Aurora Borealis

The last time I went to the River Valley Bank drive through, I was left with the irritating farewell of, "Have an incredible day!"  Really?  "Have an 'incredible' day?"  Wow!  When was the last time I had an "incredible" day?

Well, I stewed on this for awhile.  At first I thought, the last time I had an "incredible" day was the day Brittany was born, 14 years ago!  Every day since has been rather boring, routine, mundane. I've had plenty of incredibly "bad" days, that's for sure.  I thought about my mom's illness, my sister's divorce, the problems with my own kids, the struggles with my work, and I thought, "yes, I have had many "incredibly" BAD days, thank you!  And, with going to work, laundry, grocery shopping, vacuuming, changing sheets, dusting, window cleaning, and all the minutia of life, every day is just "average" at best.  Or so I thought...

When I was driving home from work last night thinking about this, all of a sudden, the sky filled with light.  The light was rolling wave upon wave, different colors, pink, green, yellow, white....Then up and down steaks, like the kind left-over from fireworks, then horizontal steaks, like the kinds waves would make.  Suddenly, I realized I was witnessing the "Aurora Borealis."  The "Northern Lights."  I turned my radio off.  I didn't want anything to distract me from this view. 

I suddenly felt humbled. I felt ashamed.  How could I think that I haven't had an "incredible" day!  God has given me incredible days and moments every day of my life! What about the time Kayla sang "The Chipmunk" song solo when she was 4 years old?  What about the time Tyler woke up and told me about his dream when he was only two?  What about the days when Brittany smiled when Tyler walked into the room and she would run and grab his hand and look up and smile and play with him all day long?  What about the time my dad fell in love again and got married and I saw him truly happy again?  What about the day my sister had two baby girls after being told she would never, ever get pregnant?   What about the time my brother and his new wife had their baby boy after giving up hope and deciding to adopt?  What about the time Tom looked at me and asked me to go to the high school dance with him when I was only 15 years old, and told me that he loved me a few years later?

These are just a few, a fraction, a rare glimpse, into the number of "incredible" days or moments I've had. There are too many to list! How dare I scoff at the River Valley Bank tellers for their prescribed recital of "Have an incredible day."  What gall I have!

God showed me this night, though the Northern Lights, that each day holds something incredible.  And I hope, Kayla, you are never so ungrateful or unaware like I am, to think that your life is average and ordinary.  I hope you hear God every morning and are filled with the understanding that each day is incredible!

I think the River Valley Bank girls are spot on!  To all:  "Have an INCREDIBLE day!"

That's The Way It Is....

Why haven't we blogged lately?  It's like anything else (especially exercise), once you get out of the routine of doing it, it gets hard to get back into the routine.  So, what's happened since the last blog?  Well, the Christmas Holiday was fun, relaxing, fueled with good food and treats.  I really hated for that season to end and I had a hard time taking down the tree and the decorations.  It signalled the end of relaxing, and the beginning of "back to work." 

I brought Kayla back to school in early January to begin her 2nd semester of Freshman year.  I was not surprised that we saw other students getting out of the car with only a backpack and a duffel bag, but not for Kayla.  No, No.  We had to borrow a laundry cart to fit everything she brought back to college for her last semester in the cities.  Suitcases of clothes, bags of food, a TV, more clothes, boots, laptop, and all of the Christmas presents that would help her make her last semester in the Twin Cities dorm more do-able.

For me, this time of year is my busiest time with my work.  I spend the first 8 weeks of my semester trying to just stay caught up with lessons, grading papers, preparing labs, etc.  I can't believe that it is March and we haven't blogged.  We kept meaning to, it's just hard to get back in the swing of things.

Saddest thing to happen lately...Kayla went to Chicago to meet Taylor and Dakota for the Kesha concert.  Unfortunately, the Amtrak train was late and the girls missed the concert.  It was one of the few times where Kayla was so sad, yet there was absolutely nothing I could do to "fix it."  I guess, "that's the way it is."

