To Do List for October and November:

x Move from Grand Rapids to Nashville
x Have USPS forward mail to my new address
x Reacclamate to doing my own dishes and laundry
x Tackle new hospital system
x Peds Surgery rotation at Vanderbilt
x Take Boards
x Find reliable childcare for Pooplet
x Help provider of reliable childcare for Pooplet move in with us
x Campaign for Vanderbilt peds residency interview, call in favors with surgeons
x Get much sought-after invitation for Vanderbilt interview
x Schedule Vanderbilt interview (January 30th!)
x Plan Wedding
x Realize that some of the most important online wedding purchases hadn't arrived up in Michigan yet
x Realize that both expected packages were sent USPS to my Michigan address, subject to same mail forward
x Have tantrum
x Visit post offices in Nashville to track down packages
x Set up elaborate plan to have packages overnighted to Michigan should they arrive after our departure
x Resolve myself to plan for the worst: no flower hairpiece, no flowers for Pooplet, no veil
x Parent the always lively Pooplet McFussikins in the evenings until she collapses into bed
x Collapse into bed myself
__Drive to Michigan
__Hope parents don't drive me crazy
__Attempt to center myself and find happy place in the midst of the chaos
__Remember how wonderful it is to be marrying Master Tony
__Get married!

Poetry Corner, Revisited

First posted on April 17, 2007, this piece reveals in verse what I couldn't bring myself to express verbally at the time. I hid behind metaphors for fear that the possibilities I glimpsed on the horizon would simply vanish. There is overriding emotional turmoil and an impatience for my life to begin--but there's also a hint of unexpected joy. Soon (54 days), the source of this joy will become my husband. All my love, MT.

Vantage Point
by Angela C

when the hillside
so long sought
then rises under
foot, its
petals cradling
soles and soul
in welcome

tell me,
what then?

great Someday,
you evade me
stretching on
and painting
the next horizon
an alluring
shade of
possibility

i dare
press beyond

Clarity, you're within my reach
Simplicity, you regard me from a distance

anonymity and
emptiness
have become the
white noise
by which i sleep,
their comfort
baseless and
incomplete

but somewhere
beyond this
valley of shadows,
a far off melody,
mesmeric
familiar,
stirs my soul
unexpectedly
to dance

Pic of the Day

P6260044, originally uploaded by thekidakc.

Summer will come again
and bring with it
a new voice.
With autumn, new waters.

Take heart in Change.
Take heart.

Pic of the Day

Under the right circumstance, that which is most ordinary becomes extraordinary. For a moment, the clouds part and the sun streams through. This is what life is about. But as the moment stands still, time passes, and then it's gone. I would share these feelings if I could, but like the melty sensation of chocolate on your tongue, words only dampen magic of experience. For now, I'll have to keep it to myself.

Pic of the Day

The days spent here have been too few.

With the first whisper of spring,
the waters of this oasis
sparkled, sweet and warm.

Draw nearer and enjoy.

The worries of the world
seem absent from this place.

Pay no heed to summer's brevity,
autumn's consequence...

There is no other day but today,
no time but now.

Sad
to be unable to return when winter is through.
Cruel
to find the waters already changed.

Time bends not for sentimental yearnings.
And Justice lurks around every corner,
if only to catch Folly unawares.

And yet, there is reason to take heart in Change,
comfort to be had in true Companionship.

Summer will come again
and bring with it
a new voice.
With autumn, new waters.

Take heart in Change.
Take heart.