summer update

HOW IS IT ALREADY JUNE 24th??  i mean, seriously.  where has the summer gone?

i know it's not exactly normal to start off a post in an all-caps-yelling-style, but for realz.  i feel like it was just the spring and my nose was constantly red and dripping.  now instead of my nose being red and dripping, my cheeks are red from the blasted heat and my body is dripping from sweat at all hours.  cute, right?

welcome to north carolina, where comfortable body temperatures come to die.

however, this summer has already been a summer of firsts for a few things in the life of megan and i want to share them with you.  for better or worse, here they are.

1.  the full-time job:  so i've had a full-time job since october, but this is the first summer that i've had one of these things.  working full days during the summer months has its tough moments, but when it's daylight outside until late AND i get that full-time paycheck in my account every two weeks, the tough moments have a way of not seeming so bad.

2.  no camp cheerio:  this is the first summer (minus the summer when i was 16 and i was on a mission trip ... regardless of what any of my friends may tell you) that i won't be going up to camp cheerio, even if for a brief visit.  i'm not sure how i feel about it i know exactly how i feel about it: it makes my heart hurt, but i make sure to live vicariously through the wonderful pictures posted on facebook.  thank god for social media.

3.  ballet class:  i took photography last summer and had quite a ball learning something new.  this summer i've enrolled in ballet!  while it's beginning ballet, it's actually quite advanced for someone that is as clumsy as i am.  however, every thursday i go and point my feet in unnatural ways and turn out my hips until i'm afraid they'll pop out leaving me disfigured.  and while i've been so sore (and confused) i've shed some tears, i do love it.  even if i don't get it.  and even if i fall over sometimes.  there's just something cool about learning something that some of my friends do so effortlessly, in addition to doing something that's graceful, elegant, and structured (three things i am not).  more power to those of you who beast the art of ballet.

4.  durham bulls:  if anyone were to ask, i would have told them i love the durham bulls baseball team.  however, it's a little known fact that until tonight, i hadn't actually ever gone to a game.  i love baseball so i knew i would love it, but this fact was finally confirmed tonight.  complete with reuniting with a few old camp friends, my introduction to the bulls was superb!


anyways, those were just four of my firsts.  i hope your summer has been a summer of wonderful firsts as well!  if not, don't worry. there are a quite a few so-humid-you-could-die days left in north carolina's extended summer.  go out and do something you've never done before.  you'll be glad you did.

the power of the four-way stop

every day on my way to work i go through the same four-way stop.  and every day i love it.

now let's get a few things straight.  no, i don't enjoy the actual drive to work.  in fact, i don't enjoy any drives.  i hate driving.  this girl was made to be driven, people.  also, my love for the four-way stop has nothing to do with obeying traffic laws.  anyone who knows me even a little knows that i've broken my fair share ... and then some.

so what is it about the four-way stop that makes my day?  it's what it represents.  it's how people (generally) behave.  it's how no matter how late i am, i chill the heck out and wait my turn.

and that, my friends, is how it should be.  wouldn't every day be better if we had four-way stops for us throughout the day?  those people that feel so entitled to belittle others could wait their self-righteous turns ... the awkwardness of the question 'when do i go?' would be fixed with a simple wave and a smile ... and we could all slow down once in a while because in the end we'd know that the extra 3 seconds of patience was worth it.

and of course, there's always that dip that cheats and goes even though you could have gotten out and cartwheeled before he even began to stop his car at the intersection.  life is full of four-way stop haters.  however, in my experience, the small amount of "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" that i feel when i encounter one of these dips is easily removed when i receive that encouraging smile and disappointed shake of a head from my fellow four-way stop rule followers.  that's right, dip.  we all saw you disrespect the sanctity that is the four-way.

so this summer, as life either gets insanely busy, begins to slow down, or stays pretty much the same depending on your profession, i challenge you to behave as though you were at a four-way stop.  chill out, smile, and heck, maybe even throw a wave or two.