My Breaking Heart...

So I'm staying with my friend's daughter this week while they're in California. It's a pretty easy gig. Really easy, actually. She's 15 and has a ridiculously busy schedule. Between dance and poms, I basically don't see her. Except when I'm driving her to where she needs to be. This week is actually pretty much cooler than the rest of my weeks. I get to drive a really cool car and I have internet. No complaining here.



My friends just got a dog from a rescue group about a month ago. Her name is Tika. And my heart absolutely breaks for her. I don't know what her past is, but I'm positive that it was rough. I'm not sure if she was abused or neglected, but I'm certain that she was not treated the way that she deserved to be treated. And anyone who knows me knows that mistreated animals kinda gets me going. Tika lays in the corner of the dining room all day. Except at night, when she comes up to their bedroom and sleeps in the corner. It's very sad. She's very unresponsive. Although today, day 2, she actually made eye contact with me. She's very sweet. She lets me sit by her and pet her and all that. But that's about it. Oh, it's so sad.



Here's the little girl. Isn't she adorable?

Blog Slacker...

As previously discussed, I don't have the internet. So I go online about once a week. So blogging doesn't really happen. I'm loving Joliet. Here is my new environment:






I definitely fit in a lot better with my brother and the dog than I ever have in a house full of girls. This is my kind of crib.

On Getting Old...

I've noticed lately that I'm starting to do some things that make me feel, and probably look, old. For instance, I find myself listening to - and enjoying - talk radio. Just the other day I was listening to Larry King Live. I never thought I'd see the day. They were talking about autism and I found myself sitting in the driveway listening to the rest of the segment.


Exhibit B. I went up to CMU this weekend for homecoming. When I was in college, we wouldn't even go out until at least 10:00. Saturday night - we were home at 9:52pm. I'm embarrassed. Granted, we were up since 3:30 in the morning (4:00 am departure! - who am I?), so we were really tired. But I'm still embarrassed.


Speaking of homecoming, it was really fun. My friend Missy came up with me. I tell ya, that girl is hooked on Mt. Pleasant. She's been up there with me 3 times now. We left early Saturday morning, tailgated, went to the football game, hung out at my old teammate's apartment, went out, went to bed, woke up, and drove home. I really wish I could do longer visits up there.

The game was great. We beat Northern Illinois 35-10. The team looked really good. The only downer of the trip was watching a guy have a heart attack in the stands right by us. It was really scary. They did CPR on him for probably a good 25 minutes. He didn't make it. So it was really sad, awkward, scary... all of those things. I felt so bad for his family.


The highlight of my trip had to be hanging out with my old coach and his family. We went out to dinner and grabbed a drink on Saturday night. I was really close with all of them in college. We used to have the boys stay at our house every once in a while so L-Train and his wife could have a night alone. They were 4 and 6 my freshman year. 9 and 11 when I graduated. Now they're 12 and 14 and huge! The 14-year old is 6'2" now. It's crazy. My boys are growing up so fast. So it was definitely a trip to hang out with them.


It was really great to be up there and run into old friends and teammates. I really do miss my CMU friends.


As always, I'm awful about remembering to take pictures. So here's a couple that my friend Mary took...









Tailgating





















The game

Mary, Mike and Me at the Cabin. I miss my throwers.













The guy at the Cabin who had eyes on his butt. For real???

Watch Your Language!!!

So I have this little 4 year old who has better manners than pretty much anyone I know. She is quite the proper young lady. Sometimes when I say 'yeah' she says, "No, it's 'yes'". The other day I said 'thank ya' to one of my girls and she said "It's not 'thank ya' - it's 'thank you'" I'm being corrected by a 4 year old. How funny...


Well I'm in my new place. The move went really well. I've realized that I have some pretty incredible friends. Not that I didn't really know that already, but I was definitely reminded of it on Sunday. I had 6 friends that were completely willing to give up their Sunday afternoon to help me move all of my stuff. Which was great. We made it all in one trip. But they didn't get anything out of it. Except for some pizza. Of course we had a great time along the way. But I'm just grateful to have such wonderful friends.

I don't have internet at my new place, so I'm sure I'll be spending quite a big more time at the local Panera. Which will be great around Christmas time. Last year, I got like $75 worth of Panera gift cards from students.

I Was a College Athlete...

As I'm packing stuff up and getting ready for the big move, I've been going through some stuff that I haven't looked through in a while. I read through some old newspaper articles from high school and college. Looked through some old pictures. Found some of my old workouts (man, I used to be strong). I was a standout high school athlete. An average D1 athlete. And I graduated and that phase of my life was over. Just like that. And quite frankly, I miss it.

I don't miss hurting just about every day of my college career, which I, over the course of the 5 years I was there, had a displaced nerve in my arm, a dislocated shoulder and 2 knee surgeries.

But I miss the people. I miss accomplishing such great things. I miss being part of such an amazing team. I miss my coaches. I miss having my parents come support me at my meets - seriously, they came to all but 2 meets my entire career. I miss the locker room. I miss my CMU track family.

3-time MAC Champs

The best meet of my career...

2003 MAC

Championships

Always having a good time together.

Perhaps one of my ugliest pictures ever...

But I still love it.

Me and Tash after she just won the MAC title in the javelin.
I was very proud of my roommate and best friend.

Throwers sending birthday greetings to our teammate John while he was on a 2-year mission trip in Argentina.

Tash and I realizing that our track careers had just come to an end -- a very emotional day.

I'm blessed that I'm able to coach the sport I love so much at a collegiate level. I just hope our athletes have an experience as amazing as the one I had during my years at CMU.

A Really Long Blog Entry...

Even though I'm 26, it still makes me feel really good to hear my mom say that she's proud of me.

A (not so) Fun Fact About Me

I'm hard enough on myself. So when I feel like I'm being judged, I put my guard up. Some people get mad. I just shut people out. It's easier that way.

I guess I'm starting to realize it. Or maybe I've always known it, but I'm finally admitting it.

How do you respond to judgement?