An Airport Adventure

Alexis said it would be no problem to pick me up at the airport.  We were both headed back to school from a break and she drove past the airport on her way.  I told her what time my flight was arriving, and, despite my not checking a bag, we planned to meet at baggage claim.

The plane landed safely and I texted her tell her I'd just landed.  I'd be there shortly.

"You'll never guess what I just did." She texted back.  I thought she'd forgotten me, honestly.  Nope, better.

She'd arrived at the airport, parked the car, and came into baggage claim, our planned meeting place despite my not having any checked bags.  She walked up to the monitor and searched for flights coming in from Philadelphia, a city she's visited.  She then looked to the beginning of the alphabet for "Arizona."  It wasn't listed.  In a near-panic, she called home and told her mom my flight wasn't coming in.  I'm so glad her mom assured her my flight was coming and told her to wait for it.

When Alexis explained this to me on the bus back to her car--the wrong bus, I might add--I looked at her and could not stifle my laughter. 

"Alexis, my plane didn't come from the whole state of Arizona.  It came from Phoenix.  'P-h-o' right next to the 'P-h-i' of Philadelphia."

So she's a bit airport challenged... but I love her anyway.

<>< Katie

PS: Happy birthday, Elizabeth.

Exercise

Gosh, I love Mondays. Hear the sarcasm. My first class starts at 9am and my last class ends at 9:50pm. Yes, please pray fr me on Mondays especially. This is relational exercise in patience.

I knew it was going to be a weird day in my ASL class this morning. We were talking about different shapes and the professor signed, "KNOW MEDICAL DOCTOR SERVE HAMBURGER CIRCLE IN BOX." Huh? Must have zoned out because that didn't make sense. Yeah, it was "McDonalds" not "Doctor." Both signed "MD" with one on the back of the hand and the other on the inside of the wrist. Oops. Wrong me. Mental exercise.

This afternoon, I was sitting in my hammock reading about poetry. My favorite thing. More sarcasm. It's no wonder I couldn't focus. So, I looked across my room and noticed my bike. Let's go for a bike ride! Ladies and gentlemen, it is JANUARY and I went for a bike ride without my jacket. The terrain here is different than I'm used to and I'm completely out of shape, but even my short bike ride was enough to get some exercise, clear my brain, and enjoy the wonderful weather.

One of my suitemates is currently taking violin for the first time. Back in the day, I used to play viola. Not well, mind you, but I played never the less. Everyone took a turn trying to play her violin and everyone sounded awful. Sorry, girls. When it was my turn, I played an old simple song I remembered and jaws dropped. I remind you, I am not a good violist, but it was great to have a stringed instrument in my hands again. Excellent exercise for my fingers and my brain.

Part one of my Christmas present arrived in the mail today, our Wii. I call it the "you and your suitemates aren't good enough at killing time" gift. It was later followed by a Wii Fit, the "you need to lose weight" aspect of the gift. Huh? The Wii Fit isn't here yet but my shoulder hurts from bowling and tennis. More physical exercise.

However, the most challenging exercise happened in my night class. This is the first time we've met, but the professor has had all of us as his students previously. Prior to even handing out the syllabus, he stated a vague situation and gave us an hour to respond to it privately. This was an excellent writing exercise in my religion class, and I might post what I wrote tomorrow. Really, it was a masked-exercise in discovering Christology. However, it was hard! An emotional and spiritual battle. At the end of class, the professor apologized for "any tear and sweat this may have caused." It caused both. Spiritual and emotional exercise.

Are you in shape? Relationally? Emotionally? Physically? Mentally? Most importantly, spiritually?

<>< Katie

PS: Yes, I realize this was kind of a "I had peanut butter on my bagel instead of cream cheese" post and no one really cares, but it was just a very interesting day and I think you should hear about it. I tried to tie it together. Oh, and I don't really believe the Wii Fit joke aspect of the Christmas present, by the way.

"I Support InFocus"

On Tuesday, the band was warming up for worship, when a professor came upstairs. Down stairs he had a classroom full of CEOs and other important graduate students who were going nuts with the noise from our practice. He said he was going to try and get them out quickly, but asked that we also keep the noise level down for awhile. He insisted we were just as important as they are, and--after a quick glance to the powerpoint screen--that he "supports InFocus." When he said this, I thought he was joking, so I started to laugh. I'm really glad he wasn't talking to me because it took me a minute to stifle my laughter. InFocus is the name of the company that made our projectors. The projector was starting up when he looked at it to get the name of our organization. He really thought we were an organization called InFocus and insisted he supported us. Really, that's not us at all and he has no idea who we are, but he supports us.

A word to the wise, know what you're supporting. Don't just say things that make people smile. What if the people you're trying to make smile really are participating in something the Bible clearly warns against? Don't agree blindly.

<>< Katie