When Kayla was 8 and was diagnosed with diabetes, I remember that sad feeling of knowing there's nothing I can do to fix it.  I will always remember the day I drove her home from the hospital.  It was just me and her in the car, and on the radio came the JoDee Messina song, "That's the way it is."  Since that day, that has sort of been "our" song.  So, Kayla, I'm sure this song doesn't compare to "We R Who We R" but, just try it.  It might make you feel a little better...

Click on this link:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReBk36jv35g

Second Semester is here! In March....

I sincerely apologize to the many groupies who love us so much and have been disappointed by the lack of blog for, well...2 and a half months. I'm sorry! Don't disown me! I'll make up for it in this one. (Meaning, I'll blog as I usually would, you'll read it as you usually would, you'll forgive me, and continue to follow like the devoted fan that you are.) All is well. And, on my behalf, my last blog in December was criticized for being "too long." You know who you are, (insert squinty-eyed smug-faced emoticon here). I'll proceed...

Second semester is well under way, so I'll do a quick run down of my new-to-you classes.
(Oh, and as a disclaimer, I know my schedule rocks and looks easy-no Monday or Friday classes- but even though my actual "class time" is not overwhelming in the least, the following classes PLUS the research thing equals a lot of work. Case and point: I haven't even got to watch Modern Family OR American Idol OR Desperate Housewives in 3 weeks. Sad...)
Evolution and the Biology of Sex Well, it's just as it sounds! I have this on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the morning, and I thoroughly enjoy lecture (usually) because it involves me sitting in one of the coolest new buildings on campus drinking coffee and listening to my very funny and relatable professor talk about science in the context of sex. The content isn't super hard, it's an intro Bio course so it's a lot of mitosis, genetics, etc., but she also throws in some sexual dimorphism and homosexuality hypotheses. Throughout the course, we are trying to scientifically answer why, evolutionally, sex exists. (As one girl responded in my lecture on the first day, "To get back at somebody!" Okaaayyy...)
Spanish Communication and Composition Sadly, so so sadly, this is not my favorite class. I don't mind the homework and readings, it's basically a literature/writing/history course taught in Spanish, instead of just grammar, which is very different from the past 5 years of Spanish I've taken, but I just don't understand the point of going to class. I wish I could tell you what we do in class that's challenging and beneficial, but I just don't know. On a good note though, my teacher is extremely sweet, from Venezuela, and knows Spanish like none other, which means that her fluent, rapid, and very authentic speech has improved my listening skills even more. Alright sweet, that'll my new point of going class. :)
American Democracy in a Changing World Difficult!! For a Pol 101 class, this class is very deep and intellectual, and being that I didn't even know the differences between the Republican and Democratic parties until this fall (I know, embarrassing. Mom, Dad...talk to the siblings about this subject pronto!), it is definitely my most challenging class. And the most difficult to force myself to go to...considering it's from 6:30 to 9 pm on Tuesdays, so late! I'm learning a lot, but right now, I find myself only wanting to talk about Scott Walker and his psycho dictatorship ways... I best end this here.
College Algebra and Probability Okay so I thought this was going to be easy, I mean it's algebra, right? Wrong. First, this is a correspondence class which means I teach myself, and second, college algebra isn't even on the same field as high school algebra. At least at the U of M it isn't. So this class takes a significant amount of time for assignments, and I really have to be self disciplined. I'm working on it...
Research Long story short, I was 1 out of 50 freshman chosen to assist professors in their research as part of something called "CLA Freshman Awards Program." I'm working, along with a few other girls, with a professor in the Department of Speech-Hearing-Language Sciences on a research experiment. It involves young children and their repetition of non-words. I have weekly lab meetings for this, and the assignments we receive require sufficient time, so since I am getting paid for it, I treat it as my job.

