Falling into Spring (See what I did there?)

It's natural to get spring fever.

It's been a long, cold winter. I feel very much like a plant, who has just felt sunshine for the first time after being shut up in a closet or some ridiculous green house for a while. The sun is an old friend who I haven't seen in a while, whom I have every intention of getting to know again.

It is inevitable that in a couple of weeks I will be cursing this hot carolina weather, but for now I'm enjoying contentment.

The flowers are blooming and girls skirts are getting shorter. This of course reveals the unavoidable paleness winter brings.

All around me people are falling back in love. It must be the weather, for there is no other reasonable explanation for it. Perhaps it's the pollen. Whatever the reason, it is sure to remain a mystery, as anything to do with love always does.

We're all in this Together.

It's natural be ready.

And when I say be ready, I mean be ready to get the heck out of high school.

I have been dreaming of my graduation day since my freshman year. This yearning was increased dramatically after I saw High School Musical 4, Senior Year. I have never felt more connected to Troy Bolton as I do at this moment.



Gone are the days that I felt cool about saying I was in high school. I am ready for bigger and better things. My class is ready to be thrust into the great uknown, and as the cast of HSM pointed out, "we're all in this together."

I also know I need to enjoy these last few months of my senior year, because once gone they are gone forever.

Spring break is coming up, and after that we are headed to Disney World for our senior trip. I'm not really sure why the teachers pick Disney World, but I'm pretty sure their thought process is something along the lines of "After this trip you have to grow up and quit acting like immature whiny babies! Enjoy your last weekend of childhood in the place where dreams come true!" I picked up on their little subtle metaphor.

After that we have prom, then GRADUATION! I'm talking cap, gown, pointless rope around your neck thingies, the sappy singing of As we go on, we remember blah blah blah, the whole shebang.

High school is as cliche as it sounds.

I'm trying to think of something awesome and original to do as I walk across the stage, but I can't think of anything, so I'll probably just focus on not tripping.

Suggestions would be much appreciated.

13th grade.

It's natural to get excited.

After months of consideration, hundreds of pro-con lists (Rory Gilmore style), several sleepless nights, one too many awkward open houses, 4 free t-shirts, and many prayers, I have finally made a college decision.

I will be attending Presbyterian College in the fall, and couldn't be more happy about it.

If you had asked me a couple of weeks ago where I was going to college, I probably would have said something, nay, yelled something akin to "I'M JUST NOT GONNA GO, OKAY?!!" or "YOUR MOM GOES TO COLLEGE!"

After receiving an unexpected amount of money from PC, everything seemed to fall into place, and I feel, for the first time, completely content and at peace about my decision.

So, in review, I will be a Blue Hose next fall (or a Blue Hoe, as my boyfriend so kindly pointed out) and will be majoring in English and minoring in journalism.

Also, I might have a job.

More on that later.

I've Never Been on a Plane.

It's natural to love Tom Hanks.

I've never been on a plane.

I know what planes do, what they look like, and why we need them. I learn a lot from movies, and this is what Hollywood has taught me about planes.

A) If you are fancy, you ride first class.

B) Red Eye taught me that if the person sitting next to you on the plane tells you he has been stalking you and is holding your father hostage, it is best to stab him in the neck with a pen upon arrival at airport.

C) If you are traveling with your best friend who is hotter than you, you will inevitably end up sitting squished between two old ladies who talk loudly and smell like...well...old lady, while your friend will probably sit beside a very cute older guy and will probably get his number at the end of the flight.

C) Samuel L. Jackson taught me that snakes on a plane is bad news. He also taught me that movies can be truly awful. Thanks Samuel.

D) The most ideal place and time to tell your ex-lover you actually do love them and wish them to stay with you forever is in the airport terminal, seconds before your soul mate boards the plane.
*Bonus points if you run full speed through said terminal, or if the other people in line clap and cheer after your heart-felt speech.

E) The Terminal taught me that a Eastern European man can get stuck in an american airport terminal because after he left his country, war broke out, suddenly making him a man without a country. This movie made me see that airports are truly magical places, because he fell in love with an attractive flight attendant and eventually was allowed in America.

This movie also taught me that Tom Hanks is great, but who doesn't already know that?

Friends don't let Friends listen to Toby Keith.

It's natural to reminisce.

I am taking a teacher cadet course through my high school. Basically, that means that for a semester I "learned" a bunch of theories and psycho babble about why kids don't like math and pick their noses. But much to my delight, this semester we are out of that classroom and into another.

For me, it is Mrs. Holton's kindergarten class at Lake Murray Elementary.

What is strange about this experience is that I actually had Mrs. Holton in the fourth grade, so being her assistant is pretty bizarre. Mainly because I'm not quite exactly sure how I acted in her class. I wasn't a bad student, but I certainly wasn't as cool as I am now.

What I remember from her fourth grade class is she would always have a country station playing on the radio in the mornings. She would let us play monster truck computer games before class while she sang us tasteful Toby Keith songs like "Wanna Talk About Me" and "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue."
I remember I really liked her, especially when she gave Sam Bolos recess detention for taping the poem Corey Rhoad (my fourth grade boyfriend) wrote for me on the board. It was an acrostic poem, that spelled out Natalie, with an adjective for each letter. And it even had clip art.

I knew I shouldn't have left it in my cubbie.

My first day as a "cadet" was pretty great.
I love the kids, and Mrs. Holton is even cooler than I remembered (which helps me forgive her about the whole Toby thing).

The first thing the kids do first thing every day is morning meeting, so they can talk about their weekends and whatever else they want to share.

When asked about what he did over the weekend, this little boy Lee responded:

I saw Jesus walking to work.

Me: Okay....well, where does he work Lee?

Lee: He is very colorful.

Me:.......okay. Who else wants to share?

The whole time he was talking he was looking off in the distance and had this glazed look on his face like he was reliving every moment of this mystical event.

Well folks, there you have it!
Jesus is colorful.

Also, he walks to work.

Who put that there?

It's natural to run into things.

Its amazing how much of my life has been marked by me running into stationary objects.

When I was two I ran into a wall at church and knocked out my front teeth.

When I was five, my parents took the family to Disney World. I was running around in the Little Mermaid water park and ran straight into the Ariel statue and busted my lip open.

Disney World is not only the place where dreams come true, it is also the place where little girls get punched in the mouth by mermaids made of stone.

When I was eight, we went to a neighbors house for new years eve to celebrate the new millennium. I was running towards the fireworks (not a good idea I suppose, perhaps this was divine intervention) and ran straight into a pole.

And I hadn't even been drinking.

Mainly because I was eight.

First of all, who put a POLE in the middle of a backyard?! Nothing says "welcome to 2000!" like a black eye.

When I was fifteen, I took the driving test for the first time. I didn't even get out of the parking lot, due to the fact that I hit a parked car while backing out.
So I guess technically I didn't even get out of the parking space.

But before all of you Christ-like drivers judge me, just know I passed with flying colors the second time, and haven't gotten in any wrecks or gotten a ticket!
Well almost, but I pretended to cry, so I got off with a warning.
That policeman was like putty in my hands!
It was an Oscar worthy performance if I do say so myself.

I live in sweet, sweet ignorance of the immobile.