A Simple Prayer

A simple prayer on a walk home.
A miracle the following day was shown.
A friend was sent from many miles.
A friend to share so many smiles.
A blessing bestowed upon us all.
A simple prayer that was oh so small.

Smile!

When life gets hard or you feel blue, just remember there is always a reason to smile!!

At The Lake

Nothing like a day at the lake to relive memories, see your old campsite, and make new memories. To enjoy fellowship with people from your home church who also attend your camping church, and the general camaraderie that follows.

(T-Tot pictured)

Take a Moment

Take a moment....

Calm your heart before the Lord.

Enjoy His beautiful creations!

And take a moment to rest....

Vacaaaaaaaaaaaation! Beautiful Blessings - 8/19/16

Vacaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaation! Squee!!! I can hardly wait! I'm soooooooo looking forward to it! Well, mostly. John leaves on Sunday for college for eons and eons (aka, the semester) and we leave for camping tomorrow. On the bright side, I'm excited to have a chance to wear clothes that AREN'T work clothes, yet when I packed, I couldn't remember how to! XD I'm an interesting conundrum ;) 

~ friends to talk to....and yell at....laugh with....cry to....and whatever emotional state I'm in

~ smiley face wars with said friends

~ packing up books to read, and activities to enjoy that I've been wanting to do!

~ happily enjoying the fact I've had my blog for 4 years, and haven't given up on it yet!

~ looking forward to seeing what adventures happen the next couple weeks....I can use some fun relaxing adventures! (if those two ideas go together lol!)

Now that I've rambled, I'm off to go pack some more....whoop-de-doo! lol!!!

Homeschoolers: The Reality - The 4th Blog-iversary of my Blog! {and 1000th post!}

Every year, on my blog, I write a post on homeschoolers/homeschooling to celebrate the momentous occasion! The first post on my blog, discussed the 4 Myths of Homeschooling! The following year, to celebrate my first blog-iversary, I wrote a post about 100 Things Homeschoolers Love! The next year, for my second blog-iversary, I made a video called The Homeschooler's "Rap"! Last year, for my third blog-iversary, I wrote a post discussing 10 Series Homeschoolers Read! 

This year, I've collaborated with John, his sister, and my sisters to create a special movie for you!

Without further ado. I present Homeschoolers: The Reality!

After you've enjoyed it, be sure to check out the Bloopers!

{Email readers may want to click through to the blog!}

999th post - and how many followers?

According to Blogger, I have officially 18 followers...yet I know there are much more than that!!! So, to celebrate my blog-iversary today, I'd like to have a post asking y'all to do me a favor! I've been quite curious about this for a while, and today seemed like a good day to do it! 

If you've read my blog for any length of time, I'd love to get a comment from you! I know I have many people local from Church, etc., that read it, but then I also know I have many people from around the country who read it as well! That being said, leave me a comment!

• How did you find my blog?
• What do you enjoy to read about?
• State you're from? 
• How long have you read it?
• Etc!

Thank you for reading my blog for the past 4 years!! I can't wait to see what will happen this coming year!! 

And again, thank you!!

Beautiful Blessings - 8/17/16

~ having my blog for 4 years

~ seeing how it's evolved and changed in the past few years

~ excitedly looking forward to see what I do the next few years

~ enjoying all the guest posts I've had to celebrate

~ ways God has used it to bless others

Expectations...a reflection on the First Summer of Dating

I basically began dating at the end of spring, beginning of summer; the quasi month of May. This past winter, John and I decided to write a bucket list of ideas just for fun of things we wanted to do this summer when we began dating! Well, as he heads back this weekend for college, I thought about the bucket list, and realized we didn't do much at all which made me rather sad. I pulled up today, and realized just how much we did do! To celebrate the end of my first summer of dating, I'm gonna see how many things we did on my list of 26 things! {Edited to add: One of them I realized was a winter-only thing, so 25 is sliiiiiightly more accurate!}

