California Trip - Photo of the Day - Day 3

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A Summer Story

When I was eleven, I went to summer camp for the second summer. There was a girl there named Amy who was a few years older and had a kind of junior counselor role at camp. She had a beautiful smile and the kind of personality that lit up a room. She was incredibly talented musically and would often sing or play piano with a small group of younger girls all gathered around, singing with her.

On one such day we all gathered around her at the piano to sing. We happily belted out song after song until it was time to leave. As we all headed to lunch, Amy pulled  me aside. I was nervous about being singled out and was concerned I had done something wrong.  

"I just wanted to tell you that you have a beautiful voice," she said to me, "so keep singing." I remember just staring up at her, my idol, the young woman I wanted so much to be like someday, and being completely at a loss for words. I had always liked to sing - it had always been a part of my life - but this person was telling me that I was good at it and was encouraging me to make sure to nurture that talent. 

A feeling washed over me - a feeling I had never felt before. I was so honored and proud to hear those words of encouragement from her, and yet also somewhat overwhelmed. At a time when I was starting to feel the awkward insecurities of my pre-teen years, those words meant so much to me, and I found myself getting choked up from the emotion of it all.

I walked back towards my friends with tears streaming down my cheeks. They saw my tears and asked with concern why I was crying, and I shrugged because I didn't know. They asked if I was sad, and I found myself laughing through my tears and telling them that I was pretty sure I was crying because I was happy. 

I never saw Amy again after that summer. And I never became a professional singer. But I did carry with me the memory of how significant it was to be reminded of talents and strengths that I didn't even know existed.

This morning I received an email appreciating me for my honesty and caring and willingness to speak and act openly when many others do not. These are traits that are so a part of me that, like singing, I forget sometimes that they are strengths. The email spoke of the beauty that comes from making oneself vulnerable and the rewards that can come from being open to possibility, and as I read it I found myself full of that same mysterious feeling I felt 19 summers ago, with tears in my eyes and joy in my heart. Full of gratitude for all that is good in this world, and for the people who help me remember to appreciate it all, I share this with you now:

HotHotHotHotHot

One might think, if one looked at the Boston weather forecast for today and then read this post title, that I am writing about the temperature outside, but one would be wrong.

Where I work, I split my time between the floors where I see families and my cubicle space where I type up notes, check emails, etc. It is this cubicle space that has become a sauna in the past few weeks.

At first, I thought it was just me. I thought I was wearing too many layers or something. But this morning I was sitting in my cubicle overheating wearing a short-sleeved shirt. And then I overheard the woman in the cubicle next to mine call facilities management to complain and inform them that our office space is 80-degrees.

Now, 6 hours later, I just overheard that same girl say she was going to find the facilities person herself because her call this morning had done nothing and it is now 83-degrees.

I am officially melting.

Crazy Weekend

Last weekend was a big one.

My summer camp job ended at 12pm on Friday, at which point I hopped in my car and headed home where my roommate was waiting to drive me to Fenway for the 1:05 game. Adam called to let me know he had missed his commuter train, and I told him that I'd wait for him at home and we could both catch a ride with my roommate. We were pretty late to the game, but we ended up only missing one inning (of course, it was the inning in which we scored 6 runs, but no big deal, right?). It was a fun game, because it was Clay Buchholz's debut as a major league pitcher. I managed to get a pretty good shot of a pitch (can you find the ball?).

Other highlights included eating a sausage covered in onions and peppers, dropping most of the toppings on the ground, and collecting the extra bread I didn't want in one hand (maybe you had to be there), and also seeing the look of satisfaction on my sister's face after she managed to finally (after about 5 innings) get her Dippin' Dots.

I headed up to Maine on Saturday morning and met up with my friend in Freeport, where she had already claimed seats for us for the free concert that evening.

In celebration of it's 95th anniversary, LL Bean has been having outdoor concerts almost every Saturday, hosting artists from Dan Zanes to Paula Cole to Arlo Guthrie to Indigo Girls (tonight: Shawn Colvin, next weekend Bela Fleck and the Flecktones). (side note: as I write this, I'm listening to some of the concerts online)

Only in Maine could you bring your nice nice lawn chairs, set them up in the morning (or a day or two early), then leave them there all day while you shop or go hiking or go home, and then come back to them in the evening and have them still be waiting for you. Seriously - it's pretty awesome.

Our seats weren't great (apparently you have to get there before 11am to set up chairs for a 7:30pm show), but I didn't much care. I cared even less at about 5pm when they had a sound check and we went up to the 4th row and stood and watched and listened. Had I been really determined, I could have reached out and touched them. Pretty awesome.

So sometime between when I left MA and when I arrived in Maine, it became fall, and it turned into a very chilly night. Luckily, my friend's husband hadn't come with us, so I got to snuggle close with her to keep warm. At the end of the night, we were standing on the picnic table near our seats, wearing every layer we brought and wrapped in a big fleece blanket, while singing our hearts out along with all our favorite Indigo Girls songs. It was great.

Sunday found me at G's birthday party with LB, Dasein668, MOMP, and her incredibly creative and also incredibly ugly cake. When a 4-year-old requests a cake, you make it - even if you know it's gonna be ugly. It was pretty amazing, if you ask me. But you can judge for yourself...

A real angler fish:
Angler fish in Finding Nemo:
Angler fish cake by MOMP:
After the birthday festivities, I headed up to Bangor to see my friend Morgan and to meet her husband and her baby (clearly we had a bit of catching up to do). I spent the night up there and all too soon it was time to head down to Augusta to have lunch with my grandmother, then back up to Waterville to spend the night at my parent's house, and then back to Boston on Tuesday.