One of the 3 Hillsdale Engagements this weekend... some things never change!

This past weekend, one of my dearest friends got engaged to Matt, one of the kindest and most awesome guys ever. To say I am excited is an understatement.

Matt, her now fiance, is from the Chicago 'burbs too. They are in the same parish, although it was more through their parents matchmaking that they got to know each other. He surprised Julia on her way to confession on late Saturday afternoon. Then they went to 5 p.m. mass together and after mass, they prayed for a while until everyone was gone from the church. Then he proposed to her in the aisle. I can't think of a more perfect place for Julia to have been proposed at, or by a better guy. Maybe in Italy or at the Vatican, but that seems a little over the top. He said he felt bad crashing our Hillsdale weekend together, but I say, the more the merrier! Especially when fantastic engagements are afoot.


Julia and I met at mass too, our sophomore year. We had both been invited to Sigma Chi's formal and of the entire formal group, but only four of us went to mass the next morning. I didn't know her before that (she is a Pi Phi and I'm a Kappa), but we became friends in Birzer's Civil War class the following semester and besties after going to Notre Dame for research purposes.


When I called my family last night on my drive home, I told my 12-year-old brother the news, and he asked, "Is he Italian? Because nothing less will do!" I laughed and said no, even better-- he's Irish! Just like us. He said that would do too. So now Matt has Julia's parents approval, my approval and my 12-year-old brother's approval. Oh, and Julia's too, which I suppose is important.


My weekend at Hillsdale was short, but really wonderful. I saw more people than I planned; it was nice that so many people were excited to see me. I have a couple friends doing an extra semester, and am pretty close with a decent number of underclassmen and Kappas, as well as former professors and their families.

I especially loved the time I spent with my former advisor's family. I went to the five-year-old's soccer game in the morning, had dinner at their house that night and sat with them at mass in the morning. I am especially popular with the 3 and 5-year old, whom I carried and held hands with going up to communion. They rotated climbing into my lap and having me hold them during mass. It was really adorable. One of the funniest parts was after mass, though, happened when I was walking with the whole family to their van and the 3-year-old wouldn't get in the car.


"If you don't get in the car," said my advisor, "Julie is going to take you back to Ohio with her."


"Okay!" he said, and wrapped his body around my leg.


The ducklings (my collective nickname for my advisor's five kids) treat me like a human jungle gym, so I am surprised my body isn't sore today from having them climb all over me. Their favorite thing to do is flips (I hold their hands and bend my knees a bit for balance, and then they "climb" up my legs toward my torso and then flip over! They love it). I also found out that my siblings taught the kids how to play Mafia at my graduation night dinner and now they're teaching their cousins how to play. Glad we've been such a good influence on them! I owe the ducklings a round of hide and seek the next time I come in town. And let me tell you: ducklings never forget promises like that.


Today I am going to finish working on my grant proposal because, once I am done, my boss says I can go. It's nice and weird at the same time. I'm really leaving. The family is coming up till this weekend to get the last of my stuff/ furniture, so I am looking forward to getting my affairs in order, writing letters to people based on who will appreciate my Sunday Funnies stamps, sleeping [more] and reading. So I am essentially receiving a short but paid vacation.


Oh, and I'm going to start writing a speech about Julia for next October, when I will be a bridesmaid in her wedding. I think I'll start by telling the story about the night before we left for the March For Life junior year, and the two bottles of wine we consumed, even though we had to be at the bus by 4:30 a.m. Or when we used to make our bananas into bananaphones. Or champagne nights in the Arb. Or our retreat in Ann Arbor with the amazing Dominican Mary, Mother of the Eucharist nuns. Or the night Bear and I met Matt for the first time in Chicago at the Elephant and Castle, and teased him the entire time. Or our epic quest for a hotdog in D.C. Or--well, I shan't spoil the all surprises. After all, what are besties for?

Good Night, Moon

Well, I did get a "warrant" for my arrest on Thursday, but if the real po-po haven't caught up with me yet, I certainly was not about to give up my freedom easily to fraternity men on campus. Besides, I was babysitting/ putting my adviser's kids to bed. Babysitting them is always wonderful in the sense that they are like a second family to me. I love them dearly and I know they love me too, but it can also be difficult because, as I have to do with my own siblings occasionally, I have to deal with the hated activity of bed time.

