Oh Happy Days!!

Today was one of the most fantastic days of my life! It has been a long time since I felt so ecstatic. First of all, my morning started off very nice. Big T rolled over at 6am this morning, when his alarm went off for work, put his arm around me and kissed me on the cheek. I said, "Hmmm...Let's just stay like this aaallll day." Of course, his first response was, "I have some sick time." :) Anyway, I had classes today, so, obviously, I couldn't stay home all day. He however, did choose to stay home, and he cleaned!!! Our bedroom was a complete disaster. If I had a before picture, I would shamefully show you all just to show you how much work he did to clean it back up. Now, many of you may think that the mess was his fault, and that is why he was going to clean it. Oh no! This story gets even better. The mess in the bedroom is MY FAULT! I know that is terrible, but my philosophy has always been, "I can avoid my bedroom and shut the door." I always worry about the rest of my house before I worry about my bedroom. Then, it gets to the point where you can no longer see the floor, and you begin to wonder if it ever really existed, or if it was just a figment of your imagination. You are probably appalled, but I am just trying to be honest. I really want to exalt how much work Big T really did and how much I truly appreciate it. The bed is made and Febreezed (I swear by the stuff, and he remembered!). The floor really, truly does exist, and my clothes are stacked for me to put in my closet. My shoes are even all placed back in the shoe hanger in the closet. I know you ladies are all thinking, "What a man!!" I have to wholeheartedly agree. He is a very special breed, a needle in a haystack, if you will, and I cherish him! ;)

Now onto another topic. I VOTED today!! I am a woman. I am 19 years old, and IIIIII VOTED! I learned about women being able to vote and how recent a right it is, but when I learned it in school, it just didn't pack a punch. However, today, when I walked through those doors and saw women sitting handing out ballots, a woman in front of me filling out the application for her ballot, and some elderly women in the other line waiting to get their ballots, I was filled with a feeling of complete triumph. I had no idea what I was doing. I walked in with my voter registration card, not knowing if I needed it to vote. After I filled my application for a ballot out, I was ready to head over to the little closet thing to vote. I had envisioned the little hole poking things I heard about when I was little, nervous about a "hanging Chad." It turns out, we are slightly more advanced now, and we fill them out with a felt tip black marker, somewhat like taking a test. That increased the stakes a little for me. My mind was racing. "What if I fill in the wrong bubble? This is my very first ballot ever. I can't mess it up. What would that say about me as an American (with the word "American" booming in loud speakers, HA!)?" I did fill out my ballot, perfectly, if I do say so myself. Then I made three attempts to slide it into the black mechanical box before I finally got it to go. It was so fast. I mean, that box just ate up my very first ballot. My decision is forever set in stone. I handed in my black felt tip marker, thanked the ladies for their help, said hello to a man I knew, and walked out to my car, where I was overcome with the desire to send a mass text message to all the women in my life to tell them about my very important voting venture. All before 9 am and my morning coffee, AMAZING! To be a woman...all those years I complained. ;)

So of course, my school day was already set up to be fantastic. God was full of good blessings for me today! I went to my Psychology of Child Development class this morning and enjoyed a good discussion. Afterward, I went to my professor's office hours and talked to her about work I had been missing, only to realize I was only missing one thing. That was great! I then talked to her about taking a break from school, as I had said I wanted to do in one of my first blogs. She had much to say, and I valued her opinion. Overall, she wanted me to follow my heart. If that includes school or not, she said, was something I would have to learn. I then went to my Latin American class and thought about my decision. After that, I decided to go back to the academic adviser I had spoken to last week. I withdrew from my speech class, and I am now officially a part time student. I already feel more relaxed, though I am nervous for change and what it will bring for me. I am so ready to take a dive and experience life, though. I am ready to see what I want out of life, what I have to offer. I am going to contact a lady with the food bank close to my hometown. They are starting up a project in December or February that I would love to be apart of. I have a lot of hopes for my time off. I haven't yet decided if I will take a full break or if I will just take one or two classes that go along with helping people, service learning classes, psych classes or sociology classes. I am so ready to try something new for awhile and follow a schedule that is designed for me, not just a schedule that will get me out of school faster or to a degree faster. I want to enjoy my life along the way, not get to the degree and realize my life was a blur. We are never guaranteed tomorrow, so today is the best time to embrace life.

Finally, as sort of a kick off to my new freedoms and enjoying life, I have made a new necklace and finished the scarf I was working on to donate to needy children. I haven't had time to make any jewelery for myself for awhile, and I certainly can't afford to buy any. It was a nice reward, and finishing the scarf and envisioning some child wearing it to keep their little neck warm is a huge highlight! I am sure you have all had way more than enough of my glee, but I just wanted to share the joy. It has been such a long time since I had so much happiness to report, and I know, if any of you are like me, if you are having a bad day, you are ready to choke me for being so happy. Just come back and read this when you are happier, and it will mean more. HA!