My 20s List...

Inspired by Lacy, I decided to make my own list of things 31 year old Summer would say to 20ish Summer...



1. You are worth standing up for.

2. Your voice matters; use it!

3. It's okay to put your foot down. Stomp it when that makes sense. Walk away sometimes too.

4. You'll make poor decisions and stupid mistakes. You will also learn from them.

5. Embrace the power of choice. Yours and others.

6. You've never been competitive. Let go of thinking you've failed when you aren't the first.

7. If someone doesn't like you, don't sweat it. You don't particularly like everyone either.

8. Leave the self-examination to God. His grading scale is much more lenient.

9. Let others in.

10. Love isn't a romantic comedy.

11. Practice kindness, compassion and patience every chance you get. Especially with your grandparents. You won't have them long enough.

12. You won't be married at 30. Don't waste your 20s worrying about it.

13. You'll never comprehend how you could love kids you didn't birth as much as you love A, R and K. Hold them, rock them, let them sleep in your arms and kiss them every chance you get.

14. Enjoy this time. You only get one chance to live each day.

15. When you catch Pat Green's guitar pick, put it in your bra. Don't set it on your leg when you call your brother to tell him about it. It will slide off and disappear forever.

16. You survive.

17. At thirty, you have the opportunity to reconnect with some amazing women. You find yourself pouring your heart out and confessing some things serious and silly. You will find yourself wondering how you got so lucky as you read/hear their advice, support and encouragement.

18. With that, you realize that God is in control and gives you exactly what and who you need when you need it/them.

Ironically, as I wrote this list, I realized how much my 31 year old self needed these reminders too.

Final Chat Pack Question...

This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to spend the weekend with the most incredible women. Our group was four short, but they were there in our hearts. During the course of the weekend, we used Katy's Chat Pack to spur conversation (shock of all shocks, there were quiet moments!). Before we left, I asked my own final Chat Pack question:

"What would be your life's theme song?"

It wasn't a quick answer for any of us. During my long drive home (thank you fellow I-35ers), I had the chance to really think it over. Though it's a little slow, I decided on Life Ain't Always Beautiful.


Life Ain't Always Beautiful Lyrics
Artist: Gary Allan
Original songwriters: Cyndy Goodman, Tommy Lee James

Life ain't always beautiful
Sometimes it's just plain hard
Life can knock you down, it can break your heart

Life ain't always beautiful
You think you're on your way
And it's just a dead end road at the end of the day

But the struggles makes you stronger
And the changes make you wise
And happiness has its own way of takin' it sweet time

No,life aint always beautiful
Tears will fall sometimes
Life aint always beautiful
But it's a beautiful ride

Life aint always beautiful
Some days I miss your smile
I get tired of walkin' all these lonely miles

And I wish for just one minute
I could see your pretty face
Guess I can dream, but life don't work that way

But the struggles makes me stronger
And the changes make me wise
And happiness has its own way of takin' its sweet time

No, life ain't always beautiful
But I know I'll be fine
Hey, life ain't always beautiful
But its a beautiful ride
What a beautiful ride

Of course, for me, the whole part of hoping to see someone's pretty face does not apply, though if I took artistic license, I could sub in handsome for pretty and mean it about seeing a glimpse of my future.

I'm sure some may think it's too sad of a song, but I don't. I think it's full of hope and growth. For me, that's what my life's about.

To Dos

Prior to my girls' weekend, I have some very important things on my to do list.

One of the first items - make a playlist for the drive. I'm happy to report that's done.



Now, onto laundry and packing.

I'm sure my girlfriends will love knowing that good road music ranked above my clothing concerns. No worries, ladies, clothes will make it to my suitcase. And if they don't, well, we already have a plan for that!

Just a few more days...is it too soon to start counting hours?

A literal sign?

And here I've been hoping for tall, handsome and manly...

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs...

Name that tune folks!

I should be doing a post about this weekend and all it means for America...but why be like everyone else?

I'm curious about how others communicate with God and even more how He communicates back to you. Do you hear a still small voice? Do you think it's through events? How about signs? I don't necessarily mean literal signs, although I think they can be used as a means to deliver His message.

