Oregon girl I've been around the world but I've never seen another Oregon girl. Oregon girl with your lips and curls I want a taste of that Oregon girl
There’s a mountain There’s a time to They were put up there to keep us apart So I watch you making plans and I make plans You could kick a drum but You just try to stop me now from movin’ on with an Oregon girl HEY!
Wait for me another year or two I will graduate and marry you You roll the number and I’ll buy the lumber To build a house up on an Oregon hill
There’s a mountain There’s a time to They were put up there to keep us apart So I watch you making plans and I make plans You could grow a thumb But you just try to stop me now From movin’ on with an Oregon girl
Dear Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Thank you for making me feel more loved. And now, for some of the newest Avett Brothers.
load the car and write the note grab your bag and grab your coat tell ones that need to know we are headed north
all one foot in and one foot back but its okay, to live like that so i cut the ties and i jumped the tracks for never to return
Tonight, I decided to turn to my old faithful of friends, the Avett Brothers, so some old harmonizing and sweet tunes to tickle the eardrums. Needless to say, they did not fail. Nor did their lyrics fail to reach my brain and send me into a whirlwind of thoughts. I flipped to some tracks from their most recent released album, Second Gleam. "Bella Donna" sounded like a simple enough song. But the second verse made me stop, listen again and again.
"Donna, Bella Donna have you seen me? Have you ever really seen me Like I want for you to see me now?"
When was the last time I asked this of anyone? When was the last time someone had ever seen me? Ever really seen me? Like the way I want for them to see me now?
It definitely makes me think about the person I am inside, the person I allow out, and the person who desperately wants to shine through it all.
Today's a rough day for me to write in here. Part of me wants to whine and moan about my frustrations, but another part of me knows that no one wants to hear any of that. Then the first part complains that no one reads this anyways, and the latter tells me that I should have a better attitude and not let things eat away at me. Needless to say, it's a definite battle to keep my mind focused on more important and better things.
Like last week at camp.
Man alive, does my heart ache to have junior high camp all the stinkin' time!! (And who EVER thought that I would have said that?!?!) But really, I love those kids and that staff. I love other staff as well, but that junior high camp just really surprised me in amazing ways.
On Monday night of camp (the second night there), I had an accident and somehow fell on the stairs by our cabin. They are not stairs like the ones at Whispering Winds--which consist of rotting wood and the occasional gravel--no, Wi-Ne-Ma stairs are ALLLLL about the concrete. So this genius falls, and lands SMACK on her back. Not my head, or arms, or anywhere else, my back. And if you know me at all, you know what a smart kiddo I can be about my back. Well, I was able to walk, with plenty of pain, so they laid me down and called for the ambulance to come take me to the ER in Lincoln City. While we waited for them to arrive, a few of the staff were in the room with me. Ben, Jen, Mary, Kevin, Nora, and Bryan all prayed over me, which only caused this nervous wreck to cry more. Bryan (my new "brother"), leaded over me in the end, tears streaming down his face, as he whispered for his sister to get better and how much he loved me. Again, more tears from me.... I can't believe how much I wasn't even focused on my back when this "brother" of mine came and cried over a girl he barely knew. Not only was that my emotional point, but then two of my previous preschoolers came in (seeing as their mom was one of our nurses). The oldest began to cry because she was so sad that I was so sad. She even laid one of her pint-sized coats over me to keep me warm and comfy. Her little sister than brought me a lil white and pink teddy bear that was to help me feel better. She was choked up as well, and said, "Miss Elisa-- You're MY teacher. You teach ME. I love you." Argh, really?!?!? When your in that kinda pain and 4 year olds are crying over their hurt teacher, how can you NOT tear up even MORE!?!?
They knew it probably wasn't my spine (no numbness/tingling in the extremities or anything wrong with my neck), but that didn't stop the paramedics from going full out with the neck-brace and backboard. After last summer, I have learned that neither of these are fun experiences to deal with in an ambulance ride on old roads.
So once we'd arrived at the hospital and they'd checked me in, I was SOO thrilled that the doctor okay'ed me quite quickly to be removed from the glorious neck-brace and backboard that I was strapped to. As much as I was thrilled for that, I was *NOT* thrilled by the scary lady who was constantly moaning next to me. My only ER visit was from the summer before's car accident and I had had a private room. This thinly draped curtain was NOT going to do. Luckily, in the land of triage, spinal injuries get priority listing. Not long after being there, they assessed that it was bruising from landing, nothing too serious, but plenty of aches and pains to last me a while. The doctor said he'd write up a prescription for some glorious vicodin and that I would have two shots put into my hips before I could go. Now, I have learned from this being my FIRST time with vicodin that I love it dearly. But let me ttteeellllll you something.... it's BABY SAUCE compared to that marvelous drug called morphine that they shot in my hip!!! :D
According to my VAGUE memory, I was very pleased with the way it made my hands feel when I rubbed them together. And I thought it was quite funny to clench my bottom and thighs to scoot me up in my seat over and over for the drive back to camp. I told a few jokes with Ben. And recalled getting frustrated with the paramedic who kept asking if I was pregnant or on the pill or pregnant. (I had calmly responded with, "Not unless God's into immaculate conception again!")
But when I returned to camp was what really amazed me. Bryan, my "brother", was refusing to go to bed until I returned to make sure that I was okay. He saw me, told me that everyone had been praying for me, and went to bed. I went to sleep, slept through the staff meeting in the morning. I don't remember when it was I first got to see people that day, but the one's who knew me came and spoke with me, offering the GENTLEST of hugs.
