Maurice

Back in January, I fell in love with the author Maurice Sendak, after watching an interview (part 1 and part 2) of him with Stephen Colbert. He is best known for writing and illustrating Where Wild Things Are. I was very sad to hear he passed away yesterday but last night Colbert played a video tribute (watch here) with some more footage from his interviews. Here is my favorite exchange between them.

Colbert: What's the best thing a parent can do for their child?
Sendak: Love him/her
Colbert: What does that mean?
Sendak: Take them for what they are.

Maurice Sendak was a truly amazing author and artist. I look forward to one day giving my children his books.

Hooray

It feels so good to be done with my first year PA school. Two years from now I will be graduating. It has been the two craziest semesters of my life but I live to tell the tale. My biggest obstacle was definitely pharmacology.  I haven't been so happy to be done with a class since the end of organic chemistry lab (see below). A little background on this pic, I decided to take the ochem lab during the summer, meaning you take the course in twice the time. It was also one of my last classes before graduating. I was in the lab almost every day including six hours on Fridays. Plus you had to do make up labs if you didn't do it right the first time (which was always the case). On top of that, there was an insane amount of homework, quizzes and tests. It was basically a full time job. I managed to capture one of the happiest moments of my life and now every time I am not sure if I am going to make it through school, I look at this picture for motivation. 

4 years ago

The last four years have flown by. Wish I could say I was all dressed up and headed out for a night on the town to celebrate, but once again school has succeeded in ruining my life. The reality is I am curled up on the couch, in my pjs with a box of cheez-its, studying for my pathology final tomorrow. On the bright side, in a few weeks, we will be back in Jamaica where we got married. For today, a trip down memory lane will have to suffice.

Nervous hands

Not so nervous groom

Happy Anniversary Taylor! I wouldn't be where I am today without you.

Flashback

My mom is searching for a new school, for my little brother Max. Yesterday she took him to look at my old school, Shepherd of the Hills. She visited one of my elementary teachers and this picture, of her favorite fourth grade class, was sitting on her desk. (ok, we were also the first class she ever taught)

Last summer one of our favorite teachers retired so we had a reunion.

 

Self-Betrayal

I recieved my bachelors degree at BYU, in Environmental Science.  Every semester, my schedule was full of classes such as air quality, environmental biology, soil science, environmental law, ecology, etc. Most days I left class feeling completely disappointed in people and all the ways we are destroying the environment and ourselves (if interested, read Collapse by Jared Diamond) I believe it was my second semester of freshman year when I banned all plastic and paper products. The banned list would eventually become very long including, but not limited to, elevators, automatic doors, charcoal cooked food, perfect produce, and for a time, products from China. Even when I would visit my family on breaks, they would respectfully hide their plastic cups and plates and use regular ones. Then my senior year I took microbiology. If you have a family history of OCD, you really should avoid this class. They send you home with swabs to test things, and then bring them back to the lab to culture and use the microscopes to see what you find. I learned that hand towels are disgusting. I now allow myself one costco bag of paper towels per year. I die a little inside every time I use one, but some things just need to be cleaned with a paper towel!

The Emily in this pic would beat me up.

Novel Quotes

I have not had very much going on the last couple weeks in school. It has been the calm before the storm that will ensue with finals quickly approaching. With all my extra free time I flew through four wonderful books. I have always held the greatest respect for my books. I think it is a mortal sin to fold the corner of a page or scribble in it. But my sister recently recommended that I highlight or underline my favorite lines. She says once you do that, the book truly becomes yours. Reading always gives me so much I want to write about but since I know I am not going to have the time, I thought I would share some of my favorite quotes from these books.

“I don't want to be married just to be married. I can't think of anything lonelier than spending the rest of my life with someone I can't talk to, or worse, someone I can't be silent with.” -Mary Ann Shaffer, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books.” - Mary Ann Shaffer, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society  

“Naturally curly hair is a curse, and don't ever let anyone tell you different.” -Mary Ann Shaffer, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“I am old enough to know only too well my good and bad qualities, which were often one in the same.” -Lisa See, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan   

“Read a thousand books, and your words will flow like a river.” -Lisa See, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan  

“When I knew I couldn't suffer another moment of pain, and tears fell on my bloody bindings, my mother spoke softly into my ear, encouraging me to go one more hour, one more day, one more week, reminding me of the rewards I would have if I carried on a little longer. In this way, she taught me how to endure--not just the physical trials of footbinding and childbearing but the more tortuous pain of the heart, mind, and soul. She was also pointing out my defects and teaching me how to use them to my benefit. In our country, we call this type of mother love teng ai. My son has told me that in men's writing it is composed of two characters. The first means pain; the second means love. That is a mother's love.” -Lisa See, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

"And when I went to sit down on the edge of the bed, that's when it started pouring out of me, all the water, pouring stead and hard, slippery down my legs, and for a second, I worried that I was having a fish, not a baby."-Sheri Reynolds, The Rapture of Canaan

“There's only so much room in one heart. You can fill it up with love or you can fill it with resentment. But every bit of resentment you hold takes space away from the love. And the resentment don't do no good noway, but look what love can do.” -Sheri Reynolds, The Rapture of Canaan

Day at NASCAR

Before my friends and family disown me, I will explain why I was at NASCAR yesterday. My PA class worked a concession stand at the race to raise money. I am the activity chair for my class which entails planning activities and fundraising for a big party at the end of school. I have been working on this event and dreading this day for weeks! I was very nervous about being the team lead and getting through it all with 30+ of my classmates but I really surprised myself and it turned out to be a pretty good day.

Before yesterday, you could not have paid me to go to NASCAR but it wasn't as bad as I thought. When the race started the noise level was unbelievable. I ran out to see and when all the race cars drove by, the stadium shook and the thousands of fan were on their feet screaming on top of all the noise of the cars. It was very exciting. Don't get me wrong, it got boring fast. But if you ever do get a chance to go, the first ten minutes will be worth it.

It was an incredibly long day. I was on my feet for thirteen hours and I have seven blisters to show for it. It gave me a huge appreciation for what Taylor does every day. He worked at NASCAR for eighteen hours, so I really can't feel too sorry for myself. I can better empathize with him and the hard work that he does. I have spent all of today just trying to recover. I can't find one muscle that doesn't hurt.

Before the race, I managed to sneak my way into the inner circle, through the car pit and into the VIP party to visit Taylor and grab some yummy sandwiches.