1. Beaver Lake! - CHECK! We did this as our first date! We planned on it for foreveeeeeeeeeeeeer!
2. Spending time together in prayer and God's word! - CHECK! We aim to do this every day over Skype! Skype is awesome by the way!
3. Go through a devotional together! - Nope! Maybe next year!
4. Movie nights at either one's house! - CHECK! Lots of movies at my house, and I saw Star Wars 7 (whatever it's called XD) at his!
5. Dance together! - CHECK! We've attempted this XD It sorta worked
6. Dance together under the moon! - CHECK! We actually managed to do this too! Again....it sorta worked but not really XD
7. Picnic at John's camp! - CHECK! I went to his camp on July 2nd to celebrate the 4th of July!
8. Picnic at Beaver Lake! - CHECK! Did this on the first and only date to Beaver Lake!
9. Picnic at a park! - This gets 0.5 check mark because we did if you count either Beaver Lake or going to a park with a picnic with my family!
10. Chimney Bluffs! - Nope! Maybe next year! 
11. Spending a day at John's camp! - 0.5 if you count half a day for the 4th of July celebration!
12. Read a book together! - Nope! Maybe next year!
13. A Sunday drive! - CHECK! Just to the store probably, but we've gone for a ride on Sundays!!
14. Teach John how to crochet! - Nope! XD Maybe next year ;)
15. Get ice cream together! - CHECK! Did this a couple times!
16. Get together with Heidi! - Nope! Maybe next year! <3 
17. Hike the Canal trail! - Nope! Maybe next year!
18. Share tea! - I'm gonna say 0.5 because we probably did XD
19. Pick wildflowers! - Nope! Maybe next year!
20. Dinner date on July 1st! - CHECK! XD we were both cranky, but we did it anyways! We dressed up and he gave me my first bouquet of flowers which I've hung to dry <3
21. Fireworks! - CHECK! I love watching him enjoy fireworks! <3
22. Sunrise/Sunset picnic - 0.5 because it sorta counts when we went to his camp!
23. Lights on the Lake - well.........this is winter XD soooooo it's not included in this
24. Date at Red Lobster - Nope! Maybe some other time!
25. Date at Panera - CHECK! We went to Panera twice! Once to meet a friend, and then on the 1st for dinner because we changed our minds last minute.
26. Date at Barnes and Noble to browse (and a place of John's choice afterwards!) - Nope! But we better do this next summer XD I love Barnes and Noble ;)

Soooooooooooooooo to tally it all up!

14 out of the 26 we accomplished! 

1 was impossible since it's not Christmas time XD

And that leaves 11!!!

Our most popular date that we had was going to Walmart! XD Don't question why, but we always had fun just window shopping or finding presents for people! Another one we did was to Wegmans (the picture below) which is the same genre. 

And lastly, the second most popular date we had this summer was play games and watching Star Trek together! <3

Beautiful Blessings - 8/16/16

 

(photo taken by my coworker)

~ the sound of pouring rain on the roof

~ coming out the front door at work to see a double rainbow - a much needed sign to have hope

~ the brilliant white of the cloud above me

~ the golden yellow sky behind me

~ seeing the day draw to a close in a fiery orange,

Beautiful Blessings - 8/15/16

~ eating swiss chard and thinking of my friend who is missing it right now

~ wishing I could be a kitty and live at the library

~ seeing beautiful pictures in a puddle

~ and seeing a completely different one from another angle

~ looking up to see rippled clouds in a blue sea

~ a sun dog - a tiny rainbow of hope

The 3rd Blog-iversary post!

Last year for my blog-iversary, I wrote a post highlighting 10 series of books every homeschooler (I've known) reads!

Without further ado:

10 Series Homeschoolers Read

Beautiful Blessings - 8/14/16

~ perfectly spaced coffee to get through a long day

~ a cat nap before work

~ a beautiful sunset on our way to the store

~ having a blast shopping together (John & I) while he got things for college next weekend

~ ending out visit with peanut butter sandwiches

Beautiful Blessings - 8/13/16

~ shopping with Mom and finding a cute outfit

~ meeting her childhood friend in person

~ enjoying some Cafe Kubal...which wasn't made by me! XD (we serve Cafe Kubal coffee at work, so it was fun going to another Cafe Kubal establishment)

~ yummy homemade snow-cones on a humid sticky hot day

~ going to work and enjoying some other Cafe Kubal creations...I love their ginger lime syrup!

