Ageism?

People can never guess my age. When I was 17, everyone thought I was 13. When I was 21, everyone thought I was 18. And now that I’m 23, I still get confused for a 20 year old, but I don’t get offended anymore. I’m told that when I’m 40, and everyone thinks I’m 30, I’ll even appreciate it. We’ll see.

I found a place to live. I live with four incredible girls in a quiet neighborhood about 15 minutes outside of downtown. We share a 5 bedroom house, 2 dogs, and a cat. We’ve got a lot going on. Everyone has their own transportation, and everyone (except me) has at least 2-3 jobs. When I first moved in, I asked my new roomies about our neighbors, and they all said that there’s been a good relationship with most, but that all changed this weekend.

Saturday, my car spent the day parked in front of our neighbor’s house, opposite the flow of traffic. We walk out to my car that night to a note that says “DID YOU GO TO DRIVING SCHOOL? TELL N* I’VE HAD IT!” Ok, in my opinion, that seems a little intense for the situation…especially because he’s never mentioned it to her before. I moved my car, and the next day wrote an apologetic letter introducing myself, including my phone number, and asking to make sure that this “incident” doesn’t affect the way he views our landlord/roommate, or our house in general. Nice try, Cathy.

Yesterday, the kid of our neighbor drops a note in our mailbox. He told N* he’s not happy as a neighbor, and here are some of his concerns:
- having 5 cars parked in front of the house…this is a neighborhood, not a parking lot
- barking dogs
- finding her roommates on Craigslist…we could be anybody, and he fears for the safety of his children
- the condition of the front lawn…we need to turn on our sprinklers
- if she needs roommates to help pay the mortgage, maybe she should’ve thought about that before she bought her house

As if any of the above-mentioned items are any of his business. I think the thing that frustrates me the most is that, instead of walking over himself to talk to the roommates, he passive-aggressively sent his own child to deliver a letter. It’s not fair to be judged based on your age. It’s just like when the sales associate at a store ignores your presence because you look too young to be seriously buying something from their establishment. When people see a house of twenty-something single people, it’s automatically assumed that we’re completely out of control ragers who have no respect for our neighbors; a view that could be completely eliminated with one real conversation. Even in the face of goodwill and kindness, some people will just refuse to be happy.

It very much reminds me of the cinder blocks next to the Minorcas house.

Day One - As Experienced on 6.11.10

Tank of gas #1: gets us through NC and into TN. While driving through some of our beautiful cities I was awestruck with how magnificent some of God's creations really are. My navigatress and I decided right about the time we crossed through Asheville that, given the choice, we would so rather live closer to the mountains than the beach. Good thing I'm moving to a place where the nearest beach is 1,000 miles away, but the nearest mountain is practically in my backyard. :)

I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll be giving up Bojangles, Cheerwine, and Cook-Out milkshakes, so I'm also using this first day to hang on to the last bits of southern culture. We stopped for lunch at Newport, Tennessee's Cracker Barrel (little did we know we'd have an opportunity to eat at the Barrel at every other exit the rest of the day!). FYI - Cracker Barrel has 594 locations nation-wide. We dined on chicken, green beans, fried apples, mac & cheese, homemade biscuits, and fried okra..that's about as southern as you can get!

Tank of gas #2: switch drivers for a bit. Next stop - Nashville. From the passenger seat I see a construction sign indicating "long delays" in about 10 miles. No big deal. Sikkkkke. Not long after we find ourselves in standstill traffic. Literally no movement. We've got shirtless drivers hopping out of their cars to talk to truckers, heads hanging out of windows to try and see what's going on, and a lot of fist pumping (the happiest kind, of course).

Fast forward north 5 hours, and we're finally in the booming Kentuckian metropolis of Paducah - home to the National Quilt Museum and more restaurants within a square mile of our hotel than any other place either of us have ever visited. It's that big of a deal. Tomorrow, we're off on our second leg and third tank of gas. Slowly, but surely, I'm getting to those Rocky Mountains calling my name.

The Best Policy

God has blessed me with some amazing friendships.  These people literally support me, through a night eating our favorite frozen yogurt and watching She's the Man (huge Amanda Bynes fan), calling just to see how I’m doing, or a quick text reminding me that I am loved.  To constantly know that you’re appreciated and that you have people around loving you…what more could you ask for?

I had an amazing day with a relatively new friend.  Our first time on hanging out one-on-one, and we spent at least six hours in meaningful conversation…how often does that happen?  We mostly talked about our relationships with others and how we could help them to develop and grow in the best way.  And you know what we came up with?

Those that have stood the test of time have (at least) one crucial thing in common – they all value honesty.  Telling the truth can take many forms – constructive criticism, a behavioral intervention, or recounting some of your life’s experiences.  It’s ok to be vulnerable with them; you can trust them to proceed with that new information in a wise way because you’ve been honest with them, and they’ve been honest with you.

Beginning a new relationship on anything but honesty sets it up to fail.  The same goes for your (and my) relationship with Jesus.  He loves you (me).  He wants to know you (me).  He wants to hear you (me) talk with him and love Him in return.  If you can do that, He will bless you in unimaginable ways.

So be honest with Jesus, be honest with your friends, and certainly be honest with yourself.  It’s always the best policy.