Week Seven

Well, time has caught up with itself after dragging its feet for my first several weeks here and is now making up for itself on double-time. At last, days are beginning to blur into weeks. It's as much a shock to me as it may be to you, considering my track record so far, but tonight is the first time I've really been in the house since last Thursday night. On Friday night and Saturday night of this past weekend I finally found the people here who actually hang out. I was beginning to wonder whether they were real. I met a ton of people, had a decent time.

Now, you would think such excitement would be more than enough for one weekend, considering that my social muscle has perhaps atrophied a bit. But it was a three-day weekend, so naturally I had to go to Philadelphia. Drove up after church on Sunday and didn't return until the early hours of the morning Monday night. Naturally, Philadelphia was fantastic. So far I've been there every other weekend since the move and I have loved it every time.

I've started collecting dinner invites from families at the office. I suppose it was only a matter of time, and I can't say I'm complaining. If I'm not careful I might even end up being... busy... again. Now that would be weird.

This weekend I'm going to two concerts, about which I am terribly excited. Friday night will feature Reilly at Ebenezer's Coffee House and then Sunday afternoon is Blackbird Lewis, which is a couple of college guys here at Covenant Life (John David Maresco, Danny Mays, others), playing at Jammin' Java. I'm rather a fan of both bands, so there's surely some goodness in store for this weekend.

Further plans for the next few months are in the works; I'll fill you in on the details when confirmed. Suffice to say, I'm excited.

Pictures of Perfection

For my non-facebooked readers, here are some more pictures from the weekend, this time from Scott S's camera. I've included a few short captions to give an idea of what we did over the weekend. Did I mention it was wonderful?

This was inside of the Smithsonian Museum of American History on Saturday. We got through a few of the exhibits before needing to get outside to enjoy the beautiful weather.

On Sunday afternoon we went to Annapolis after church. We sat for awhile on the dock of the harbor, enjoying a second day of beautiful weather.

We spent a good deal of time in various Starbucks around the state, usually for coffee and the bathroom more than hanging out. This was also in Annapolis. I don't know what pictures Christina and I are looking at.

This was at the foot of the Washington Monument and in front of the White House, but you can't see either. So it's just us.

We walked pretty much the entire length of the National Mall and back on Saturday. It was warm and sunny for the afternoon, but got cold on the walk back, especially for those of us who decided not to bring a jacket. This is on the way back from the Lincoln Memorial alongside the reflecting pool.

We had quite a bit of fun taking pictures on these short stone... pillar... things. I love how all the people in the background are watching.

This may not look like much, but we squished four people on top of a small square stone pillar in front of the reflecting pool. And then of course took pictures.

Seriously, don't they look so good? It's kind of sick.

We got pretty lucky with group photos. Everyone we asked did a really good job on the first try. This one I will frame.

Why I Am The Luckiest

I hereby publicly challenge Mr. Ben Folds for the title of The Luckiest. Because I have the honor of calling these four beautiful and intelligent people my dearest friends, and he does not. And for three wonderful days I had the privilege of their constant company here in Maryland, aka the Wasteland. If I have any Maryland readers (I don't), you will have to pardon the nickname. It is not and is not meant to be endearing. But for a weekend the wasteland flourished.


It was a perfect weekend. With an even balance of sightseeing and simple hanging out, the weekend left absolutely nothing to be desired. It was everything I could have hoped for and more, and I mean that most literally. It was also needed. Five weeks is far too long to go without seeing people who mean as much to me as they do. And that they would sacrifice so much to be here, for my sake, means more than my words can capture. But maybe if I say it enough they'll get a glimpse of just how great this feeling of appreciation is inside of me. I'm telling you, friends just don't come better than these.


I don't have the strength right now to relate a full account of the weekend's activities, but there will be many pictures on Facebook in the near future I am sure. For now I'll provide a few highlights. Most of the pictures in this post come from Scott K's camera. Our one good whole group photo is on Scott S's camera, so I'll have to post that when I get it.

Gatsby & Spontaneity

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

So reads the epitaph on the top slab of the grave of F. Scott Fitzgerald, a quote from his most wonderful and renowned work, The Great Gatsby. Most of the quote, however, presently rests obscured beneath a shard of frosted glass. There's nothing quite like a cemetery draped in a contiguous blanket of ice, each tombstone a pinnacle of stone piercing through the encompassing tundra. Nor is there anything quite like sitting beneath a winter pine, observing in quiet contemplation said gravestone, framed by a sunset pale orange.


I had only just settled into such a picturesque reverie as this, one Saturday evening recently past, when my phone rang. It was Justin in Philadelphia. Fast forward half an hour of conversation and find me on the interstate to Pennsylvania with naught but the camera in my hand and the clothes on my back. People do funny things when their nearest friend lives a measly two and a half hours away. Funny, yes. Spontaneous, yes. But you only live twice, and this life is far more fleeting than the next.

Philadelphia was good to me yet again. I had a wonderful weekend of movies, conversations born from and about movies, friends with which to partake in conversations, good food to eat with friends, and about twenty-four hours in which to do it all. And after the simultaneously most subdued and most exuberant Superbowl party I have ever attended, we smoked a few celebratory cigars and made plans late into the night. I arrived back in Maryland around 3 AM and woke up four hours later to prepare for the day ahead.