Beautiful Blessings - 8/12/16

~ going to the Zoo to see the new elephant pool

~ enjoying a snack of french fries while we wait the rain burst out

~ a special surprise of going out for lunch

~ getting a chance to watch the Olympics while we eat

~ a special necklace from John with my favorite verse on it...a very belated birthday present! ^-^

Beautiful Blessings - 8/11/16

~ calling up a friend to catch up

~ discovering there are kitties on her island

~ hearing a voice you haven't heard in a long time

~ seeing how big this world really is

~ grateful for friendships that are separated by hundreds of miles

The 2nd Blog-iversary post!

For the 2nd blog-iversary, I posted my Homeschooler's "Rap"! 

To read the lyrics, you can click through to the original blog post, or if you can't view the video, click the link above it! ^_^ Enjoy!

Without further ado:

Homeschooler's "Rap"

The 1st Blog-iversary post!

For the first year, I actually had two posts! One was my traditional homeschooler post, and the other was a post that shared the highlights on my blog for the year before.

Without further ado:

100 things Homeschoolers Love

(side note: because I had someone complain I only wrote eight things that were actual things homeschoolers love, they aren't all entirely things that homeschoolers love...just things about homeschoolers, e.g. what they enjoy, etc.)

The 1st post on my Blog!

For my very first post on my blog, I wrote a post about 4 myths people commonly have about homeschoolers!

Without further ado:

The School Year is Coming

(man, that just sounds ominous....I apologize XD I was very dramatic back then...I've gotten better as the years progressed lol!)

The Golden Rule (a guest post)

{John S.}

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12)

I’m sure many of you reading this know of this verse or have at least heard this saying sometime in your life. However at least I have found this to be one of those extremely tough verses to follow. I mean naturally our response to someone we don’t like or someone who has harmed us is to try to get even. However, when you read this verse it never discriminates against anyone. It just says others. That means anyone and everyone. When deciding on what to write for this post the first thing that popped into my mind was our society today and all the nonsense that the news keeps broadcasting. Everything from the major issue of racism to the push for homosexual rights all across the world. The general tone of the media is hatred towards people you don’t like. However we as people like to look at the big issues that seem so distant from us. However this verse is so important to our daily lives as believers. I know I’ve been on a few outreach trips through my local church. One particular thing me and my group did was go to Clinton Square in the city of Syracuse, New York and hand out free bottles of water to people who walked by. We didn’t sit there with signs protesting and we didn’t even push the gospel into people’s faces unless they asked about it. The whole time we were there most of the people that took the water were confused as to why we did this. In a world so filled with hate and bigotry showing a small bit of selfless kindness was foreign to most people. In fact a number of people took one look at us and went out of their way to avoid us, even going as far as to walk blocks out of there way just so they didn’t have to hear the message that they assumed we were saying. I can’t begin to say how many times I have seen Christians or “Christians” stand on street corners with megaphones and just shouting out the gospel for the world to hear. Which normally according to the Bible would be good, however when they do it and someone comes to cause trouble they lash out and yell at them and get angry. They show complete disregard for this very well, known passage and for the other teachings of Christ that say to show love and to not respond with hatred towards those who seek you harm. Luke 10:25-37 now this passage I’m sure a number of you have heard before. If you can’t quite remember it’s the story of the Good Samaritan. Here Jesus illustrates the point I’m trying to make better than I ever could. To love those who need it even if those people hate you for no good reason. So to all who read this keep this little thing in the back of your mind. Be kind and loving to everyone around you. I know people can be ridiculous and annoying and mean. However when that little voice in your head tells you to snap and get angry with someone remember this beautiful promise to help you fight that urge.

Philippians 4:13

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

-------------------------

John Schairer is an amazing boyfriend (although I'm biased), a strong man of faith, and a wonderful friend (and again, I'm biased)! He's going to Clark Summit University to become a pastor, a call he has had for many years!

Beautiful Blessings - 8/10/16

~ taking the kids to the Zoo to You program and having different animals at it than the one they went to a few weeks ago 

~ having John and Alexa over to help with the blog-iversary project

~ going out for ice cream with my family and them

~ a kitty proudly wearing a bow made by his girlie

~ teasing John just because

~ ending the night with A Ticket to Ride and losing horribly but having fun nonetheless

On Butterflies and Caterpillars (a guest post)

{Melissa M.}

Caterpillars. All they do is crawl around on the ground and eat. It takes forever for them to get anywhere.

Butterflies. Transformed, new, free. They can flutter above things, dancing in the air, not having to plod around on the ground.

