1am Means it's Friday, Right?

Quick-ish takes.

1. I love the way snow looks when it's illuminated by streetlights. Twirling beauties that would otherwise fall shrouded in darkness dance in the spotlight. Each little flake, so unknown to the world before this, shows her face and gives it everything. A graceful pas de mille.

2. My boyfriend just joined my church's choir. We had our first rehearsal tonight and when I was looking around, as I usually during rehearsal, I kept saying to myself, "Who is the cute new guy?...Oh, wait, that's Jeff." I seriously did it like three times.

3. I get to sleep in tomorrow (today?) ! It's exciting. I've been waking up weekday mornings to babysit my niece and nephew. But tomorrow (no really? is it today?) is one of my days "off." Although, I have to say, it is pretty nice to spend the morning times with the kids- they're always wayyy more cheerful than in the evenings. Plus, picking up a two year old out of his crib when he's all sleepy and snuggles you is extremely gratifying.

4. I made a bunch of earrings to give to the girls who are hosting me when I go to Florida next week. They're pretty pretty. Right now they're on my desk so that I can try and figure out what to box them in. Any suggestions? I have five pairs.

5. The twinkle lights are still up in my room. I have no plans to take them down. You will have to physically fight me (and win) before they come down. Who says pretty lights are just for Christmas time?

6. Someone was braking on the on-ramp to the highway today. I didn't know what to do, they were going like 20mph and braking. Thankfully it was 12:30am and no one was on the road really so I had a huge break in traffic to pass them and speed up. It was a little slippery so I drove about 20mph under the speed limit but when I got to my exit there was another car on the off ramp going 15mph!! This ramp was clear of snow/ice and I was just so confused as to why this person was going so slowly. Maybe they had a disability or something. Or, snow makes people crazy.

7. I got a card from my Nana today. I love getting letters from her, they're always so sweet and thoughtful. But they always make me more painfully aware of how little I know my dad's side of the family. I wish I knew them better.

When I was a child I always thought of pregnant women as mute. In my adolescent mind a woman carrying something so sacred was surrounded by a sacred silence of her own. Now, obviously this is insane- "Do you think she's having contractions?" "I don't know, she can't say."- pregnant women need to be able to communicate, maybe even more so than other people. And I had seen and talked to pregnant women, but that image still remained- it sometimes comes back even to this day.
As I was thinking about it more I came to realize that birth is the most marvelous thing about life. I know, you're thinking "Uh, duh." but I just catch on a little late is all. I have to confess that I'm a marveler. I'm "that guy," the one that weirds her sister out by getting a little too excited about a summer rainstorm. I'm the one who stops to smell, well, anything. So when you combine those two things, the fact that, even as a child, I somehow knew the most wonderful thing about life was birth, and my tendency to marvel at all things God-made, you get a twenty-year-old who still sometimes thinks of pregnant women as ensconced in a sacred silence.

"In the silence of the stable there was wisdom finally heard."