led and implemented and innovated and revolutionized and all those other action words. Yet being a minister - or a Christian - ought to be more about being led, being quiet, being obedient, being humble - and the action word is "served." So it's a disturbingly schizophrenic process. What's more disturbing is that about two weeks ago I finally felt good about my resume - and now, all the concerns I originally had about it are raised by this placement person, and all the work I did to address those concerns is unnoticed. I'm grateful to have it pointed out, I guess - and at the end of a long day, I do think that, once again, my resume is better. But it's been time-consuming, tedious, and occasionally discouraging.

Luckily, that's done!

But I still don't have much energy to write about a lot of stuff. Remind me to tell y'all about my meter maid pondering; plus I'm still getting lots of requests for more info on my job situation. (In brief, I need one, and I'm focusing on church, not chaplaincy.) But that'll have to wait.

For now, I'll wrap up by stealing thoughts from others. First up we have my friend K-chaney - yet another friend whose email I didn't have before starting this blog. Go, community, go! K-chaney told me about:

"this website called caringbridge.com....It's basically a blog that people who are sick/recovering/whatever can use to post updates on their condition. It's pretty cool because one person in the family can post updates on the caringbridge website and just tell all friends, family, etc. to go there to check on the person's condition. That way, you don't have a million people calling to get the latest details. For example, the daughter of a girl in my mom's SS class had a horseback riding accident last year. She had traumatic brain injury (TBI), and it has been a slow year of recovery. They post on the caring bridge website and anyone can check on her progress. It's really cool because even people who don't know her (me) can check in and pray for her on a regular basis....It's a free service, and I wish I'd known about it when ... was having all his surgery stuff two years ago (wow, can you believe he's been totally well for two years now! Praise God!). Well, I hope the blog is going well for you. "

Thanks, k-chaney, it's going just fine since you wrote my blog entry for me. It's a useful website, added to my links, and it helps simplify things for people dealing with ongoing/chronic/serious health crises. Check it out!

My other friend - gee, guarding identies is tough, let's call her Culpable. Culpable mentioned some books to me, and since they sound cool, I'm passing on the recommendation to you:

Book recommendation here - you'll adore the blend of vivid and believable characters, a touch of sci fi, and some deep religious ponderings. You'll thank me. Really. Mary Doria Russel: The Sparrow, and Children of God.
Also, if I can ever get it back from Mark to whom I've loaned it - upon whom I've imposed it, I should say - I will thrust upon you Margaret Wheatley's Leadership and the New Science. It's about fractals and physics and though I don't think there's a religious word in it, it's awe and wonder stuff.

Thanks, Culpable. I'll hold you responsible if I don't like them. Kidding. I love the descriptions, as in separate ways they remind me of some of what I love so much about Madeline L'Engle. Looking at their descriptions on Amazon, they seem weird (not in a bad way) and possibly over my head and like stuff I wouldn't have come across on my own. So I look forward to checking 'em out.

Today I've been listening to: Songs for a Revolution of Hope, and rediscovering the Indigo Girls, namely Nomads, Indians, and Saints. "Hammer and a Nail" helping me get to/keep working, Watershed and World Falls to make me laugh and get me down. Good stuff.

Thanks, friends, for whistling your tunes while I've been doing other stuff. Blessings.

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Odds and Ends

This site has received its first link from elsewhere. My friend Scott has given me a shout out and a compliment. Check him out by clicking here.

Fencerscott's link will, I'm sure, be the first of many to come. My conquest of the world is coming, my friends. Oh, yes...soon, I will be invincible. That was my segue to a fun little book I got from the library last week.

Anyway, segueing back, I've added another section for friends' blogs (or flutings, to stick with my musical conceit - and yes, I'm sure that could be run into the ground soon). Fencerscott's very RED lettering on his blog looks way cool and I wanted to steal it - but since I'm linking to him, I decided that I couldn't get away with it. Darn! But he did inspire me to tinker a bit with the look of things and I think it's getting better. So thanks, Scott! Fencerscott's also very well-read, informed, and interesting, which is unfair. (But who is this One Ring person? :)

Last thing - did you know that segue was a musical term? I didn't. It fits right in with my musical themes though. Clearly that proves that my musical section titles are cool and not at all cutesy.

SO THERE.

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