And there you have it. After 8 weeks of these, I am now a mere 9 days from a highly-anticipated Spring Break back home. Spring Break will also mark the last "break" where I will be returning to Minnesota afterwards. For those of you who are unaware, I am transferring to UW- La Crosse next fall, and I'm very very excited. It's actually kinda cool...I get to experience 2 colleges! That's 1 more than most people and 2 more than many other people! My reasons are varied, from me realizing I'm more of a city-visitor, not a city-dweller; missing my home state and the authentic Wisconsin environment; Minnesota not offering a Bachelor's program for education; and finding out the the 2nd biggest college campus in the nation was in fact, not what I prefer. Don't get me wrong, I'll never ever regret my decision to experience a Big 10 School my freshman year, and I'm relishing my last months here as much as I possibly can, (ie: whole-heartedly taking on the persona of, excuse my language, a "club whore.") All I know is that even though I realized this isn't where I'm supposed to be in the future, it's where I'm supposed to be now, because more than anything, I can feel myself maturing and growing as a person more than I ever could have imagined.

And really, what are the chances that someone picks the right college on the first try? There are 2,474 four-year higher-education institutions in the nation...I mean that's only a .04% chance!

The Annual Christmas Card

Once again it's time to create our annual family Christmas card.  As usual, I'm running late.  I procrastinate every year, because I always argue with myself on doing the card.  Should I just send a plain Christmas card and sign our names?  Well, what about the people who I don't see but I like to keep in touch with?  I should write a little update of what's been happening with our family.  If I do that, it'll take me forever to write in people's cards.  Maybe I should do a Christmas letter?  Well, if I do that, it always has a tendency to come across as "bragging" and the whole year sounds fake and fabulous.  But, then again, why would I write about the bad stuff that happens?  Everyone has bad times and nobody wants to hear about other peoples problems, they have problems of their own.  Everyone does.  So, the letter will just have the highlights of the year.  But, what about a picture?  Do we have a picture of all 5 of us? 

This train of thought made me consider not doing a Christmas card this year, but, then each time I get a card in the mail, I feel guilty.  So, two nights ago, I went on-line and finally made a Christmas card with a picture and a Christmas letter.  I ordered it, and it will arrive on December 20.  By the time people get it, people will be taking their cards down.

Oh well, better late than never. 

Maybe next year I should just resolve that I will do a card and start working on the card early in November.  Besides, I like having the cards.  They make good memories of us and they're fun to look back on.  Sometimes I am embarassed by what I put in the card, but, I still plug away at them each and every year.

Well, tomorrow I drive to Minneapolis to pick Kayla up for the winter break!  I am so excited!  We're going to a nice dinner, then to a play and I'll stay in the dorm with her for the night.  How cool is that!  On Friday we will stop and do some Christmas shopping on our way home.  It'll be the perfect start to the week before Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone!  (PS:  At least I don't make the family do crazy pictures like this...)

Snowpocalypse

"Snowstorm racks Minn.
In Minneapolis, 17.1 inches of snow fell, the fifth-highest total in city history."

Even if I hadn't woken up to this headline on the front page of The Minnesota Daily newspaper on Monday morning, I feel quite confident I would've been well aware that the metro was the target of a massive blizzard this past weekend...considering I became trapped in the dead eye of the historical storm that ultimately made sports history forever. Let's journey back to Saturday, December 11, 2010 shall we?

One of my best friends, lets call her Dakota, was visiting me for the weekend from UW-La Crosse and we had plans to travel to the nation's largest mall on Saturday to do our Christmas shopping. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into as soon as we stepped outside of Frontier Hall...

No, that's a lie. We knew. Considering the wind and snow made it nearly impossible to walk to the bus stop a few yards away from the dorm and the Rt 16 Bus even got stuck on the way to the lightrail station and we had to walk a block or so to the station, we knew it was just the beginning of a monster. Our thoughts were further confirmed when the lightrail was stuck for about 15 minutes on the tracks on the way to Mall of America. Alas, Christmas shopping needed to be done, Dakota wanted Johnny Rockets, and I needed a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory premium apple. Priorities people.

