Catching air

Tonight we're going to the premier of Burton's new snowboarding compilation film 13.

After low key weekends and weekends full of work, I am kind of a little too thrilled to get out into the city for an event on a Friday.

I admit too, that I am most excited to see the locations where the film is shot, as opposed to the particular tricks and skills of those being filmed.

One of the amazing things about snowboarding, for me, is that when you're on the mountain - you're on a mountain.

It is bitter cold outside, your Vitamin D is low, and you miss the beach and all those pretty times outdoors that the fall brought you. But instead of complaining, you have an outlet.

Last year I went riding maybe 14 or 15 times, fewer than I wanted. Nevertheless, we're talking about roughly 48 hours of time - two days straight - where I was in nature, in winter, when I otherwise would have wanted to be in bed.

Snowboarding brought me to Glenwood Springs, this amazing little town north of Denver, and to gorgeous views of Mount Sopris that I would never lived to see had I not gone there to ride.

Whether or not we're outdoorsy people, I think their is something sublimely healthy about spending time in the sun, among rocks, hills, trees and earth. For all that snowboarding has given me - a sense of fun, time for fitness, and the companionship of fellow riders, the reason I started and the reason I'll likely keep going is to visit new places, see new beauty, and experience new heights.

In the air

*Local high school football games only, please!

Open skies

This weekend we ventured to Hopkinton State Park.

It has been one of those seamlessly beautiful late summer/early fall weekends, and we soaked it up.

Hopkinton State Park is a lot larger than the Blue Hills, with it's own pieces to appreciate.

There are boat rentals, and paddle boarding, which I might want to try out soon. There are open vistas and spaces that really allow around the wind to whip around you, making you feel like a part of the nature that surrounds you.

It was such a great place to rest - to sit in the sun, to lay back, take a nap, and listen to the world - the kids, the dogs, the couples - around us.

I hope you too had a peaceful weekend punctuated with simple little moments of joy.

American Poets

For as long as I can remember, I've loved song, poetry, and the folk culture of real people speaking.

Two of my favorite poets are Langston Hughes and Henry Rollins. In some ways these men could not be more different from one another, but they are folk artists, true to form, so they both touch my soul.

Below are my favorite verses from each:

There were things I wanted to tell you

I couldn't get it together

I couldn't get past your eyes

After you were gone it hurt to have kept quiet

So easy not to say what you think

To not do what you want

Hard to take rejection

Easy to hurt someone and not know it

Easy to make it hard

Henry Rollins

To wander through this living world
And leave uncut the roses
Is to remember fragrance where
The flower no scent encloses
Langston Hughes

Rollins in these verses represents the angst of my youth, when I was struggling to define and in all ways vocalize the truths about life that I was discovering through growth.

Hughes' verses are a bit different for me. As a teenager, I felt that I would burst if I could not express my emotions. Later, I began to realize that, in many of the things I am not able to say, there is a true beauty in the unsaid. There are truths that take shape in the silences, only to become just as real as if they were spoken.

This is a simple revelation, but to live consciously in appreciation of both the silence and the speech is a humbling and challenging thing.

Boundaries

Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

The verse above is my life verse for my current life stage in young adulthood. It is harder than I would have thought to be an adult - doing the small things like saving money, getting in to work each day - even when it's a job I love - and the topic of this post, setting boundaries for myself in life and keeping them.

I am learning to let go of what is not in my control, to let my emotions be what they are while ruthlessly examining where they might come from and what sorts of healthy changes I might make in order to be who God has created me to be. It is exciting but constant to live like this.

After nine days of a really great training, I'm off on a plane trip, during which I'll be reading the 12 Steps and thinking about what it means for my everyday day life to be an offering.