My cousin, a wonderful, intelligent woman who is currently on summer break from Divinity School at Duke, recently posted a blog about things that she has learned from her first year of intensive study at Duke, as well as things that she has only learned now that she has stepped back for the summer and can see clearly through the lens of time.

I wanted to post a link here to her post for those of you who are still in college, as well as for those of us who are endeavoring to being to live in the "Real World" that exists after college and to try to synthesize everything that we have learned and what our college life meant for our identity.

Enjoy!

Meghan's post.

I wanted to have a surprise ready for Jim when he got back from his trip because he hates being away for so many days in an uncomfortable hotel room, staying with someone who may snore or have volatile gas or something. So inspired by Angie and her recent post for her husband for Father's Day I have decided to also do a "101 Reasons..." list. I thought that I would share with you because I wanted those of you who may not know him very well how wonderful he is, and for those of you who are his family I wanted to share how wonderful he is at this whole husband thing since you can't see it in person here in MN. So here is my list that I will be giving to Jim when he gets back tomorrow. (Oh and I've edited out the really personal ones.)


1. You love the Lord more than me
2. You miss me when you are gone
3. You kiss me fervently
4. You play Klax with me and other video games that I enjoy watching you play
5. You do the dishes (even the utensil tray sometimes.)
6. You cuddle me when we sleep.
7. You don’t snore too loudly.
8.
9. You listen to stories about Liam
10. You acknowledge that my job is difficult.
11. You eat the food I cook with enthusiasm
12. You encourage me in my writing
13. You enjoy food from around the world.
14. Your mom cooks wonderful food that she has taught you to make.
15. You respected me from the beginning.
16. You were my friend before you were my boyfriend/fiancee/husband.
17. You appreciated all of the cards and gifts I’ve given you
18. You love the gun book I got you
19. You love the Simpsons.
20. We have $1.00 bets and I get to win sometimes.
21. You love the way my face lights up at a good camera.
22. You love my skip-hop.
23. You want to impregnate me.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30. You adore my body
31. You try to be comfortable when I take pictures of you so many times.
32. You take me places just to take photos.
33. You take me to Ft. Snelling
34. We go on walks together.
35. You make an effort to keep physically fit.
36. You bought a bike to ride with me.
37. You follow through so that we can accomplish our goals.
38. You work to be financially responsible.
39. You balance the checkbook.
40. You insist that we tithe in order to honor God.
41. You want to find a church where we can be involved.
42. You want us to be involved in a small group.
43. You enjoy doing things, not just talking about things.
44. You want to be the man that God wants you to be, not that the world wants you to be.
45. You want to be involved with friends.
46. You want to find a house and build a life together.
47.
48. You are a great uncle to Joey and Samantha.
49. You are invested in your family.
50. You work at your relationships with your family.
51. You cook me coffee in the mornings
52. You respect those older than you with wisdom to give.
53. You want your children to experience parents who stay together forever.
54. You want to adopt children.
55. You have thought about what our children will look like.
56. When we argue you acknowledge if you are in the wrong.
57. You get excited about free things from work.
58. You get excited about a good deal.
59. You pinch my bunu when we walk up stairs.
60. We have adopted bunu as the word for butt.
61. You want to name our future dog “Bunu”
62. You want ducks
63. You are honest.
64. You are loyal.
65. I can trust you
66. You couldn’t have come out here without me.
67.
68. You are a hard worker
69.
70. When you learn something you learn all you can about it and remember it.
71. You keep our car in good repair.
72. You want me to be safe driving around the big city.
73. You tell me to be safe out taking pictures without you.
74. You believe that I will make money with my words and photos.
75. You make me dinner.
76. You take me out to dinner in interesting places.
77. You take me to IKEA
78. You buy me wonderful Christmas presents
79. You showered me with love for Valentine’s Day
80. You take out the garbage
81. You sweep
82. You enjoy good movies
83. You can quote movie lines verbatim
84. You smell great.
85. You were willing to attend premarital counseling in preparation for engagement
86. You made our wedding special despite the short notice.
87. We can ride in the car from Michigan to Minneapolis and not fight.
88. You write thoughtful notes to people for our gifts.
89. You were excited about getting presents for my family in addition to yours for Christmas.
90. With you, I finally have someone to join me looking at the luminaries in the Winchell Neighborhood on Christmas Eve
91. You love the way I look
92. You tell me I am beautiful..
93. You thought of saying, “That looks good on you,” instead of “you look good in that.”
94. When I feel bad you rub my back.
95. You pray with me at night before we go to sleep.
96. You try to eat healthy food for your body.
97. You buy me dark chocolate.
98. You like “Animal Adventures.”
99. You are silly.
100. You take first shower so I can sleep in the mornings.
101. You make me bacon.

