this is ridiculous

please note the time of this post and realize that my alarm is going off at 5:30 this morning.

why does my body hate me so?

or is my brain the hater here?

welcome to autumn - for once the weather checked the calendar and as we shifted from august to september, the temperature dropped and everything took on the flavor of fall. excellent. made the camping for gratis fest a bit tricky, but over all an amazing weekend. a full report will have to wait for another time as i don't want to write until i'm sure i can do it justice. and the (hopefully) minutes before i fall asleep are not it.

found an email from a parent in my school account, forwarded from one of the counselors. he doesn't feel tuesdays with morrie to be an appropriate book for his daughter to read. and the reason broke my heart - her mom died this summer. i cannot imagine dealing with that at sixteen. i cannot imagine dealing with it at any age. so i'm racking my brain for an alternate read for her, but all i can think is that maybe she should read the book. i understand the father's concern and i'm not going to force her to read it given the circumstances. but rereading it tonight i could see it helping her deal with her loss, figure out some of the questions raised with these recent events. as much as the book is looked down in some circles, the lessons and the story contained inside are inspirational. and while it may not be "great literature" (whatever that means), it does raise the important questions of life, the ones we should focus on, the ones we in education sometimes do all we can to avoid. sure, it's a bit schmaltzy at times. but then so is life. and as i grow (older? wiser?), i think i want to err on the side of schmaltz.

dang it all. this isn't putting me to sleep. figures.

great dinner with the novotnis, ferrells, oster/ogles, gina and various random vc people. intelligent conversation, tasty grilled meats and a golden sunset perfectly ending the evening and the summer. steve and i talked about bit about house church and what we'd like to see and i'm curious to see what God does. they're not long for this particular space, their hearts searching for God's next adventure in their lives. and me, i'm sending down deep roots, desiring this place to be a part of my life for a long time. tensions. but good ones, methinks.

ok, i need to go at least pretend like i'm sleeping. then maybe the real thing will sneak up on me. tomorrow's work day is going to be a l-o-n-g one with no sleep....
Æ

Tunes: big star - life is white