Refreshingly Exhausting

The title of this post says it all.

Those two words are the best description of my weekend I can find.  So good. Sooo tired.

After a long week at school I rushed to meet up with the basketball team and make the trek to Marshall. MN for a scrimmage.  It was a good experience and our team is getting better.  We as coaches are finding things we can improve on overall, competing is really good for us.  After that late night we had a fun Saturday ahead.

The anual alumni game!!! :) So much fun for alumni, not as much fun for current players.  The alumni game is tough, it’s the fun friendly competition that we as alumni get to enjoy... and maybe smack talk a little… but it’s serious and used as an opportunity to get better for the current players.  I remember as a player how hard it was to take the game serious all the time, especially when your playing against some of your best friends and they are goofing around.

Lucky for me--I’m old.  So I got to goof around, which is way more my style :).

Anyway, that wore me out!  Not to mention the JV had a scrimmage that I coached and coaching is just as mentally exhausting as playing is physically exhausting.

Then comes the refreshing part.  The nature of the alumni game is so that alumni come back!!!  And it just so happens that all the girls that I graduated with (just 2) and all the girls who were juniors when I graduated came back to play! :) We were "reunited and it felt so goooood…”.

Naturally, after the game I invited al the girls over for pumpkin carving and to hang out for a while.  Us old fogies were ready to turn in by 10:30, but we pushed through.  And it was oh so worth it!

As tired and sore and just plain exhausted as I felt this morning, I had a sense of renewal.  It’s amazing what good conversation and day filled with laughter can do for a person.  Remembering stories and catching up and even sharing little pieces of our souls was accompanied by even more laughter and some delicious fall treats.  It’s been around 2 and a half years since all us were in the same place and able to share life, we’ve all grown up in different ways, which is really fun to see.  It’s funny how even though we’ve all changed, we can still come together like no time has pasted.  Sharing that time may be rare, but it’s perfect.

FREAK OUT!!!!

My baby sister is engaged!!!

This actually happened a couple weeks ago, but this weekend was the first time I got to see her and my future brother in law since the big news broke.

We’ve been talking a wedding for the two of them for a little while now, so it wasn’t exactly a shock.  Which I think is good, I mean, I think I would want some sort of heads up before I get asked a question like that. :)  But, since we had been talking wedding for a while, I feel like on some level Maggie missed out on the fresh excitement and gravity of this amazing event.

You only get engaged once(hopefully) and it should be something special and celebratory.

Shortly after the news, I received a letter in the mail.  Maggie asked my to be her MOH, of course after she accepted my list of demands I said yes! :) (I really did have a list of demands--all in good fun).

All of this brings me to why I’m writing.  This weekend when I got to see them for the first time, I gave them hugs and said congratulations and welcome to the family, I looked at the ring and we talked weddings all weekend.  But I didn’t do the MOH freak out.  I didn’t jump up and down with her and scream when I saw the ring.  I didn’t tackle her the moment I saw her, like I always thought I would.

I didn’t realized I had failed my MOH duties of the initial freak out until hours later.  What was I thinking?  The truth is I’m so, so happy for them.  They are perfect for each other and I’m so excited to celebrate with them.  Steve and Mag have so many great things in their future and I can’t even tell you how excited I am to see that all play out.  I’m excited to get the phone call that she got her dream job and he graduated.  I’m excited to meet my future nieces and nephews.  I’m excited to watch their marriage grow.  I couldn’t be happier for them.  How could I not want everything wonderful in the world for my baby sister?  I do.  She knows that.

So consider this my MOH freak out!!!!!!! yay!!!! yipeeee!!!! bam sucker!!!!whoop!!!!whoop!!!! Dang, Look at THAT RING!!!! :)

I’m also considering this the last of my apologies (I have already apologized face to face and over the phone) and the first of letting everyone know how truly excited I am to be a witness to what will be an enduring relationship.  I couldn’t be happier to see my mom’s wedding ring on the finger of my best friend and baby sister.

The Stars

There are days when I sadly forget the amazing glory revealed to us through the night.  Stars.  Beautiful reminders of a God so big and creation so beautiful.

This song popped into my head very randomly today.  I love this song and I can’t help but love the lyrics: “Tonight the stars speak of your infinite love, and it serves to remind me that what I have means nothing at all.”

I’ve never in my life felt so loved and so small, than when I look up at the sky and see the stars.  Stars that were hung for me.  What a gift to know that the Glory of the Lord is around us and we are enveloped by a God so big. I’m grateful for the stars in the night sky and the many stars in my life.