Fast-forward to 4:00 pm. The stores started to close, very "Titanic-esque" pulling down their gates to refuse customers any more service for "the safety of the employees." Just then, I received a text from a friend back on campus, "So...MetroTransit is suspended." (Note: MetroTransit is the ONLY public bus transportation system in the Twin Cities. They have a monopoly.) Thank God the lightrail is NOT included in this suspension, so we booked our butts and bags to the lightrail in the parking lot of the mall only to shove our way onto the train that has about 5X too many people. Here, we learned that the train has been sitting there for about 45 minures because oh, I don't know...there was a WRECK a little down the way! Eventually, the train started to move, and since the lightrail only goes downtown, not to campus, I texted my friends back in the dorm to look up the cab service numbers to send a cab downtown to pick us up. New Text Message: "No cabs are running. Some won't even pick up the phone." Alright, so now panic starts to insue. We are crammed into a tiny lightrail car with 100 other people, heading to a place that isn't even home and....the lightrail gets stuck, multiple times. Claustrophobia? Hey I'm Kayla, nice to meet you.

Part 2 of the journey begins when the lightrail finally gets us safely to the downtown stop. Some people on the train said they are going to walk back to campus so, instead of dropping $100 on a hotel for a night, we decide to attempt to make the trek and follow them.

Apparently these people are Olympic sprinters and hurdlers. As they bound over snowbanks and fly across snowy, icy, intersections, me and Dakota are panting far, far behind, tripping over our Uggs, nearly slipping on corners, shopping bags hitting our legs and further slowing us down. Funny, considering I'm so athletic and Dakota so nimble and quick...we get left in the dust, or in this case, powder. We trekked about a half hour and as we looked around, we realized we were in a scene from The Day After Tomorrow. People were walking in the middle of the road, cars in ditches and the few that were moving had tires stuck halfway into the snow. For a while, I knew what road we were on and kinda had some bearings, but then the city decided to be a brat and change Washington Ave into 4th St without any warning. With windblown faces, runny noses, freezing hands, soaking wet boots, and no sense of direction, we ducked into the sole establishment open on the street we were on, The Corner Bar.

We indulged in some refreshing beverages (pop), energy-enriched sandwiches (grilled cheese) and hot chili (yep, just hot chili.) We indulged very slowly, relishing each moment in the safety of indoors until we had paid our bill and had no choice but to embark back into the wretched environment outdoors. Using my context clues and a map of a random part of Minneapolis, I got us to the right road to get back to campus. Problem: it's an exit ramp. Solution: Being that there were no cars, we trekked and slid down the exit ramp, facing the would-be traffic head on. (Note: Dakota had fallen like 3 times at this point, at least this lightened the mood.)

Sweet victory. We saw, through the flurries, to an overpass that read "University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus." I literally screamed out in joy, "We made it!!" We then had to crawl underneath a fence and walk across the Mississippi River, but eventually we burst into Frontier Hall Rm 193, Christmas purchases in tow, with chilled bodies, stressed out minds, parched throats, and quite the story.

I end this post with some pictures: 1) An extremely flattering one of Dakota and I after we stripped off our durable, reliable winter jackets that got us through the storm, complete with appropriate facial expressions and a complete mat of icy, snarly hair on my head.

2) What happened shortly after, about 2 miles away from our dorm, to mark sports history forever as the day the Metrodome caved in and tore open.

3) TCF Bank stadium, about 2 blocks from our dorm, in the midst of being prepared today to host the Vikings and Bears in less than a week.

Mom comes tomorrow :) Safe to say I am ready to be home for the holidays.

“How far we travel in life matters far less than those we meet along the way.”-Anonymous


