I was reminded recently that I had a blog, and remembered that a blog is for updating. Posting. Basically doing the opposite of what's been happening here. If my parents were in charge of this blog, they would have given it away to a farm upstate on account of neglect (much like they did with my dog when I left for college. True story). But I'm an adult, and despite the fact that my mom still does my laundry when she visits, I'm in charge of these things.
Speaking of my mom doing my laundry, I recently had my parents here for a week. I walked out of my summer class final at 6pm on a Wednesday, drove home, cracked open a beer, and enjoyed about 15 minutes of sipping on the back deck before my parents walked in the door. Why waste a moment? Ever?
I've lived in South Carolina long enough now that we don't go hardcore tourist when they come anymore, which is maybe a shame. But if they mind, they do a good job of hiding it. Instead, we tackled about a million projects while they were here: cleaned my entire car inside and out (which you know is no small feat, if you've ever been within 15 feet of the thing), weeded my lawn, trimmed bushes, fixed my toilet, repaired my lawnmower, hauled piles of stuff to Goodwill, restored my laundry room door to working order, cleaned and organized my fridge and freezer, got my oil changed, had my car aligned, cleaned out my office at work, reattached my car's drivers side mirror (tragically broken when I got flustered at a parking lot pay station after a friend's birthday party and screeched away a little too quickly and a little too closely to the ticket machine), mended my clothes, cleaned my windows... it's like having little elves come to stay who make my dramatic improvements to my life while I'm sleeping or at work.
I tried to make sure we played a little, too. We enjoyed a few good Western movies, entertained some of my friends for dinner, drove up to Furman, and ate lots of yummy food. I'm so truly blessed by my parents, a fact I realize more with every passing year.
My dad reminded me of a Chesterton quote while he was visiting:
if something is worth doing, it's worth doing badly. I consider July 1 kind of a 'mini new year' - it's the start of our fiscal year at work, and smack dab in the middle of summer, which puts me in the mood for starting over in the office, a sentiment that eeks out into the rest of my life. I think this Chesterton quote will be my motto for this "new" year. I really struggle with making the perfect the enemy of the good, and it ends up causing more turmoil than good.
So, whether it's this blog, friendships, prayer, or working out: I vow to do 'worse'. If I can only muster the energy for a 20 minute run around the neighborhood, so be it. If I forget to send a birthday card, I'll just email that day, instead of waiting three weeks while the guilt gnaws away at me until I finally get it in the mail. So what if a blog post is a bit disjointed and only funny in spots? That's true to life, really, and anyway, the main reason to keep this blog is so that I have an account of these days for later on.
My dad spent two years in seminary right out of high school, and recently he and my mom have been reading through the journal he kept during that time. It's mostly mundane stuff, about boring lectures and painful toe injuries, not exactly a soul-searching memoir. But those are the things you forget about, and are so sweet to remember. I watched a lot of recently-converted-to-DVD home movies at Easter, and the scenes that struck me most weren't the anniversary parties or choir concerts, but shots of me on the tire swing with my brother, and trying to do a somersault for my grandpa.
That's what this blog should be. Sweet reminders of the moments that are only here for right now: this summer's bourbon obsession, the Sunday afternoons spent reading magazines on the deck, the excitement of getting new carpet and furniture at work. I may not get every anecdote down, but I'd like to get
some. I vow to do much, much worse.
Finally, a resolution I can keep.
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