One by one, the counselors came and told me about how their campers had asked that they stopped that night and prayed for me as a cabin. I don't know if you know a ton about junior highers, especially cabins of junior high boys--- but in my book, that's a BIG thing. I was completely taken aback by the love this camp held. All I could do was sit back and take it and thank people. It made it really tough because I wanted to be so involved and knew that I had to be limited in what I did. I wanted to be going and doing and a part of it all, and God made me sit and wait. It made me find new ways to love on people, and it brought together my cabin of mis-matched girls in HUGE ways.
That accident was one of the biggest blessings in my life. If you were there, and you're reading this. Know that I did not thank you enough for all that you meant to me!! I wish there were better ways to say it.
I've decided that I don't mind Top Ten Lists in the least. And as I've started to think things over, I can't help but listing some things. Although, as much as I am COMPLETELY FOR ORDERLY FASHION. Sadly, mine will rarely follow that tradition because I am truly terrible at making up my mind (narrowing anything down to a list of 10 will be the biggest feat).
Introducing, today's Top Ten:
:::: TOP TEN 80'S KIDS SHOWS FROM PBS ::::
10. Degrassi Junior High & High. Now, these never played that long on PBS where I live, but all over the US and Canada they did, and that is a shame because I love watching them in all their 80's glamor glory.
9. Sesame Street. We're talking the good kind of Sesame Street before any obsession with Elmo came into play.
8. Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood One of the many time treasured classics where we all learned about a man who obsessively changed his shoes and sweaters more than we ever knew possible.
7. Reading Rainbow. I honestly think that this show contributed to most of us wanting to read. When they'd learn all about the books I'd be twitching in my seat to go to the library and find that book. I just had to read up on all the cool books. Sadly, I'm a preschool teacher now and I think I get twitchy even more so! Now that I'm watching the intro, I used to try and guess what the books would be about that all the intro kids turned into.
6. Mouseterpiece Theatre This one is a little foggier in my mind, but I remember it just the same. A Disney themed story time of classic tales. How cute.
******************************************************************* PRECURSOR: This is the start of my TOTAL geekiness and how much I really dolove education and what PBS has to offer (or at least did, at one point). *******************************************************************
5. Eureka. Ahhh, the lesser known science show of PBS. Wanna be a small child watching a show with words way over your head that you pretend to understand? Welcome to my childhood. But, needless to say, I did learn the concepts quite well and it helped IMMENSELY as I grew older.
4. Newton's Apple. More of what I watched and loved via science on PBS. This one was neat because they had a portion where famous people came on and talked about whatever scientific topic they were discussing that day and how it related to them in whatever they did. Totally a smart move on the shows behalf: convincing children that if we want to be those famous people, (which we all did,) science was going to be essential.
3. 3-2-1 Contact. No joke, I love education too much. More science for fun. This is where I learned how to weight large objects that don't want to stand still on a scale (like a massive dog).
2. Square One. Math at its finest. My favorite segment was almost always MathNet.
1. Zoobilee Zoo. Now, I don't know how many of you know who Ben Vereen is, but he's this absolutely outstanding dancer from back in the day. I'll talk more about him on my next post, and just where he's gone with his life. Anyways, this is one of my greatest loves for costuming and disguise on television. Not that they did some massive job, but these characters (believe it or not) where not the least bit frightening as a child. They were characters that you could easily relate to and were always able to learn a lesson from. Beautiful aray of 80's colors that weren't always neon.
I have to admit, my 4th was definitely not quite my typical festivities. True, I did watch (and enjoy) the traditions of my small-town parades. From the VIPs, to lowriders, to Shriner's and on to the kiddy parade... we smiled and called out to those we knew. But it was different without having scouted out the family's usual spot in front of Haugen's Photography with our small haul of lawn chairs and a picnic table bench. This year, just my cousin, Nate, kept to the tradition. With his newish girlfriend, Kelsey, we ran into a few old friends from camp-- Beans and Thundy.
It was fun to get to see Kelsey's reactions to our oh-so-old-school parade of silly traditions. Even the City Managers and Mayors helped clean up the horse poop willingly!! (Of course, I don't know that they feel that way by the time they reach the end of the parade.... we always see them towards the start of it all.)
Then we cruised through Main Street Park, which festivities are dwindling moreso each year, and on home for the family BBQ. I have to say, the family BBQ is quite the tradition. When we were children, my second cousins lived at the coast and would come in JUST for the 4th and the family BBQ. In junior high, they moved into town and still came. Even my second cousin who lives in Portland came home this year for it with her boyfriend.
It was weird without Uncle Gary there, I'm gonna be honest. He's a quiet man, for the most part. But when he spoke, it was thought out and exactly what he wanted to say. There was no crazy laughter from him and Brian.... no lollipop games played in the park with a RIDICULOUS amount of winnings.... but it was real nice to hear Aunt Debbie get happy when she heard that Kelsey was from Willamina and had heard of him.
That was pretty much it for me. The highlights had to be as followed:
Singing "Low" while my niece, Hallie, watched and danced with excitement over hip-hop music (mind you, she's almost 2).
Discovering the joys of LATFH and AFP and laughing at the uncomfortableness of it all.
Teaching FLUXX to Nathan and Kelsey--- only to get Kelsey hooked and wanting the Monty Phython version of the game!! ((SIDENOTE:: Apparently the 4.0 and Zombie Versions have CREEPER CARDS!!!))
Texting Jason to wish him a Happy 4th-- because I LOVE ALL HOLIDAYS!!!
Yep. I continued my time with falling asleep too early to go to Ben & Bethany's party-- which was a HUGE bummer because I wanted to. Thus, not really feeling like being up and down in a crowd at the Independence Park for fireworks-- causing me to cancel on Chris.
At least I'm caught up on sleep for the next week of Preschool Camp!!