My mom told me a bit about how God was teaching her about a particular butterfly. As she was sitting on a rock one morning, her attention was directed to a bright, yellow butterfly. She saw it easily flutter over a fence, dancing in the air without any cares. She thought about caterpillars, and how they can only crawl along on the ground, and how it would take such a very long time for a caterpillar to scale a fence! When living in defeat, we can be like that caterpillar, just plodding along through the trials, but God has a better way.

One day recently my Grandpa fell. He’s done that twice recently, and one of the times he had to go to the hospital. I was sitting out on our front porch swing when I lifted my eyes and saw that same beautiful butterfly hanging around by my cousin’s tree. I was reminded that it’s possible to soar even above the harder trials.

Just this week, the butterfly again fluttered over our family’s camping trailer. We’re getting ready to go on a trip, and the butterfly was once again a reminder that we can soar with Jesus above any trials that may come during it.

The Holy Spirit is able to help us soar even when things really hurt. If we let Him, He can show us things we’ve never dreamed possible and help us to be more like Christ, even in the middle of it all. And in the end, He’ll make all things beautiful.

“He has made everything beautiful in His time…” Ecclesiastes 3:11

“God works all things out for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

---------------------------------------

My name is Melissa Morgan, and I am a 15 year old Christian who loves writing, praying, and being with those who love Jesus. I enjoy talking about what God is doing, getting to know people better, and hearing whatever God has to say. I also love dancing and singing, and spending good quality time with friends and family. 

Beautiful Blessings - 8/9/16

~ having an amazing morning hanging out with Naomi!

~ enjoying tea and biscotti

~ deciding to descend upon John's house and spring a surprise visit

~ going birthday shopping with John for T-bug's upcoming birthday

~ working on the blog-iversary surprise with John

Beautiful Blessings - 8/8/16

~ modern medicine for asthma

~ being cured with a simple nap

~ Star Trek that makes everything better

~ understanding people who finish my shift

~ a refreshing shower

Beautiful Blessings - 8/7/16

~ waking up to sunlight out my window

~ cookies in Sunday School perfectly describing the ways God answers prayer

~ resting and blogging between church and work

~ having John with me when we went to prompt care for my asthma attack

~ ending the night with a grilled cheese for dinner

10 Most Popular Posts of All Time - #1

At #1 we have:

Throwback Tuesday: Rachel Louise Carson!!!!!!

This is probably the most surprising for me! But I also think it's rather cool, as, well, science is cool! I hope you enjoyed looking back at all these posts with me! Enjoy the rest of the guest posts until the big day (the Blog-iversary!!!)!

A Strong Tree (a guest post)

Have you ever been walking through the forest and suddenly come upon an absolutely massive tree? One that you don't even need to take a second look, just the absolute size of it and you know it's been around for a long time.

   

And with that long time of life you know that surely that tree has survived a lot to get where it is. Drought, floods, possibly disease, it's stood through storms and winds that knocked down other trees all around it. And yet, there it stands.

A tree doesn't just become strong just naturally, no. The strongest trees have to withstand winds and storms, every time a tree survives a storm it digs it's roots deeper into the ground that is it's foundation and becomes harder and harder to dig out.

This is something I've been thinking about recently in my life and in the lives of my friends, many of us are out in college now. Working full time jobs and many of us have finally moved out. And as promised in the New Testament there will be trials, there will be storms in our lives. The question now is, are we going to let these storms tear us out and throw us around? Or are we going to dig in deep and grow stronger to withstand the next one?

The Bible has a few things to say about withstanding trials and about the strength that God will give us to help us endure. Here are just a few verses:

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

"He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." Psalms 1:3

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." Jeremiah 17:7-8

"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Romans 5:3-5

That tree in the picture up there withstood its life's trials. Will you?

God Bless,

Ryan

A little bit about me:

  I'm a 22 year old Christian guy, nothing extraordinary. I Volunteer with the local Fire Dept. where I lead a Fire Explorer Outpost, getting the High school kids in that are interested and giving them some training to see if Firefighting is a career path they would like to travel down.

I work at a couple other Fire Dept. besides that as a Firefighter/EMT-B. It's not easy work all the time, but it's what I love to do.

