This was the 4th year of dream boards. I hope that 30 years from now, I have a stack of dream boards from every year. And I hope that Amy, Carrie, Rickelle and I will make it a priority to always get together, once a year, no matter where we live, to do this.
I love how each board is such a statement of where I am every year. I love this little piece of creative history. And I love seeing the contrast between my life and the lives of my friends. We are all at such different places in our lives, yet certain threads weave through each of our lives, connecting us to each other.
I can’t say how overwhelmingly thankful I am for these girls and the community we’ve formed around us. We’ve created a culture that says it’s OK to be connected to our hearts and to each other. I become more and more aware of how special this is… that this doesn’t just happen to everyone. I am lucky. I am blessed. I am SO thankful.
Just like that, every thing changes and now I’m looking back on a past that was such an all-consuming reality at the time. Life is different now. Life has expanded…yet again. Now I know love in a way that I never have. My eyes are just a little bit more open than they were before. Suddenly everything looks a little bit different. All of the loneliness and questioning and waiting and wondering seems that much more worth it because of what came out of it.
Josh is more than I asked for. He is just amazing. There is still such a part of me that is scared… scared of making a bad choice, scared because he isn’t what I expected, scared because I know what’s at stake and exactly what I’m risking, scared because the future isn’t written yet… and with all of that fear, he still surprises me in ways that I never knew were possible. All those times my friends told me their hopes for me… what COULD be… what to hold out for, I heard the words and hoped too, but couldn’t imagine what they were talking about, couldn’t picture it for myself because I had never known it. THIS is what they hoped for. THIS is blowing my mind.
The church is in the process of opening a coffee shop on Main Street, right next to their offices and across from the Avalon Theater where we meet on Sundays. I’m ridiculously excited about this idea and have helped out as much as I can with the design and plans. Last week I got to paint the logo on the windows and decorate for Christmas. I wish I could make a full-time job out of window decorating… definitely not gonna happen in good ‘ole GeeJay.
My friend Brian needed a place to store his super-nice, king sized mattress so I took one for the team and agreed to let him store it in my room. We drove all over town one night and gathered up the coolest looking pallets to make a platform bed. I had to sacrifice my dresser but let me tell you… this bed is WORTH IT.
Here’s the new configuration of my room. I still need to make a bigger quilt but for now it works.
