mid-summer break.

I had a little time away this weekend.  Four days in Omaha was just what I needed. 

Some time with old friends helped me remember who I was and who I've become.  It replenished friendships that had been temporarily left behind, but hopefully that will continue on until we're old.  We've decided to sit on our front porches together and knit our way through our retirement - it's weekends like these that make that a real possibility :)

After talking to Julia for hours upon hours this weekend, she pointed out that the reason I've been considering quitting everything is not because I don't want to do those things, but because there is so much going on that I haven't been able to enjoy them.  Now I must choose what to eliminate/reduce in my life so that school and work can no longer consume it.

It's true that I haven't had time to really think.  I've been merely getting my coursework done to get it done.  I've been going to work just to get home again.  While I enjoy my jobs, they have slowly become only responsibilities, a way to pay the bills, rather than something I really want to do.  Clearly I need to do some reevaluating.  In the meantime, I am going to enjoy the friends I have here in Chicago, maintain the friendships I have at a distance, and put God in the forefront of it all.

L-O-V-E - that's what the day was all about :)