Everyday

Last time I updated here I promised myself that I would do a better job at updating.  Looks like I broke that promise.  I guess sometimes it seems silly to update anyone on just my normal, everyday stuff and so I don't do it at all.  But really, isn't that where all the good stuff happens?  Day to day.  So maybe this time I really will try to do a better job at sharing life with you here in this space.  No promises though.

I have been in Swansea just a little bit over 6 months now.  It has gone by really quickly, but still feels like it's been much longer than that.  I think everyday brings a more and more settled feeling, but it is yet to feel like home.  And to be honest, I'm not sure it ever will and I'm realizing that's okay.  Good even.  Because I guess no place here really feels like home.  And maybe it's when I'm feeling happy and content where I am that I realize that even more.  Like in Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C.S. Lewis (which I recommend by the way...), when it says "It was when I was happiest that I longed most...And because it was so beautiful, it set me longing, always longing.  Somewhere else there must be more of it.  Everything seemed to be saying, Psyche come! But I couldn't (not yet) come and I didn't know where I was to come to.  It almost hurt me.  I felt like a bird in a cage when the other birds of its kind are flying home".  Yeah, something like that...

So in everyday life spirit, here's some things going on right now:

I am listening...to a continuous loop of Mumford & Sons, Decemberists, Avett Brothers, and City & Colour.
Outside my window...it is sunny for at least the 7th day in a row (if you leave out yesterday).
I am thinking...about how much I have to do over the next three days.
I am thankful for...old friends that think it's worth it to pay for a plane ticket to come across the Atlantic Ocean for a visit.
From the kitchen...a chocolate cake.
I am creating...a quilt for another new baby.
I am going...to Paris this week!
I am reading...East of Eden.
I am hoping...for lots more days of sunshine.
Around the house...freshly cleaned (ish) and smells like lavender.
The rest of the week...concert with Andie, Paris with Jill.
Favourite moment of the last week...Cawl and coffee and music/people-watching with Nia at the Gower Heritage Centre.

Yep.  That's right.  Jill is coming to visit!!  We are meeting in London, then taking a few days to explore Paris.  I'm excited to see her, not only because she's forcing me to go to Paris, but because she's one of my very oldest friends, and there is just something really great about being with people who already know you so well.  And, now we can say we've been to three (maybe four if she was on that choir tour in Niagara Falls...hmmm??) countries outside the U.S. together, and some pretty good ones at that.  Italy and France?? Yes, please.  Excited to get to share some new experiences together.

A couple of weeks ago, I went back to Memphis for a quick quick visit.  It was so good to see everyone.  Favourite moments- morning coffee in Anna's house with some music playing, BBQ nachos with my mama, picking up Kristin and Van from the airport, Sonic ice, sitting on Kristin and Van's couch making shower decorations and watching the Bachelor, Boofer eating my Chick-fil-a sauce, Boscos with the UT crew, meeting Ella Cook, Bendaroos with Grace, Target trip, seeing Sarah and Michael's house with them actually living in it, driving on the right side of the road, picking up Brian from the airport, 4 trips to Kroger in a 1.5 hour period, turmeric, meeting Reyhan Philip, Romey naming my monster something very urban, even though I can't remember what it was, new friends, sitting on Matthew and Katie's couch, sunshine in Oxford, Square Books, sweet tea and catfish for the rehearsal dinner, getting ready for the wedding Saturday morning/helping Katie get ready for the wedding interspersed with some bits of good conversation and bad TV with Brian, being a part of Matthew and Katie's wedding celebration, attempting (and failing) at pinning on boutonnieres, the breeze through the doors in the church, the goat, holding lots of babies, song time at the reception, opening wedding presents, last-chance late-night Mexican food and margaritas with Brian and Jeff, Anna's dogs, Sarah's baby shower and getting to see people from the wedding at the shower (like Kelsey and Chaeli), telling Sarah and Michael that if their baby came the day after I left I would no longer be their friend, getting an email from Michael saying that Simon had been born early Tuesday morning (therefore making it the day after the day after I left...barely), and most of all?  Being with people I know, that know me well, people I love a whole lot, that share so many experiences with me.  Like I said before, there's just something great (and refreshing and comfortable and life-giving) about being with people who know you well.  And it was worth every penny.  And since I'm quoting C.S. Lewis today, "Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art...it has no survival value; rather, it is one of those things that give value to survival". Yep.

Be back soon!