The Numbers

1. This morning I went to buy new running shoes. I told the guy who was helping me, "You're gonna love me," then explained about how I'm a volunteer and cost really was a issue. He measured my feet, watched me run to see where my feet needed the most support, and disappeared for ten minutes during which time he found me some shoes that fit all of my physical and financial needs. We chatted then about the work I do. As he was walking me up to the register he stopped and asked me if I was allowed to accept gifts as part of the program-- if people ever gave me money to help costs. I told him, yeah, sometimes. But I usually don't need it. It's just that the marathon has turned out to be an expensive endeavor. He said, "So, if my wife and I wanted to send you some money, would you be able to take it?" I laughed and said, "Yeah, but honestly, since I'm raising money for the AIDS Marathon, I'd probably just put the money toward that." He said, "For the AIDS Foundation?" I said, "Yeah." He said, "That sounds good. Can you write down your address for me?" Then he said, "Expect a check in the mail from us soon."

He reminded me of Mike. I can't remember his last nam right now, but it was Mike who worked at the Red Rose, and who was such a nice guy that Michael was always afraid he would try to give him a kidney. Also, when I got married to Michael Stipe, and he refused to be in the pictures and I needed a body double for the shots, Mike offered to do it. Super nice guy.

2. Two of my girls in Youth Group are fighting right now. One of them started dating this guy who is in a gang that killed the other girl's dad. The second girl said, You have to choose him or me. The first girl said, It's hard. The second girl said, Why is this hard? We've been best friends for five years. If they see each other when there are not a lot of people around, punches will be thrown.

3. Last Saturday, the community went out on a boat on Lake Michigan. We spend the entire afternoon sipping wine and beer and eating fruits and cheeses. It was a beautiful day, and Chicago was beautiful next to the lake. It was such a great day.

4. The other night as I was falling asleep, I heard Michael come in and start unloading his pockets onto his dresser. I said, "It sounds like you're doing the opposite of stealing." Then I decided to come up with a new word.

_______: verb, 1. The opposite of stealing 2. To stealthily and forcefully give something without the receiver's permission, and especially by criminal means.

I thought up the perfect word, but then fell asleep and lost it forever. Will keep you updated. In the meantime, add this to your vocabulary.

Put-pocketting: verb, the opposite of pick-pocketting

5. I'm so confused about what I'm going to do next year. Stay with the Claretians, yes. But doing what? Oh God, help.

May 12th

Snow flurries today.

WTF, mate?

My first 24th Birthday EVER

First off, my birthday was great. I was working, sure, but I heard from friends and family and even people who didn't realize it was my birthday but just thought it would be nice to get back in touch with me. It was neat.

But stepping back one day...

My friend devon wrote a poem about Tennessee, which is great, and which I may be sharing with you all here pretty soon. I wrote a response poem as well, and it got me thinking about Tennessee, and my friends and family, and I got all nostalgic and thought about "back home". And, it was the day before my birthday and everyone suddenly seemed so far away.

So that night, May 9, I was sitting out on the stoop alone, watching the street, drinking some tea, and getting pretty damned homesick. Then I started moping about how I was going to be working and I didn't have a phone card yet and maybe I wouldn't get to talk to anybody and what if no one even thought to send me a card.

That thought in my head, I hear a voice say, "Hey, is this yours?"

I look up and this lady is coming from down the street, holding out a card that had been delivered to her house by mistake. It was a birthday card from my parents, complete with a phone card.

It was a neat little synchronicity and cheered me up immensely and immediately.

So May 10 makes me the first to break quadruplet-hood from my siblings, who are now triplets, I guess. May 10 also marks the first time that this whole alternate age line thing pays off by making me younger on a birthday. Rock on.

My roommate John gave me a t-shirt that says, "When Jesus said Love Your Enemies, I think he probably meant Don't Kill Them." He'd gotten it at a silent auction fundraiser for Su Casa that we'd all been at. It was the only item I bid on, and when I lost the bid, John bid on it. I couldn't bid against him, but complained loudly instead that he was stealing my t-shirt. And hinted loudly that my birthday was coming up. I never expected it would work. But he wrapped it and everything, and now insists that I wear it always, never take it off for any reason, and keep it clean while doing so.

Michael made me a CD of podcasts called "Podictionary", which is for word geeks like me. It's an etymology series on odd words. Really neat. He's also getting me sand and a riffler and a rounded chisel. Because you never know when those things will come in handy. For stone sculpting.

Oh, and a cake. Boy, what a cake. Words can't even describe it. I'll have to remember to take a picture of it, because maybe a picture can describe it.

But yeah, fun times. I like being 24. Which is how old I am.

For real.

A Nice Compliment

Also, at the rally on Monday...

I was listening to a speaker at Grant Park. My husband and roommates and several friends were all there-- but we'd gone in separately, so for all intents and purposes I was alone. This guy next to me asks me in Spanish who is speaking. I said, also in Spanish, I didn't know because I couldn't see. He asked if it was Gutierrez? I said Maybe. We made small talk about the rally. Then he asked me where I was from.

I said Here.

He gave me a weird look like I was pulling his leg. Then his face brightened and he said, "Oh, you mean you came here when you were a kid!"

I said, "No, I was born here. I'm a citizen."

He said, "Your family is from Mexico?"

I said no, I'm not Mexican.

He said, "But you don't have an accent!"

And that was the nice compliment that I received. Of course, we talked in Spanish for a while longer, so he became very familiar with my poor grammar... but still.

:)

Some things going on...

For those of you who want to follow my marathon training, I'll be making weekly updates at my AIDS Marathon site:

www.aidsmarathon.com , Sponsor a Runner, Chicago, 0117

For today-- I ran for the first time since before the Palm Sunday sickness, as I've decided to call it. I feel good today for the first time since I got sick. I think I'm finally kicking this thing. I can sing again. I still get coughing fits, but not so bad as before, and certainly not as painful. It's awesome.

The meds I'm taking now have weird side effects. If I sleep after taking the inhaler, I get completely disoriented, even after just a few minutes of sleep. But if I'm awake it's mostly okay--shakes, but not too bad.

XIXIX

The sad news for this week is that Erika, Nick, and Andrew's mother died. Erika's the one who had the brain tumor a couple months back. She's still in recovery-- not able to go back to school yet because there's still some connections left to be reforged in her brain. She forgets things, mostly. While Erika was still in hospital, her mother had to go in as well. She had cancer, and it wasn't going too well. Just after Erika got out of hospital, her brother Andrew was hit by a car. He's okay, but it took some days. This family has just really not had a good year. They're such great people. Pray for them.

XIXIX

The good news for this week is that 400,000 to 900,000 people gathered in Chicago on Monday to support immigrant rights. Police report that with the rally and surrounding events, there were a grand total of ZERO arrests. It was fun, and peaceful, and uplifting. Some people say that it won't do them any good. I say, how could it not?

Michael and I were listening to an interview with the leader of the Chicago Minute Men. He said that it'll be bad for the immigrants because once people see them all together, they'll realize how big the problem is. He said he spent the day in his office taking calls from people who wanted to join the Minute Men.

Michael said, "Good-- then they'll see what whack-jobs the Minute Men are, and avoid them for the rest of their lives... unless they're a whack-job too and decide to join."

I said, "But you know, once people see them all together, they'll realize how big the problem is."