Rant Fever 3.0

The Stampede

I'm going to throw this out there, only because this site is in no way linked to my Facebook page, and my situation is simultaneously so funny and frustrating that I want to write about it.

I've never been a football fan. In fact, the first football game I watched beginning to end since High School was the 2009 A&M/Texas game, and I found that football can be quite entertaining when you have someone to talk you through every play so you actually understand it. So when this year's Superbowl came around, I had no problems going to a friend's party to join in the festivities.

In the back of a house full of people though, it was hard to actually follow the game. I drifted into a rather lively chat with a guy friend about New York, musicals, and other nonsense. I should have known better.

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The Best Day of My Life

Several weeks ago a friend of mine, one of those people who just radiates awesome, started saying that it was the best day of her life--every day. Every time someone would ask her how her day was, she responded that it was the best day of her life. That got me thinking.

Recently I've had a total change of attitude about my life. It's not that I know anything I didn't know before, but things just came together. Sources of emotional turmoil removed themselves one by one, and all of a sudden there were lily fields in West Texas instead of the endless desert I had been trodding on for the past few years--flat lily fields, but lily fields nonetheless. To see the place I live in that light is essential for my happiness, since I am very much a frolicker, and you just can't do that in the desert. West Texas is finally my home, and the work I am doing is a privilege and not a duty. Even if there isn't one person here who completely understands me, there are plenty who appreciate me, and I love them dearly.

It's easier to smile (not that I didn't before, it just took effort), it's easier to sleep, I can be loud or dorky without worrying too much that I'm making a bad impression. And I finally understand what it's like to be tried by faith, and after a time see the rewards of persevering. I can't say I've gone through anything extreme, just a collection of "one thing after another" trials that continually threw me off balance, but it is a marvelous feeling to see that principle at work in my life. Life still has it's share of challenges, but for the first time since I moved out here I can say that I am unequivocally happy.

And I've been thinking about this "best day of my life" business. I understand there will always be those days when terrible things happen, or we make terrible mistakes. I understand that some of us must face uniquely difficult challenges in life. But aside from those (or perhaps even in spite of those), shouldn't every day be the best day of our lives? For the past couple of weeks I've been telling myself every day that it is the best day of my life. And it's true. I am a day wiser than I was every 24 hours previously. Even if something super awesome happened a week ago, I still have it in my memories. Even if I wasn't in the best mood, or had a stressful day at work, I can sigh with relief in the evening, acknowledge that I did at least one worthwhile thing, and think about how I am still moving in the right direction, how much better tomorrow will be.

So folks, I was tired all day, had bad hair, and felt fat, but today was the best day of my life!

Foot in the Mouth

I recently visited a friend in another state and had a blast hiking, enjoying nature, and just hanging out. There is one incident however, that has risen to the forefront of my memory, to my mortification. My friend's mom likes to have friends over for dinner, and on Sunday evening their neighbors came over to eat with us. They were a nice family, and we had a nice dinner. I noticed that something about the way one of their sons (probably in his mid-twenties) talked was a little off, but I didn't pay much attention to it.

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I think we've all arrived at a very special place...spiritually, ecumenically, grammatically.

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