HOME

They say that home is where the heart is. I agree, but I also posit that where the heart is is home. I've been lucky enough to call a number of different residences and towns 'home' over the years, whether for only a short time or for the bulk of my life, they all have been worthy of being called a home of mine. They've each provided me with shelter, refuge, memories, opportunities for growth, new experiences, familiarity, friendship, and most importantly, love. As such, a little piece of my heart has been left with all of them. And while they may no longer be the place that I am living at at the moment, they will always be home to me. (Lest they forget it, sometimes it's necessary to go to drastic measures, i.e. carving your initials into the windowsill of your childhood bedroom. . .when you're 20 years old, to leave your mark.)

Being just shy of a quarter-century old, I am aware that I'm probably nowhere near done accruing new places for my heart to fall in love with and to claim as a home. As I look back on the changes that have already happened in my life, and ponder those yet to come, I can't help but wonder, where will my heart and my home wind up being next? I suppose I'll find out soon enough.

GYM RATS

I majored in Sociology. Suffice it to say, people, and their interactions, fascinate me. I’ve come to find that a great place to indulge this interest is none other than the gym. Ah yes, the gym; where one can find those whose lives revolve around working out, those who’re trying to shed those pesky extra pounds, those who view it as a prime date-finding arena, and even those who’re there simply for appearances. Because of the wide variety of reasons that people may be at the gym, gym-goers provide an excellent, and amusing, sampling of social culture as a whole.

One of the best occurrences at the gym is what I like to refer to as "vulturing." You know, when someone is eyeing a piece of equipment that's in use, staying close by, and then pouncing on it once the person's done with it so that no one else can swoop in to use it before them? Especially when the gym's busy, vulturing can be a very useful tool. Without fully developed vulturing skills though, one may wander just a wee bit too far and then find that suddenly it's anybodies' game. I've been there. There's nothing worse than seeing the object of your desire become available but as you work your way through the maze of sweaty people and oddly shaped workout machines your eyes settle on someone else who's moving in the same direction with their eyes on the same prize. Uh oh. Inevitably this leads to more than one person reaching the coveted equipment piece at the same time, at which point the proverbial "Oh, were you about to use this?" "That's okay, you can go for it" "Are you sure?" "Um, yeah, definitely" interaction ensues before the defeated person sulks away, vowing to A. run like the wind to beat the other person next time, B. tell the next person that "As I a matter of fact I am going to be using this right now, you'll have to wait your turn", or C. stand right next to the desired workout machine while it's in use next time, even if it's incredibly awkward for both people involved. . . which it most likely would be. I’m not exactly a fan of being on the receiving end of these events, but to witness others endure them while slaving away pumping iron myself? Wonderfully entertaining.

Some other favorites while at the gym include: the person who talks on their cellphone, loudly, the whole 30 minutes they’re on the elliptical (thank you for sharing your conversation with us – and I’m all for multi-tasking, but, really?!); the cute old men who attempt to make small-talk with anyone working out within a 10 ft. radius of them; the guys who never venture out of the free-weight area, are the exact same guys in there on any given day of the week, and as a result, are all good buddies with each other; and the people (yes, myself included a lot of the time) who have headphones in from the instant they walk in the door all the way up until they’re walking out the door, regardless of what they’re doing while in the gym.

Thank you gym and fellow gym-goers for indulging my people-watching tendencies, you make working out a bit more enjoyable.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

I've been dwelling on some quotes that I scribbled down while attending the Willow Creek Association's Leadership Summit this past summer. These are particular ones that, as of late, have been floating around in my head and are wiggling their way into my (ongoing) life-planning. If you feel so inclined, feel free to entertain these thoughts in your own life as well:

~ Sometimes the comfortable thing to do is the wrong thing to do.

~ You've got to be prepared to adjust.

~ If you are of religious faith, it'd be odd if it didn't have an impact on your job/on what you do.

~ Leadership is your duty to do if you can do it.

~ The joy of achieving something makes the pain all worthwhile.

~ Make the decision to say "yes" to God every time He asks something of you. You don't have to understand the implications of it, you just have to say "yes" -- sometimes the best paths one has gone down were ones where they had no idea where they were going.

~ This isn't the pre-game, this is the game. You have one life to live full on for God, one life to develop your leadership to the fullest potential.

~What're you going to live for? What will you lay it down for?