With the Words You've Borrowed From the Only Place You've Known

Congratulations to Mr. Dan Carlson for correctly naming "Decatur, or Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!" by Sufjan Stevens as the Sunday Song of the Day. You'll remember Dan as one of the proud majority shareholders in Team Jodayyy and as the current leader of the "Palace and Friends" March Madness (NCAA Trademark) Pool. Dan, if you think this isn't a conscious attempt to jinx you, well you have another thing coming.

This afternoon, as we sat and listened to a presentation from an attorney at Hunton & Williams during LAPP, something pretty neat happened. This is not to say that the presentation was not interesting, but something really good was happening outside of Room 127. I love those moments when the heavens just open up and rain comes pouring down in what can only be described as a deluge.

I began to think about how I view rain in the different contexts of life. When I was younger, rain was something that stood in the way of playing outside, but when the rain stopped, oh, that's when the fun began. We would go out and ride our bikes through the huge puddles that would develop on Gatewood. I'm pretty sure that my Mom didn't like doing laundry after those days due to the fact that I would have a racing stripe up and down my back from the muddy spray that came off of my back wheel, but when you are doing laundry for a young boy, your standards can't be too high.

I thought about all the times on Trek that I have spent a rainy night under a crew fly or in a tent. Out on the trail, the rain was often the thing that I dreaded the most. Well, besides the token kid who wanted to complain about eating Vienna Sausages. Trust me, that argument carries no merit with someone who has to eat them throughout the summer. If you ever have me on trail (which this summer is probably the last time), don't even try that sob story with me, but I digress.

Today, as I sat in the classroom, I was reminded again that spring has arrived. Besides seeing the bluebonnets bloom along the roadways, nothing signals the beginning of Spring better than a good, soaking rainstorm. As I observe the changes in the seasons and the renewal of the earth, I am reminded that my life is an everchanging process. Just as sometimes we must walk through the winter, Spring is always around the corner. I can't wait to see what it brings.