A Walk in the Woods

It's natural to explore.

I live in a nice neighborhood, a nice house, with a nice yard.
To the left of my backyard, the lake, to the right, seemingly endless woods.

When I was a kid I spent endless hours exploring and pillaging those woods. I was a hopeless tom boy.

After my run tonight, I walked to the back yard to cool down, and looked into those woods where so many memories were made. I hadn't been in them for years.

So I started walking.

It was a little different but mostly the same. My old tree house is rotting, but it was glorious in its prime. I stepped on a nail back there, and had even built a bridge across a ditch once. Once I stumbled upon a group of teenagers smoking pot deep in the woods. I've never seen pot heads run that fast. And with damaged lungs too! Impressive.

I was walking down the newly made four-wheel trails, when I came upon a grave yard. I had discovered the grave yard when I was about nine, walking through the woods one day alone. I was completely freaked out that there were dead people buried in my back yard, ran back home, and then apparently blocked it out of my mind because I had forgotten about it.

As I walked towards it, a deer jumped out and scared me to death. I felt like the female lead in some zombie movie as I opened the rusty gate, and stepped inside the tiny cemetery.

It was a family cemetery, with the name Mcartha etched across every worn headstone. Most of them had died in the late 1700s-early 1800s, as young as 20 and as old as 94.

Across every stone, the phrase "Gone but not Forgotten" was carved.

There were a few roses scattered around. A tree had fallen across the gate.

I wondered if there were any surviving Mcarthas, and if they knew that their relatives were buried out here in the middle of nowhere, where boys drove four wheelers and teenagers smoked pot.

I walked slowly home, pondering life and death, and listened to the birds sing.

10 Things I like About You

It's natural to crush.

And when I say crush, I mean like someone. And when I say like someone, I mean you get all stupid around that one person who makes your heart go crazy.

Over spring break, me and three friends drove down to Charleston for a couple of days for a little sun. It was our first road trip in my crappy but lovable 97'Honda Accord, affectionately know as Ronda the Honda.



Late one night the four of us were laying in bed just talking, and the subject of boys came up.
This happens quite frequently, if you want the truth.

Our main topic of interest was "How do you know you like someone?"

You would think it would be easy to know if you like someone or not, but love is tricky. So Allison and all her brilliance came up with a pretty accurate list.

So guys...you're welcome.

10 things we do that mean we like you

1. We will try to be in the same place as you. (inconspicuously)

For example, we might suddenly acquire a sudden interest for paintball or soccer....

2. We will be protective/defensive of you. (sometimes you don't verbalize your defensiveness but you will certainly think it)


3. We will become friends with your family. Suddenly, they seem a lot less weird....


4. We will mention your name in conversation, or manipulate the conversation until someone else brings you up.

Can we have sandwiches for lunch? I just LOVE sandwiches! You know who else loves sandwiches? TONY! Tony just loves sandwiches! I swear it's like we are twins or something!

*Author's note* Name five people that don't like sandwiches.


5. We will begin to like the things you like, no matter how lame. (music, tv shows, ect)

Girl- I've always loved Survivor Man! Bear Grylls is the man!

Guy- That's Man vs. Wild.

6. We will find a reason to talk to you when there is absolutely none.

Jill- Hey Jack, do we have Spanish homework?

Jack-I take french.

*Note* This doesn't always end well. But hey, we tried!

7. We will think ahead about when we will see you next. We will then plan an outfit accordingly. And then we will spend at least 5 more minutes on our hair the days that we will see you.


8. We will hear a song and be reminded of you. Suddenly we know every love song was written for your relationship (that may or may not even happen).


9. We will take the bad things about you and justify them.

I'm less than certain he wears deodorant, but man are his eyes dreamy!


And the number one sign...

10. We will practice writing our name with your last name. It will happen, even if it is just once in the middle of calculus class on the very edge of your paper. You will then immediately erase it and look around to make sure no one saw.

Just a Volleyball

It's natural to feel alone.

Can you imagine being the only human left on earth? Just you, cockroaches, and the world? What would you do? How would you survive? And how would you live?

Even though I doubt that anything close to I Am Legend will ever happen, I hesitate to imagine being completely on my own. Even though the Earth's population is approximatley 6.8 billion, it is apparent that many people feel all alone. The ideas of family, friendship, and community are crucial to living a fullfilled life. I think about the movie Cast Away, and how it would have been incredably boring if anyone but Tom Hanks had starred in it.(Just another reason why I love Tom Hanks, which seems to be a reoccuring theme in this blog) In the movie, Tom is so desperate for a companion, he fashions a friend out of a Wilson Volleyball. He appropriately names him Wilson. During his escape attempt, he must choose between saving Wilson or his raft. He eventually lets Wilson go, but it is an incredably painful and heart-breaking choice. That scene makes you realize the inherit human need for companionship. We all crave the closeness of another person, someone we can identify with and talk to.

Even if it is just a volleyball.