vi·car·i·ous

adj. felt or enjoyed through imagined participation in the experience of others: a vicarious thrill.

As promised to all, including all zero of my readers, I am posting updates of my upcoming adventure to Alaska, with a short pit stop to Colorado, which is being vicariously experienced by so many, or so they say.

It's a ride, isn't it, this whole life thing that we somehow got stuck in. I have been in Indianapolis for almost 8 weeks, which is the longest stretch of Indy life I've had since before I went to college. It was easy to leave then after all my short visits, with only the 2 weeks of random hellos and how-are-yous and approximately 6 minute updates with the few people who remembered me (not including family, of course). I just wasn't home enough to have close friends here anymore, save for a few. I couldn't wait to get back to my own life. Now it seems I've made my own life here, as hard as I try to avoid it, avoid the investments, I mean. I guess regardless of where I am, investments in people and attachments to relationships are inevitable, and maybe that's a part of me I just have to get used to and live with. Yeah, that's pretty much the option. Anyway, now that I've actually started to like it here and started to figure things out, I have to bolt again. It came so fast, this leaving part. It's funny how time works, isn't it? It's the most common occurrence, for time to go by, and still we are always surprised by it. I mean, we brush our teeth twice or more a day, but it never shocks us. We never say, "Oh my gosh! I brushed my teeth this morning!!" But we always say, "Oh my gosh! It's Thursday! A whole week went by!" Well of course a week went by. A week always goes by. It just does that. So I guess maybe we should get more excited about life and say more things like, "Oh my gosh! I took a shower, just like I do every single day!" or "Oh my gosh! I totally pushed the snooze this morning!" or "Oh my gosh! I hugged my friend today!" or "Oh my gosh! I prayed this afternoon!" Hmm, I guess we'd actually have to do that last one to actually get excited about it...

Anyway, this church thing, I'm totally getting into it. I hope whatever church I find in Unalakleet is at least half as cool as Church 52. Seriously, talk about church family. This pretty much defines it, although I'm still not very good at meeting new people. (This is where I start to feel guilty about not being settled, because I don't meet new people because I figure it's not worth it because I'm not settled. It's an ugly cycle.) This morning at church I was going through the roller coaster of emotions about moving, oh, 5,000 miles away, give or take, because it was my last Sunday at C52. I was feeling a little terrified, a little sad, a little excited, a little nervous, a little (fill in the blank), etc. It was funny, because during worship I was like, "Okay, God, you know I haven't been very faithful with my prayer life, but I gotta tell ya, this is huge. I don't know if you knew this, but this is huge." Yeah, I know, but we all say dumb things to God sometimes. Anyway, I went on. "Seriously, God, you have to go before me. Go before me. Because I sure as heck can't do this alone, not without you. I have to know that when I get off that dinky aircraft you will be waiting there for me. You have to be there before me. Go before me. Go before me." And I just kept saying it. I thought it was great how Pastor Perry's sermon touched all over that "go before me" stuff. I was like, whoa, hang on, that's just crazy, because I just said the exact same thing. It was peaceful there. P.Pear (Pastor Perry: I just made that nickname up, just now) is pretty good at that sort of thing.

Mmm-kay. I'm going to give you some photos of some of my last days here. Limbo here in Indy wasn't so bad, and it has given me the right beginning to the next big thing.

Church 52 Family - nothing better (though there are some faces missing...)

This is my pastor, Pastor Perry, or what I thought was a semi-creative nickname, P.Pear. And no, I cannot explain this picture.

Kelli. Well, a lot has been said about this newly formed pair: "It's weird to see you without the other one..." "The two-headed monster speaks!" "Yes, you're little friend can come over." "We really are nothing alike, are we?" "Those two dictators get along really well." "We're deeply in like." Mostly, she's amazing, and I like playing Boggle, and she took my bear, and I eat her food, and we shared secrets. Shh.

And how could I forget the cutest baby in the whole world who spent my whole summer with me? My cousin Layla - (no, she's not my daughter, although watching her, I saw some frightening similarities between us: she likes to eat, she burps loudly, she's easily distracted, she whines for no reason sometimes, she's only affectionate when she feels like it, she decides when it's time to have a conversation, she hates to be alone, you can't tell her anything, she has blue eyes and blonde hair, and, of course, she's breathtaking and charming, minus the uni-brow, which we also share) - I love her to pieces. Also, she looks great in a mohawk.

Good day, and good night, and good morrow. This is what you get. That's all I've got. Leave me comments. I like to read them. :)