'We are myserious creatures, aren't we?'

Today I randomly went to the movies with some friends. It was the first time in a long while that I had absolutely no idea what I was going to see...and it was a very refreshing feeling.

We went to see 'Evening' which is a story about this woman, Ann (Vanessa Redgrave), looking back on her life and the moments that defined her life. She is dying and determined to tell her daughters about those moments. It was a really powerful film with a cast full of huge names - Glenn Close, Natasha Richardson (Constance), Meryl Streep (Lila), Claire Danes (young Ann)...and my absolute favorite, Toni Collette (Nina). (By the way, if you're looking to go see this, forget about what reviewers are saying - I just don't think they understood it.)

One of the great moments in the film occurs near the end when Lila is talking to Nina about her mother, Ann. She says, 'We can't know everything she did....we are mysterious creatures, aren't we?' It really just makes me think about all the stories I've heard about my grandparents, parents, and other relatives...and about all the ones I've never heard that make them so much what they are today.

The other thing I loved in this movie is a discussion that Ann has with her daughter. They talk about being afraid to make decisions because you are always afraid that you'll make the wrong one...that you'll make a mistake. Ann tells her daughter that there are no mistakes. I forget the exact wording of her explanation, but basically she says that everything in life has its good and bad sides - it's sort of a 'you're where you're meant to be' kind of message.

What was especially interesting for me today was that I also randomly decided to head over to the Newman Center for mass rather than waiting to go in the morning. By the time we got to Fr. Thomas' homily I was feeling a little odd...almost creeped out. His entire homily was about how it isn't worth it to look back on your decisions and worry that you've gone the wrong direction in your life. That the grass may seem greener on the other side just because you aren't close enough to see the weeds that are there.

Did you ever feel like the big guy upstairs was trying to get a message across to you? Evidently, today mine was all about learning not to worry about my decisions...maybe the grad school I've chosen is the place I'm meant to be next year after all.

Zombie attack

So this morning I start up my internet explorer and patiently wait as my home page loads. What I didn't realize was that this morning America's worst nightmares had finally come true. Hollywood has exploded all over the country and infected all of our lives. The lead article on the BBC Americas website read: "FBI tries to fight zombie hordes." Zombie hordes?!?! Oh...wait...no, this isn't a 'Night of the Living Dead' come to life (hahaha). Nevermind!

The gist of the story is that zombies are what hijacked home computers are called and the FBI is trying to crack down on the problems because it's beginning to threaten national security. These 'zombies' are also called 'bots' - so they're calling the operation 'Operation Bot Roast.'

Now the question remains, how much faith do we put in these FBI people who come up with 'cute' little names like Operation Bot Roast? And taking that into consideration, can you really blame the British reporter for making the FBI sound a little foolish with that headline?

I love this country...but sometimes people make me wonder...

So I'm an aunt...woah

Just over a week ago we get a call from my brother that he is heading to the hospital with his wife...who is in labor. This was it! The baby was coming!!!

I was still in St. Louis visiting with my parents and while they rushed straight away to Columbia and the hospital I decided to gamble that labor was not going to be really quick (I'm sooooo sorry, Tracy, for saying that). I continued on with the plans I already had to go see 'Urinetown' at New Line Theatre with some girls I hadn't seen since Christmas...which ended up being ok because Tracy didn't have the baby until the next night. Yeah, 33 loooong hours of labor. My nephew is going to hear about that for the rest of his life.

Well the only bad thing, really, about my decision was that I ended up taking the trek across the state at about 11 pm. No, I didn't get tired or fall asleep at the wheel or anything. Far from it. It was more like a white-knuckle, slow, prayerful and tense drive. A very long line of showers ran across the state that evening and gave the impression that I drove through a succession of swimming pools. At times I sat wondering if my wipers were even working. It was horrendous. It was impossible to see where the heck the road even was and almost just as difficult to keep the car on the road with the tendency to hydroplane.

But the coolest thing happened that night. A nice long parade of cars developed and we all traveled together from about Warrenton to the big hill 1/2 an hour outside of Columbia. Everyone worked together by putting on their flashers (which made it easier to see the car in front of you through the downpour and therefore stay on the road) and was taking it nice and easy. Hydroplaning wasn't even a problem anymore because we were almost driving in the tracks of the person in front of us like in a snow storm. I've driven that stretch of 70 enough to hate almost every idiot who drives it - from the old folks who drive 50mph in the fast lane and refuse to shift over to the jerk who flies up on your as....rear end when you are patiently waiting for the 18 wheeler in front of you to pass the slow-poke who actually did move. But that night redeemed a lot of my faith in Hwy 70 drivers. It felt like a team - 'Team Torrent' - working together to get us all home safely. Bravo good people! And thanks for helping me get safely to the hospital!


Oh, yeah, so the baby? Well, like I said, there was quite a wait for his arrival. The nine of us who were waiting with Mike & Tracy found out how REALLY uncomfortable waiting room chairs are when trying to subsitute them for beds, how fun it can be to hang out at the cafeteria at 3 in the morning (their ice cream is de-lish!), how really slap happy a big group of people can get after sitting around for more than 24 hours, and how all the exhaustion just melts away when you hear that the end is near. After 33 hours of labor...28 of which were spent at the hospital...my nephew, Jonah Robert was born by c-section!! Mike looked so proud and almost giddy when he came to tell us the news. And then it finally sunk in - my brother is now responsible for another human being. He has one of those...

Holy merde - we're all getting old.