For example, last week I drove through Chandler on the way to Brownsboro four different times. I don't drive through often and usually, I go through the green light (there's one stoplight) and pass on through without much thought. Last week though, I hit the light each time it turned red. So I had to slow down to pass through. Each time I noticed the sign in front of their FBC. It read, "Impatience is a form of unbelief." Four times I've read that sign. And it speaks to me. I only wish I knew how to be more patient with certain aspects of my life. I feel like I've been mostly patient, but I'm sure even mostly patient falls under the unbelief category. So was that a sign that I need to believe deeper?

Going back another few weeks...I discovered a song about two months ago that I really really like. And I think it would be a perfect (read - just sappy enough without oozing velveeta) first dance song if I ever get married (of course he'd get a vote, but as there isn't a he, that's irrelevant right now). Fast forward a little and I've been traveling for work. This leaves me with a little too much time to think alone and too often that leads to my pity party of one. I was feeling a little blue and too tired as I walked into my hotel to check-in. There were guys from Bryan (hometown shout-out!) who were having problems checking in. As a result, I had to wait a little longer in the mostly quiet lobby. As I stood there not really paying attention - familiar notes caught my ear. "My" song was playing. And it's not a well known song - so it isn't something overplayed in every hotel lobby/elevator/canned music venue. Am I silly for hoping that was a sign of reassurance that things will work out the way I pray for?

What do y'all think dear friends?

And lest I'm charged with treason...Happy 234th Birthday America!

It's not always sunny in Summer-delphia

I totally don't watch that show or anything, but Summerdelphia would be a totally rockin' city.

Here lately, most of my thoughts, some comments and deleted writings seem to be accompanied by the "Debbie Downer" noise (anyone else hear cartoon-style noises in their head - or should I head straight to the looney bin alone?). I don't know what the deal is. I'm usually way past the holiday-season funk and living it up by summer time. This year is different though.

My situation is not really different overall. There've been some instances lately where I've had my feelings hurt pretty bad by people I really care about, but the consequence of saying anything is too great to have that discussion. And being that suppressed is not good for me. It makes me angry and all that gets bottled up and internalized. I hate feeling that way. I hate even more that I can't express what's going on. Most of all, I hate that I can't fix it and the liklihood for change is so so so very slim.

Oh well...I didn't intend to get into all that. I wanted to post this song - I love it. You may recognize it from the Mott's commercial with Marcia Cross. It's definitely on my to download list...



I have 5 locations left to visit in my 30 facility tour...I enjoy the traveling but would obviously benefit from a little less "me" time...

Summer...just like the season

Last week, I had the privilege to have dinner with an high school friend. I've been working out of town and it worked out that she was free the night I was in town with her. We enjoyed Cheesecake Factory and great conversation.

I'm not sure how we got on the subject, but I ended up telling a story from my freshman year in college. In summation, I made a statement and she immediately responded that it was a good quote, so I'm going to share with you, my adoring readers (haha!).

My freshman year at A&M I lived in Mosher Hall. My friend, Alissa, also lived in the same dorm so we hung out a bit. During move-in week, I remember going downstairs to Alissa's room and she introduced me to her neighbor (maybe suitemate?) who was rushing the same sorority with her. I don't remember her name (which becomes a little ironic) - we can call her Sue for the sake of the story - and to protect her identity. We all talked a bit and she seemed nice enough.

As the semester went on, I visited Alissa's room periodically and each time I saw Sue, she would always look at me like it was the first time we'd met, so Alissa would introduce me. By October/November, I would greet her by name and she'd look at me like she just couldn't place me. At this point, it was getting under my skin that she couldn't remember me. I distinctly remember thinking at one point "Chick, I may not be in your circle of friends, but I'm still worth you knowing my name." The last part - about being worth knowing is the part my HS friend liked.

When she commented on it, it dawned on me how profound this simple experience was on me now. I make a point to remember names. One of our employees told me once that I had a freakishly good memory when it came to knowing their names and which facility they work out (by the way - we have 30+ facilities and about 400 employees - I don't claim to know them all, but I certainly remember most). I really think that's something important to me because of my Lauren experience.

My point in telling this wasn't to front out Sue(as evidenced by the fact that I didn't even remember her name) or to brag on my memory - but really to thank her. As I've gone to each location over the last month, I've had more than one employee seem surprised that I knew who they were. I see them in person one time per year - but they are important to our company. And people are important to me.

And frankly, we are all worth knowing each others' names.