A Call to the Twenty-Somethings

Whoever said the 20s were their best years was seriously messed up.

I have friends going overseas for the summer. When they get back, they don't know where they'll work, or even where they'll live.

I have a friend living hours from her fiancé. She's moving soon, but doesn't know where she'll work, or even where she'll live.

I have a friend who just lost her new job because of something silly. She's just gotten married and decided to go back to school, and the loss of a job makes things even tighter than they were.

I have friends buying homes for the first time, or choosing not to buy, because life is too uncertain to put down roots just yet.

I have friends with unexpected honeymoon babies, and friends just getting on the roller coaster of trying for a baby.

The 20s stink.

And where am I in all this? I'm at the realization that getting out of college was not the end of the maze like I thought it might be. There are still new and unknown options at every turn. Which ones lead to dead ends? I don't know. Ask me where I'll be in 5 years, and I have no idea.

The 20s are the years when you notice your knees starting to hurt, you have a little trouble focusing quickly, and you can't keep up in ultimate frisbee. The 20s are the years when you look at accomplished people, realize they're your age, and wonder how you missed that boat. The 20s are the years when you figure out why so many people drink coffee in the morning, because there's no other way you could look like you've got it together when you walk through the office door at 8am.

The 20s are the end of the beginning, and the beginning of the end. They're the end of all the training, all the nurturing, all the care. They're the fall-or-fly, sink-or-swim period where our parents look on with their breath held, hoping and praying that all the choices and turns they made in their own mazes got them to the end result of well-balanced and capable children.

But the 20s are also the beginning. We spread our wings. We soar for the first time in our lives. We make decisions on our own, and as scary as they are, we find we can make good decisions.

We begin to realize our worth as people. We have the faint realization that it's not the youth who can change the world, but us. We are the new business world, the new media, the new society. We are shaping our professions into what they will become. We are shaping society into what it will become.

We are faced with two very clear choices in our maze: the path of mediocrity, or the path of passion. Follow the first, and our world never changes. Follow the second, and there will never be a calm moment in your life.

But then again, the world will never be the same either.

Initiations, of sorts

The past few days have been a series of initiations in our little family.

For Friday:


The bath is not his initiation. He's had baths since day one.

No, today was the day of the first hairball.

He managed to get it all over himself, hence the bath. But Friday is now a true cat, hairball and all. You'll notice Jon's wet shirt. I remember the days when I could wash Friday holding him in one hand and the soap in the other, but not anymore. Bathtime is a two person job now! He also only required one hand towel to dry off. Now he soaks a full-sized bath towel.

For Jon:


I know this is a picture of Friday again, but he's sitting in what became a barbecue grill. Jon is now one step closer to the American dream: a wife, .3 kids (Friday), and a grill in the backyard. :) Somehow I forgot to take a picture of the grill all put together, but it looks nice and makes good burgers!

For Lydia:


I'm not sure what my initiation is...maybe the first time to cry over a piece of wood? This is what happens when the strap falls off the guitar. It was through no fault of my own, but that didn't make it any less broken. However, a very skilled person is taking care of my guitar now, and it's actually fixable!

So we've got a hairball, a barbecue grill, and a broken guitar. There you have it--an update on our life. :)

Buddy is coming to visit the Norvell Duplex 'o Fun pretty soon! We're looking forward to it, and praying the two cats get along!

Sunflower-cide

Jon just ran over my sunflowers with the mower. It's kinda funny actually--we went out there together and talked about how to mow around the sunflowers (they're about 5 in. tall right now). I watched out the window as he carefully moved all the pots and benches, and then mowed the whole thing down.

I almost ran outside to yell at him, but decided to stay inside and see what his face looked like when he figured it out for himself. He backed up the mower to take another swipe at it, and all of the sudden his eyes got really big and he started yelling. It was so funny, I ran outside laughing and saying, "It's okay! I can plant more!!"

He looked from the beheaded plants to me and said, "I've committed sunflower-cide!" It was just too funny to be mad at him. Now I'll just start over again, only this time maybe in a pot. :)