I can sympathize with the little ones because I, too, hated bed time as a child--and now, for that matter, as a 21 year old. My parents call me a "night owl" since I love being up late. It's my favorite time of the day. I remember lying in bed at my childhood home, staring out my window, watching the moon and making up stories about what I'd do if I ever went there. Since high school, however, I can physically no longer fall asleep before midnight. My parents thought it was because of my lacrosse schedule (something about my body's clock in relation to practice and eating and homework), but in college it persisted as well, much to my sleep schedule's chagrin. College is all ready a different schedule and having to balance sleeping and everything else has proved a challenge.

I love sleep. I really do, despite my lack of getting it. I love getting up early and having an overly-productive day. Sleeping in is also a favorite activity, but not a frequent one. The only stable is that I stay up late, studying when no one else is awake, feeling like I'm capturing stolen time while reading or writing away. My dad always teases me that I can fit more social activities into one day than most can in a week, but I think that's why I like the night so much--people go away, and I find myself reveling in a content solitude gives one that can't quite be matched. That being said, I still prefer studying in silence with another person, but I do not think that completely negates my preference for solitude argument.

That being said, it should be a surprise to hear that I was in bed before midnight last night. This week was that exhausting. The American Studies BBQ went really well (I shared Kilmer's poem "Trees" ), Mock Rock was fabulous (more on that later) and I got to hang out with Vivy until I decided to not side-step three parties and opt for my bed instead. That will definitely not be happening again tonight.

I talked to my cousin for a while this morning and she told me how she recorded her voice for her nephew-to-be, reading lots of children's books to him, like Martha and George, Harold and the Purple Crayon and Good Night, Moon. Afterwards, I packed up to go up the hill, walked a bit at Relay for Life with Brynna and am about to leave the library with my books and papers to write two papers (4-5 pages and 3 pages, respectively), which I plan on starting AND finishing today. Later I'll have to find someone to take me to the store to buy a few things for my Little. I would ride my bike, but I think it's a little far for that. It sounds busy, but I think I can do it all. Wish me luck!

Also, the greatest book to read when one can't sleep is "We Can't Sleep" by James Stevenson. I need to invest in another copy or go home and re-claim it.

Happy Sir Arthur Guinness Day!

Tonight at 10 I shall be drinking Guinness with friends. It sounds like such a deliciously good time that I can hardly keep from smiling. I'll be in the library all day, finishing up my Birzer precis and annotated bibliography. (Ahh! It will be done!!) Dr. Somerville is giving a talk at 4 in Mossey on Flannery O'Connor (!), Walker Percy, Richard Ford and Don Delillo, which should be excellent. Kappa's scholarship formal dinner is tonight at 6, babysitting the Siegels at 7:30 and then over to my friends's house to drink Guinness and enjoy life for an hour before academics coerce me back up the hill.

Tonight is also Sigma Chi's Jail 'n Bail for Derby Days. I have not been issued a "warrent" yet, so I'm probably in the clear. I remember I was supposed to meet my Big last year and I ended up getting jailed and having to call her not only to let her know I would be late but, oh, would you mind popping by the union and paying for my release? I think it was a big step in our relationship. I'm really hoping I don't get jailed, although it would not be the end of the world if I did. More of an inconvience or a hilarious misunderstanding than anything else.

I read 2 Timothy this morning in the blue room. It's short, but it's one of my favorite books in the Bible. Favorite verses include:
--"He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began." (1:9)
--"You have followed my teaching, way of life, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, and sufferings...Yet from all these things the Lord delivered me. In fact, all who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted....But you, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known [the] sacred scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." (3:10-12, 14-15)
--"I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith." (4:7)

Yesterday, many good things happened and a few bad things, too, but c'est la vie! It keeps life in perspective. It's important to see all as necessary for growth as a person and growth in Jesus Christ, even when you make mistakes. I'm becoming more and more convicted that there are few regrets that I have that are actually regrettable; most are just embaressments to my pride which have helped me come out on top in other situations. Do you agree? Do you too think everything happens for a reason? Is not only important to see life as wonderful but to recognize what Eliot too saw--the boredom, the horror, and the glory--wholly encompassed in one great and divine at the core, if not lost and misunderstood at the top?

Happy day, friends! Be sure to drink a Guinness or two for good measure. I recommend from the tap, if you can.