Today was Wonderful

What's one of the best ways to start your day? With an extra hour of sleep. Oh, time change, how I love you! It was so nice to just snuggle up in the covers and have a relaxed time of waking up. So opposite from the harshness of my alarm clock that I usually wake up to. That got me off on the right foot, for sure. After waking up, I ate a bowl of cereal then baked a Mississippi Mud Cake for my brother's and sister's birthdays. I love baking. Some might find it stressful, but I actually find it really relaxing. It takes my mind off of everything else because I have to focus all of my attention on what I'm doing. If I were to think about anything else, I'd surely skip a step or put too much of something in. Anyway, baking is nice.




After the cake was done, I had to get on with preparing lunch for my family while they were at church. It took a load off my mom and went really smoothly! I put a ham in the oven, took a shower, then finished up lunch by glazing the ham, making scalloped potatoes, and heating up some broccoli. The family came home from church at just the right time and we all ate up! It was really good and really rewarding for me to have prepared that whole meal by myself.



After lunch, we decided to go out to a bridge/lake beach that we love, since the weather was so nice. We had a really good time taking videos and pictures. I love my niece and nephews. They are so cool. I genuinely admire them for their uniqueness. What other kids like the things they like and play together so well? They are truly country kids, which seems funny to me because I never would've expected them to be, but we're all country folk now, and I think it's awesome. Those kids are one with the earth. They love nature and all the creatures that crawl around in it. They ask brilliant questions, and they're just so, so beautiful. I don't want them to grow up, but at the same time I do, cause they'll be great adults. This world needs people like them. They will make this planet a better place to live.




After we got home, I packed up my stuff and headed back to college. My emotional state could be called a wreck at this stage of my life. I don't know what I want, but there are certain things I want so bad that I would do almost anything to have them. I feel disconnected from my family, but also closer with them. What's that saying? Distance makes the heart grow fonder? I'm so unsure of my life right now. I want everything. I want to experience all that life has to offer. My adventurous spirit doesn't like to be contained. Being at college makes me feel stagnant. It also makes me feel accomplished and wise. I want this, but I want that. At some point, I suppose I'll learn a happy compromise. Freshman year is rocky. It's probably rocky for everyone, but I never like generalizing myself into the 'everyone' category. It has to be rocky for me in a different way than for everyone else.

I'm getting older every day. When I was younger, all I wanted was to be old enough. Old enough to drive, make my own decisions, live on my own, get married, have kids, stay up as late as I wanted. Now that I'm at that proper age (well... for the most part), I'm not so sure that's what I want anymore. I miss the innocence of childhood. I miss being with my mommy and daddy all the time. I miss how excited I used to get for Christmas. I still get excited for Christmas, but it's not anywhere close to how I used to be. It just feels like every other day the older I get. I have responsibilities now. I have to be smart with my money and time. I have to care for my own well-being. I have to deal with gaining weight and not having the skinny figure I used to have. Eating is one of the funnest things I do, but I can't eat whatever I want anymore. I used to worry about math equations like 4x6. Now I worry about the rest of my life. The rest of my life used to be something way off in the distance, but it just keeps getting closer and closer.

This may all sound negative, and parts of it are, but really, who doesn't experience all of these feelings? Everyone may not put them into a blog like I'm doing, but like I said, I'm not 'everyone'. Wow, I really went off on a tangent there, didn't I? Anyway, the point of this is to say that today was really, really great and I couldn't have asked for much more. It got me thinking about life. It made me realize the truth in the statement, "We should appreciate the simple things." Life is a contradiction. It's messy, it's sad, it's complicated, and it's awful. But it's also amazingly planned out, happy, simple, and wonderful. You just have to focus on the best things. Like the cake you're baking.