More or less, this past Monday I made it back from volunteering in one piece. And, being that I'm a huge believer in everything happening for a reason, I'm so happy I got mixed-up on the route home again, I met such an intriguing woman! Upon boarding the bus, I told the kind and cheery lady driving exactly where I needed to get off so she could maybe give me a warning. With a smile, she agreed. We began to talk, she asked me if I had just moved to the city (Gosh, am I really that obvious?) and I told her the abridged version of my life: From a small town in Wisconsin, here for school, studying Spanish, that's why I was way out at a bus stop in Northeast Minneapolis, etc. She then told me she happened to be from Eau Claire, and came to the cities a while ago to attend the U and study psychology. Never got to hear the end of that story, some new passengers boarded and were confused about the fare. Anyway, she pulled back onto the road and asked me if I had a computer, and proceeded to flash me the back of her clipboard that was covered by a sticker saying, "Need a Ride?" followed by a URL. "I have a blog," she told me, "It's called 'Picking Up Strangers' 'cuz, well, that's what I do!" I was instantly intrigued and began asking her about it. I then informed her that I, in fact, blogged also, and gave her a quick run down of Tale of Twin Cities. Surprisingly sad to end this bus ride, I thanked her, spread some holiday cheer her way, and couldn't wait to get on my laptop and check out her site. I spent at least an hour reading through months and months of her blogs, laughing at the crazy people she encounters, the contests she holds (this past one if you "found" her on a bus and told her a secret phrase the winner got a Brett Favre jersey--not that I woulda've wanted to win that one), knowing more about the routes (apparently route 2 is the one with crack heads on one side and college kids on the other), and some fun facts about Jeanne, The Happiest Metro-Transit Bus Driver: she likes to collect stuffed animals and bring them on her routes to give to little kids who get on. How cool! If you have some time, check it out, you won't want to stop reading about her encounters: http://www.pickingupstrangers.com/.


I'm getting so attached to my kids at the school! Cases and points: 1) This Monday, Enrique Iglesias was in town (screw being poor), and after I told the girls (yes there may have been some screams), we started talking about music. They ripped out a sheet of notebook paper and filled every line with their favorite Spanish songs that they insisted I download. My Recently Added playlist on the pod is now full of canciones nuevas. 2) As we were walking out to busses, I was talking to one of the girls about how I'll see her next year, to have a good Christmas, etc. My heart warms a little bit at what she said before we parted ways, in English: "Oh, um, I wanted to tell you that I think you got better at Spanish." Aww, I heart her. And, 3) One of the boys finally worked up the courage this week to yell across the room to me, "Ay, Senorita! You got a Facebook?" "Yesss..." "What's your Facebook name?" "Pablo I'm not allowed to add the students..." Something about those Latino boys... :)


Well, now that I'm all warmed up on my writing, I suppose I should start thinking about finals like the rest of the student body and start cranking out my final paper for my Latinos in the US course. How ironic that I hate this class to my core....

Beware of the Christmas Bell Ringers....

This time of year, when I see all of the Salvation Army bell ringers outside of the grocery stores and Wal-Marts, I think back to my first year of college.  I worked at the grocery store and there was an older guy, mid-50's I guess, who wore a Santa hat and rang the bell outside the store.  One night, I dropped in some change and struck up a conversation with him. As the weeks went on, I would talk to him on occassion.  For some odd reason, he asked for my phone number, and weirdly enough, I gave it to him.  My friends thought it was strange when he started to call me.  (So did I, but, I wasn't sure why.)  Then, he started to talk to me about his career.  He said he used to be a police chief in Detroit and he saw many things and he could tell me some stories that would really freak me out.  He said he was an ice fisher and he asked where I lived because he wanted to deliver some fish he caught to me.  At this point, my friends said he was a weirdo and I better stop communicating with him.  Then, one strange night came when he asked me to meet him for coffee at a local McDonalds.  I actually went to the McDonalds, with my friends secretly nearby.  The man told me that he had a surprise for me in the trunk of his car. He then proceeded to walk with me out into the dark parking lot, open up the trunk of his car, and he showed me some ice fishing supplies.  He also said that he had some long-underwear for me to wear, and he wanted to take me on an ice fishing trip.  He thought I should get into the back seat of his car and try on the long underwear.  Well, at that point, I gave my freinds the signal and they pulled up in their car and I jumped in and drove away.  I had to change my phone number and lay low for awhile so the guy couldn't contact me again.  I quit my job at the store, too.

Well, I share this story with you because it's just a weird memory I've always had of my college days.  I was way too innocent and almost got in some big trouble because of it. 

Anyhow, everytime I see the bell ringers for the Salvation Army this time of year, I think back to that story and that creepy, Santa hat, ice-fisher guy!