The original purpose of my blog (A Long Adventure) was to be a place to put up my stories, pictures and updates from a big Sailing trip that I was supposed to take back in the summer of 2013. But through a string of events and poor communication I never ended up going. I kept playing around with the blog putting up a little story here and there, and the end result is basically what is now an online devotional. Instead of being a type of journal for trips and adventures to different places it's become a place for me to put up the spiritual adventures and lessons that I've been through and that God has been teaching me.

I hope you all enjoy the blog, and I hope God uses it greatly to your benefit and for His glory.

  God Bless,

        Ryan

10 Most Popular Posts of All Time - #2

At #2 we have:

Being Classy: Advice for Guys (a guest post)

Written by my "adopted" brother, (who happens to share the same last name as I) this is probably my second most favorite post on my blog!!

10 Most Popular Posts of All Time - #3

At #3 we have:

Throwback Tuesday: Amy Carmichael

A comment I just got on this post:

"I love Amy Carmichael!!! She is my favorite missionary and because of her, I have always dreamed of going to India. When I was young, I read the stories of her saving the young girls just like me. I have wanted to go to India ever since and may get a chance to go with my youth group soon. Because, as God planned it, of course that is the one international trip that my youth group does. Isn't He amazing?"

10 Most Popular Posts of All Time - #4

At #4 we have:

Skirts: my thoughts and why I wear them

Here is the first post I posted in the two-part series about my decision to wear skirts. If you're interested, you can also read my recent post about why I choose to wear headcoverings. :~)

Beautiful Blessings - 8/6/16

~ being greeted by the library cat at the front desk

~ sunlight on the picture

~ going to work for the first time all week since I had to call in

~ the perfect card for a lovely friend

~ filled with peace as in Philippians 4:6-7

Beautiful Blessings - 6/5/16

~ finding a rainbow on my cup

~ getting antibiotics for bronchitis

~ chatting with a friend throughout the whole day

~ a much-needed quiet night at home

~ a kitty happily joining me in that!

Trees, Olives and Nursing Homes: Growing up with Moriah (a guest post)

{By Elijah S.}

Once upon a time, there was a girl talking to a tree.

*Uh, Elijah, that opening's been taken.*

Really?

*Yes.*

Shoot. Oh, well, continuing on, she was sent on an incredible journey with a dude named John. This story, though, starts long before Moriah even knew what CEF was. (Okay, maybe that's stretching it a bit, but it's probably true)

To ask when I met Moriah is to ask when I met, say, Heidi, my older sister. In other words, as far back as I can recollect, she's been there.

*When'd you meet me, Elijah?*

Be quiet, bro. (Sorry, I have conversations with myself a lot)

Moriah had the worst of luck growing up, because she was a year between myself and Andrew, who's two years older than I am. Now, the way we did Sunday School during those years, we had two grades together. So, one year, she would be with Andrew, and the next, with lil' ole me. It alternated, until we got into High School, where both Andrew and I were in a class with her.

The strain was too much for Moriah's mind, and she retreated back several grades. Well, kind of. She went back to help the teacher of a lower grade. I mean, the grade he taught was lower, not that he was a low grade teacher.

*I think they got the point, Elijah.*

Who's telling this story?

*Technically, both of us.*

Good point.

*Moving on?*

Definitely. Now, it was somewhere around this point that I was introduced to the wacko world of email. Over this mystical creation, Moriah put forth a proposition. She asked that I join her and her sisters (of which there were only two at the time) performing for nursing homes. What else could I do but say yes?

*You could say no.*

Really, man? Just lay off, willya? I have such an attitude, you know?

*You can say that again. And before you say it again, get back to the story.*

Wait, did I just insult myse-

*Story!!!*

Right. So, nursing homes.  Um...Where to start?

*First show?*

Can’t remember it. Can you?

*Of course not. But I was probably wearing a button down shirt, and a pair of slacks, and those really tight brown shoes.*

Oh, yeah, those were bad. Anyhow, we started at St. Camillus, then spread to Loretto, Camillus Ridge Terrace, and Van Duyn. Our group, the Tree House Creation Players, or something like that, went from me and three sisters, to me, my sister, five Peters sisters, and a few others off and on: Natalie Knodel (singer) Andrianna Gaj (dancer, last name pronounced ‘guy’) and Andrianna’s sisters, once or twice in the works.

