east coast life : shaken, not stirred

what does a texas girl get for moving to the east coast, you may wonder.  she gets her life all shook up.  thus it seems only fitting that within the first three weeks of living here, there would be an earthquake.  standing in my kitchen waiting for my tea bird to steam at the beak (we have one of those super speedy tea boiler things that looks like a bird),  

see what i'm sayin?

i felt the earth begin to shake.  in my head i thought “well that’s just great, our building is so sturdy that when someone walks down the stairs the entire thing shakes”.

the shakes, however, got shakier.  the stairs produced no elephant, dinosaur, whale, nor any other creature large enough to justify such tremblings. the places to go in the event of an earthquake that have been impressed into my brain via informative programs such as saved by the bell (thanks for the reminder, li), flashed in the back of my brain, but my body did not respond.  i am the anti-alarmist, it would seem, and i figured it would end before drastic measures such as moving to a doorway, needed to be taken.  

even when it was over, however, i had a very hard time believing that i had just made it through my first earthquake.  i poured my boiling water that boiled right along to the rhythm of the earth shaking, and i thought that it was a good thing it was not worse because i could have been severely burned had the stakes been higher.  note to self: in the event of an earthquake, move far away from pot of boiling water. check.

i decided to wait and see if i got any “are you alive” texts/calls to believe that there were reports of this incident abroad that would make it real.  the texts came. the facebook status updates were updated.  the earthquake was a real boy--and a big doozy of an earthquake it was at that.  i talked to lianna after and while her initial reaction was that it was the drilling guy, and her second reaction was it’s the end of the world, her sweet little dumpling snoozed her way through to the other side with ease.  with all my wisdom about the apocalypse in tow, i told lianna that the sun was far too sunshiny for such silly notions regarding the end of the world.  at least i can keep my wits about me in some ways...

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the weekend was just what an end of the summer weekend should be.  a sublime thunderstorm during Mass announced the coming of Friday night in all it’s beginning of the weekend glory.  my friend lizzie took me to maryland to spend the night at her home so we could make a before sun-up exit to visit somewhere i never thought i would visit.  not because i consciously thought “i’ll never visit there”, but because “there” never really made it to the thought maker in my brain.  where?  delaware.  that’s where.  we drove to delaware to sing our summer swan song properly.  with the waves, the seagulls, the umbrella speckled beach and of course, taylor swift blasting from lizzie’s smart phone.  and sometimes a cappella when the smart phone did not live up to its’ name.  

bethany beach Delawhere?

the morning sang along as rosy fingered dawn stretched out her glorious hand to greet us while we drove to bestow upon the old and weary summer a goodbye kiss.  

see?  now i am into sunrises and sunsets- see morning metanoia for details

in love with morning light through tree

bethany, delaware was just what delaware should be.  a complete surprise to anyone who never deemed delaware worthy to enter into the thought maker.  a little booyah in your face action, if you will.  

lizzie’s littlest sibling, Mary Lou, joined us for our day at the beach and it was lovely to have young life with us.  a little reminder of what the beach means to the heart of youth and how the waves bellow out your name in an invitation to join them in their game of hide and seek.  

one of the joys of youth, piggy back rides

when i was little, being older was the goal of my life.  i counted half birthdays and counted down the years to when i would be 16 and could drive and go on dates and do all of the cool things d.j. did on full house, and my older cousins did in dallas.  and then those years disappeared in the blink of an eye.  now i yearn to have again the heart of a child.  to feel the inexorable joy with which i abandoned myself  to so fully when i was at the beach or doing anything else magical, like swinging on a swing and riding a bike.  it was wonderful to be reminded of that by mary lou.  and how fabulous is the name mary lou? totally whoville material.  

we rode bikes, we let the waves carry us wherever they wanted to go,  we walked on the boardwalk,  we had ice cream, and let the hot sun and sand work their magic on the freezing bodies we reluctantly pulled from the oceans enchanting grip.  

just for the record, i am way into the whole weeping willow, white fence, this color green painted house by the beach combo pack.  

we had popcorn for the ride home and stopped at side o’ the road produce shops to really get that “i didn’t know delaware was awesome” feel.  lizzie and i were able to go to a holy hour before she took me home, and it was the most beautiful of ways to end the day.  

i wrapped up the weekend in a neat little package of Mass, time with siblings, missing my family in texas, a blue and pink cotton candy hued Sunday sunset sky, the sound of music, and a justin bieber jam sesh.  don’t judge.  his songs are so so perfect to jam to.  

another one from sunrise to delaware for good measure

here i am now, post-delaware, post-earthquake, pre-finding a job.  God is good.  the moral to every story.  happy weeking to you and your kin!  

just because i can't get enough of the sky