I graduated...to a French Press!!

One week ago, I was filling up my car and on the road, I-75, in Southwest Florida. Now, I'm sitting (with my fuzzy socks on--okay, even though it is 75 degrees out) on my bed at home--in the country, a good drive from the nearest Interstate.

I am now a college grad! It's hard to believe how fast the past four years went by, and how hard it was to say goodbye to such dear friends! I imagine you don't make friends like college friends anywhere else: the crazy lifestyle, living hour by hour, from caffiene in the middle of the night to 4 hour naps in the middle of the day. The intellectual pressure (maybe just at Ave?)--of the academic life, and taking four different subjects, each demanding all of one's attention and efforts. The 'freedom'--to be able to do whatever you want, whenever you want: i.e. Rosie Posie, wanna go to Immokalee?...and 10 min. later we are in the car..why? because we felt like it. And so many of our friendships are bonded by random moments like these that do not turn out to be so random in the end. ...And now, I'm entering (or at least attempting to enter) the working world. Making money to pay bills and make a living, something I've never seriously had to do before.

Anyway. It's been great to be home. I noticed something as I made the last 30 mile stretch by my lonesome driving home from Florida: the country here, the farmland I grew up on, has been a staple to my worldview. As I drove home I looked around, and amidst the absence of traffic, I saw how familiar I am with the land here...that patch of trees, this random turn in the road, that old run-down building that has been there for a hundred years...stakes of life having been lived here, a hard life for many and easy for me. I am the fruit, or benefit from the fruit of so many people's hard work here in the middle of no(h)where No(h)rth Dako(h)tah. And the life that people live here is very much intertwined with the changing and passing of the seasons, the uncontrollable weather, the hands of Someone else.

Amidst all this, I also decided just this morning that I graduated to a french press and will begin my search to buy the perfect one. I have always had a fanciful view of French Presses--they seem so refined, requiring skillful coffee making skills, patience and time;; and an apartment or house which would hold the French Press (rather than a dorm room, which was my reason for not buying one for years: it wouldn't go well with a dorm room). But today I decided that while the next few months will probably be stressful (finding a job..moving yet again), I will be enjoying a French Press. Then, in searching online for french press images and info, I found this cool link-- check it out if you want.

Have a great Feast of the Ascension. Words from Father John's homily: Christ rose from the dead and brought humanity to the right hand of God in Heaven. The only thing that stops you from being there is sin.