A Very Lucky Girl

I have a new address. A new place with which to answer the question, "So, where are you from?" Houston is my new home.  My dad and I moved into the new house over the Labor Day weekend. It's in a great location, close to countless yummy places to eat (I think I gained 10 pounds in 3 days), and also near a great running park (in order to counteract those yummy eateries).  Houston is only about an hour and a half away from Beaumont, so I'm looking forward to being so close to Moriah over Christmas break and summer. My elementary school friend, Nick (except now he's Mathison and I keep getting it wrong!), will graduate from Rice in May and he introduced me to a great new church I'm looking forward to attending more often when I come home.  There's a lot of looking forward going on. I can't change the events that brought me to Houston. They are in the past. But over the years and moves, I've become a pro at making the most of where I am, physically ...

I undertook a 40 hour roundtrip roadtrip at the end of my summer. From Oklahoma City to Nashville to Wilmington to Carolina Beach to Raleigh and back through Nashville! It was an 8 day whirlwind of the best kind.  40 hours in a car gave me a lot of time to think. And eat lemonheads. And listen to audiobooks. And sing songs at the top of my lungs. I actually didn't think all that much. But I did take note of several things during my cross-country journey. photo by E. Bell Thank God for Google Maps. I would be at a loss without the calm and collected automated voice telling me which exits to take. She didn't even yell at me when I took a wrong exit and had to backtrack. A human navigator probably would have.  This was the first summer I visited every single state I lived in. In late May I first took to the highway to surprise Moriah Jo, and my overnights in Nashville and Raleigh fulfilled the other state requirements. What a treat to reconnect with so many friends in t...