He is so wonderful.

Today I went to work with Liam and, as usual we went to the park, which is under the landing flight-path of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport. Today, however, I found myself taking a closer look at each of the planes as they passed by, many close enough to see their landing gear and read to which airline they belonged. I was preoccupied with flight today because today Jim flew down to Chicago for his company's yearly sales meetings. The downside is, since he transferred from merchandising to sales this year and they have different meetings, this is his second yearly meeting of the year. I am so thankful for his job and that he gets to do so many cool things, but it does make me lonely when he is out of town. Today I made the mistake of telling him that this middle-aged guy flirted with me in the elevator of our building and it made him worried and he made me promise to be careful and watch out for myself while he is gone, as well as on a photo walk I am planning on taking while he is gone. He said that he is worried because if I were robbed he wouldn't be able to get back in time to help me. It really makes me realize just how different my life is out here to have someone to care that much, and to not have the network of friends and family that I did in MI. How cute is Jim though to be so worried!

Less than a month ago he was out of town in Virginia (where it was 80 degrees and sunny) while I was here in MN, cold and horribly sick. That was far worse than this where I feel fine and the weather is in the 70s. Thankfully after this he has no out of town conventions or sales meetings planned until December, although he has several shows in Minneapolis and St. Paul. He is excited about those because at one he gets to work selling tools, which he hasn't done since he moved from merchandising. We still occasionally pop into a Sears and he inevitably straightens something to the way it is supposed be, and laughs when the salespeople want to tell him something about a power tool that he likely knows far better than them.

My work is going well too-- the little boy that I nanny for is growing by leaps and bounds. It seems like every day he learns a new word that he can proudly and loudly state. The most recent additions to his vocabulary are "Quack," "sock," and his new phrase, "Oh boy." Another recent obsession is the bridges that span the creek on the Minnehaha Parkway. It has been a new adventure for him to see the water flow under the bridges and watch as the Cheerios he drops between the stained wooden boards flow away from him. Until recently I have driven him across the bridges in his stroller on our way to the library, but with his increased walking abilities it seemed only natural to let him out to walk to the "top" and practice his hill climbing and descending skills-- now I can't get him away from the things.

He is such a sweet and good-natured little boy. Today, after story time before nap I told him that we had time to sing. Some days we only have time for stories, but I've discovered that he loves to just sit still and listen to me sing before he sleeps, and today fell asleep leaning on my chest to me singing, "You Are My Sunshine." Is there anything sweeter than rocking a child and smelling soft baby hair. I'm honored that children like me and that I can get outside and see more of this beautiful city that we call home.

I'm realizing that this is sounding like a Christmas Letter, but I wanted to keep all of you updated on our lives out here and not just talk about how cool our transportation system is.

As a child we had this old Richard Scarry book, "Best Storybook Ever," and one component of it was different types of transportation. My personal favorite was the story, "Is This the House of Mistress Mouse?" because it was a romance, but the transportation page was decent as well, due to the inventive and detailed illustrations. Now, at times, I feel as if I were inside of one of the pages of this book. We regularly see around the city the typical cars, SUVs, hybrids, vans, trucks and buses. We also have a variety of transportation vehicles out of the norm. We regularly see people riding on their "commuter" unicycles, some complete with headlights, both the smaller-wheeled as well as large wheel ones. There is the light rail, numerous planes (military and commercial) many many many many bikes, including a 6 foot tall one that is NOT like the old ones with a the large front wheel-- it is more like a regular bike with the seat and pedals on stilts. Rollerblades, heelies, barges, steamboats, cruis-ships, scooters, motorcycles, skateboards, mini-cars help to round out the experience. I really enjoy seeing how a multi-type vehicle transportation system works and to think about what the system could be if even more care was taken to give bikers/rollerblades/etc. a complete seperate roadway, at least a lane. I suppose that this is only feasile in a city of our size, because I know that I needed a car when we lived in Michigan, but it is a lovely thought.

Other food for thought-- Asphalt Nation is a book that I own, but have not read all of and gives a historical and economics-centered approach to why the train-era of America faded and the idea that the automobile magnates influenced the government to make our nation's transportation system car-centered. I was wondering if anyone else has read this book and what your thoughts are on this.