i sing, i dance, i fall down

it seems i can only post 9 entries a month, according to my posting history, so i'm going to keep it that way.

i now have officially less than a week until i leave for yellowstone national park to begin my summer employment. my dad has decided to make the trek with me! this is a huge weight off my shoulders. in a way i was looking forward to driving by myself, but i was nervous about the distance and length of driving days. now i will have someone to keep me company and take over driving when i get tired. plus i will not have to talk to myself, and scare other drivers around me with the faces i make when i am alone.

i have a few items on my to do list, including some shopping and packing. i still need to get an oil change and vaccum the tacks out of my car. my main concern right now is finding a laptop, as it the only means of communication i will have with the outside world. this has been a constant prayer of mine, and i am trusting that God will provide one for me.

my friend graduated from nursing school yesterday, and i am so proud of her.

jen has fibromatosis, her body grows tumors, many of which are around her spine. she has had many surgeries to remove the tumors. she has also had surgery to place metals rods in her back. it has been a long and painful road, and it's not over. but you would never know, looking at jen, that she has gone through so much.

jen always has a smile on her face, she is always laughing and poking fun at herself. she is so filled with joy that not even pain can remove that smile. this joy only comes from one source, her saviour Jesus Christ. jen will be the first person to tell you about him.

to be a great nurse, you have to know what it's like to be a patient. i know jen with be a great nurse, because she knows how it is to be a patient. she brings that infectious joy into everything she does.

i recently added another hole to my face. my nose now sports a stud the sparkles in rainbow hue. my parents were adament about not going through with it. my mom said no, my dad said over his dead body.

i did it anyway.

not to spite, or show that i do my own thing. i didn't mean it as an act of defiance. i'm not a rebel.

it was a bonding experience. i went with my best friends, we did this together. my friend michelle has never had her ears pierced. that turned into my friend rachel wanting to get something pierced, i suggested the nose. we experimented with eye liner. drawing vaious spots on our faces we thought might be appropriate. it made for a fun game. we talked for weeks, building up the proper enthusiasum. between the desicion to go through with it and the actual event, i talked myself out of it too many times. i went back in forth; do it, don't do it, do it...

the day arrived, and i had decided i would go for support, not to participate. i went through the script i had rehearsed in my head. i can't afford it, or my job won't let me are two of the excuses i was sticking with. the whole ride there i sweated, wringing my hands together. i told the girls i couldn't go through with it, and gave them the speech. they protested, and loudly. meg even got mad. fine, i'll do it, was the ultimate answer.

during the wait to get pierced, i had to hold my head between my knees. i kept asking myself why i was doing this. we were led to the back room, and i was told to get up on the chair. he spent his time gathering his tools, and making sure everything was sterilized. that made me feel alittle better. he then snapped on his gloves, made a few noises, and before i could blink, i had a nose piercing. it didn't even hurt.

it looks very classy, that's what my mom said to me when she found out. my dad was silent. eventually he came around. after we read in church about issac's search for rebecca, and how the servant, who was sent to fetch her, gave her a nose ring...

i just realized i leave for yellowstone exactly three weeks from today! i'm getting nervous, not the "i don't want to go" nervous, but the "i can't believe it's coming so soon" nervous. i have so much to do in such a short time.

i can only pray that God will calm my nerves, and that i can enjoy my time left with my family and friends.

and life lessons from Dr. Quinn. you know, that family friendly show featuring a female doctor post civil war. add some orphans and a buckskin clad mountain man, and you have the makings of an hour of goodliness.

the town is filled with interesting characters, all who seemingly sit around with nothing to do until there's a crisis. there's jake, who is a barber, and hank who runs the saloon with myra, the whore. horace runs the post office, and is madly in love with myra, the whore. loren runs the general store with miss dorothy, whom loren has the hots for. miss dorothy runs the gazette. the reverend is just what you would assume him to be, a man of the cloth.

the main girl, dr mike, is a doctor from boston who came west to help the people of colorado springs. mike winds up with three kids when her friend passes away. then there's sully, a man that has many layers to his soul. he let's dr. mike stay in his lean-to because he no longer needs it for his dead wife and child.

every episode features a medical emergency and a personal crisis for dr. mike or a member of her family. both situations intertwine around each other. what gets me is that the moment somebody rushes into town shouting "help" or "dr. mike!", the townspeople leave whatever they are doing and rush to help.

thats it, no questions asked, they just leap up and away they go. no excuses, no shortstopping, no "i gotta do this first...". their reaction is immediate. nothing could be more important than helping in a time of trial. i think of the times someone has asked for my help with something, and i've blown them off, or i took my time helping. maybe it's because i don't think anybody's crisis could be as bad as my own. to just jump when someone says "help", i think that is pretty cool...

props to you, citizens of colorado springs, fiction though you may be.