next to you

Oh, our futures were written with crayons in coloring books
It was misspelled and outside the lines and we loved how it looked
Like the crooked hem of your favorite childhood dress
And the holes in my jeans from years of carelessness
I know since we’ve grown, we ache for those memories
Honestly, nothing’s even compared to you next to me, next to me

When the words came to you for the first time, you knew you were hooked
And the pride that you felt at the last page of your first book
And the bravery I forced when I sang to an audience of three
Well, it took a million wrong notes just to find a single melody and key
I know since we’ve grown we plea for clarity
Honestly, nothing’s ever made sense til you were next to me, next to me

If time is money, then I’ll spend it all for you
I will buy you flowers with the minutes we outgrew
I’ll turn hours into gardens, planted just for us to take
I’ll be reckless with my days, building castles in your name

Since we’ve grown, we long for concrete things
Honestly, nothing’s felt so sure than when you were next to me, next to me

So lets cut down the red tape and gather up the pieces of our youth
Cause there’s nothing in this world we can’t fix with some scissors and glue

At the end of my life, I hope I’m known for being as genuine as I intended to be.

I will continue to post Avett lyrics until you all understand how much I like them

I haven’t finished a thing since I started my life, I don’t feel much like starting now.
Walking now lonely has worked like a charm I’m the only one I have to let down.

But watching you makes me think that that is wrong.

I can go on with my insecure nature I can keep living off sympathy.
I can tell all the people that all that sucks has a direct reflection on me.

But watching you makes me think that that is wrong,

What is important, what’s really important?
Am I not to know by my name?

Will I ever know silence, without mental violence
Will the ringing at night go away?

It’s up to you, my Father, call on me.

I haven’t finished a thing since I started my life, I don’t feel much like starting now.

late night timeframes

When you were growing up, Mom probably told you that nothing good ever happens after midnight.

Entering my third year of college, I assure you it’s one of the biggest lies we’re told as kids (except the whole Santa thing).

Everything good happens after midnight. Everything.  Midnight to the college kid is the equivalent of 7 o’clock to high schoolers.  

But that bit about nothing good happening after 2am?  Totally true.  It’s lame.

 

Sriracha sauce

put it on everything.

$1: How 100 Babe Lincolns can be a lifelong investment

Every person is defined by the communities she belongs to.
― Orson Scott Card

Hello friends.

This is Katie Dwyer.

If you really had to, I know there is at least one person in your life that you could point to and say, “yeah, I am who I am today because I knew them.”  My list of those people is modest in size, but Katie Dwyer is unquestionably on it.

If you haven’t heard of Katie’s Dollar by Dollar project yet (raisefundsforschool.wordpress.com), then I’m doing a terrible job promoting it.

If you’ve never heard of Katie Dwyer, boy do I feel sorry for you.

Because this is just how life goes sometimes, tonight Katie is short roughly $5000 of her tuition bill for her final year at Huntington University. Before I urge you to spare her a dollar or share her story with friends that can, I want you to understand why Katie is such a vibrant member of our campus and community.

The exact date of when we were introduced is fuzzy to me, but Katie and I became fast friends shortly after she was hired to the Student Activities Board with me last year.  I was struck by how intentional this young woman is.  In the time I’ve known her I have come to respect her for the careful way she chooses her words, the rationality she applies to stressful situations in order to put others at ease, and her empathy and passion to help the downtrodden and hopeless. Even when we were stacking hay bales and hanging twinkle lights for the annual Hoedown, or scarfing down dinner in the DC between powderpuff games, Katie has always sought my conversation and opinion in earnest, and it has meant all the difference to me that she has invested so much. Katie is to be trusted.  In fact, she was hired on as the new SAB student director for her final year at Huntington University, and this alone is enough to make me do everything I can to help her return; it would be a privilege to learn from her for another year.

As for her involvement in the community, I can only attest to what I’ve seen.  Katie desires to work and live alongside residents of the city of Huntington and spread hope where so many need it.  It is a rarity to find an HU student that looks at this place and sees more than an eyesore, or a stop along the railways before they get to their final destinations in life, but rather an opportunity to build relationships and share the love of Christ in community.  It is even more rare to see a community like Huntington rise up and be proud to claim a student as their own. To lose someone like Katie in a place like Huntington would be a downright shame.

But there is a way you can help.  Right now, Katie is asking family, friends, peers and complete strangers to donate $1 towards her tuition for her last year at HU. For 100 Babraham Lincolns, you can be a part of the community working to send her back to school…one dollar and you could be an investor in Katie’s passionate work and the hopeful future she sees. You may not know Katie, you may not have much spare change, but she is exactly the kind of person you want to invest in, especially after she has invested so much in you, your community, your children, your friends or even in the principles of your faith. After all, she’s the reason I’m up at 1 o’clock in the morning, munching blueberries and trying not to cry while talking about how awesome she is.

With only 28 days left, give Katie the chance to do more and send her back to school.

Spare a dollar, share her story.

–raisefundsforschool.wordpress.com

–http://vimeo.com/45927116

To sign off, I’m going to post an embarrassingly cheesy photo of us from Christmas.

As always, Katie: I’m for you.

…now someone please hand me a Kleenex.

Um, yes please.

indian[a] summer

happy summer nights, friends

& yet more posts (are you sick of them yet?)

I am the poster child of happy. 

sunshine, wildflowers, smiling. best days fade better nights and I am caught and spun and new.

harder to swallow and so easy to taste what every day might be like if they were all

happy like this.

thoughts on bells from chapel hill

Pinterest & recent engagements are flooding my feeds with nuptial creativity.

I get weird about gifts and wasteful spending in general, so it’s always especially awkward when my girlfriends chat about what colors and songs they want for their weddings. Don’t get me wrong, I thought about it just like most little girls did growing up.  But now that I’m older, marriage seems so much cooler than the wedding.

I am excited about the between-the-folds, quiet but measurable details- sharing my toast and making breakfast in boyshorts and white cotton tees in the morning; shaving cream and bottles of nail polish side by side in the bathroom; pressing my cold toes against his shins at night, whether or not he protests 🙂

I want to marry my best friend, a partner that works and looks in the same direction.  It’s amazing to think that there might be someone out in the great wide somewhere that compliments who you are…& you are better together than you are apart, & you glorify the Lord in your unity.

That’s something Pinterest should look into.