I met John at Van Duyn. I will admit, I was a bit shocked at, well, him. John, how to put it delicately, wasn’t exactly what I expected. I was thinking someone extremely thin, with big glasses, brown hair and clean-shaven. Instead, I got John.

*The effect equates to something like this: Expecting a huggable plush owl and getting a real-life bear.*

Yeah, that about sums it up. And yes, John, I just called you a bear. And no, I don’t expect you to be talking in Russian because of it.

John watched the show, went to ice-cream with us, then got a picture with Moriah (and if I remember correctly, I tried to photo-bomb them, but was stopped in time) and went on his merry little way. I had no idea how deep their attachment ran, nor how soon I would find out about said attachment.

*Um, bro, you’re going into drama mode.*

But I like drama mode!

*Yeah, I don’t.*

But you’re me, and I’m you, so we should like the same things!

“That’s not how it works.”

*Who are you?*

“The third member of the personality trio.”

What in the world? How can there be three people here at once?

*You seemed fine with two, how is-*

“Story, people. Focus. Please.”

Right. If Asterisk hadn’t interrupted me, we would be on our way already!

“This isn’t about us, No-Punctuation. Get back to telling the story.”

I use punctuation. See? There’s a period, and question mark, and apostrophe, and comma!

“You know what I meant.”

*Still, that was-*

“Back to the story, I saw John just a little bit after that, at a church get-together. We didn’t talk much, but I kept trying to get my brother, Andrew, to talk to him, because he (John) reminded me of another friend.”

After that, however, we didn’t see each other until Moriah’s seventeenth birthday (directly after her mono). It was interesting to get emails from Moriah, because in person, she’s kind of...Formal?

*More like refined?*

“Cultured.”

*That sounds like yogurt, bro.*

Either way, over email, every other word is ‘LOL’, ‘:)’, ‘:(‘, ‘;)’ etc. Totally different. I actually think I got annoyed with her about that once. Something about her words on email not equaling the words she spoke on a daily basis. Anyway, slight sidetrack there. Then she said, “And my awesome mommy has been planning this birthday party,” (Or something like that,) and I thought to myself, ‘Since when does Moriah talk like that?’ Whatever. Totally random thoughts come out of this brain of mine.

“That’s because there are three of us up here.”

*Technically, there’s four.*

“Don’t think about it, Asterisk. We don’t mention him. Ever. You know this. Sorry, No-Punctuation. Continue.”

Of course, to go to a fancy ball like this, one must be prepared. Unfortunately, my cane was banned. Then again, I might not have had my cane at that...No, wait, I definitely did, because I pulled it out in the parking lot....Or was that the second time we went to Spaghetti Warehouse? Maybe....I lose track of time so easily....It all begins to blur....Anyway, I put on my best. The brown shoes referenced earlier no longer fit, but I found a pair of black dress shoes, perfect against the matching slacks, tie, and suit jacket. My shirt was white, and I had a brown flat cap (also known as a newsboy’s cap) on. In the picture, I have an odd smirk. I’m not sure where that came from.

*That was probably my fault. I don’t know what I thought of that was so funny, but it must have been pretty epic.*

Well, I’m glad someone’s willing to take the blame for that. Throughout dinner, and through the movie afterwards, I was impressed (though not completely surprised) at how much John acted the gentleman.

After we parted ways once again, I must have retreated under a log, because I didn’t see John until that autumn, when we got together for my sister’s birthday party, once again at Spaghetti Warehouse. I remember making some stupid joke about being able to pass John off as a 21 year old (So I could drive with him. As of this writing, I still don’t have my license.) The next time I had contact-

^I like pickles!!!!!^

Oh, my word, who let Elivs out? Put him back, put him-

^We is free! Long live the queen! Forward the buffs and never look back!!!^

“Oh, dear. Guys, Elivs is rampant. Does anyone have the sedative?”

*We should probably explain who and what Elivs is, right?*

^Oooh! Let meeee!!!!!^

I think I should. So, I don’t know about you people, but there are some days when I get the urge to say something really stupid.

*e.g., ‘Yes, that dress really does make you look fat, Mom.' Or, ‘I think we should jump into a lake full of crocodiles.'*

Not quite what I meant, but those examples will do.

“But if they’re not what you meant, then why would he say them?”

Don’t quibble over details, Quotations. You heard our conversation about that earlier, and even you said ‘That’s not how it works,’ remember?

Anyway, my name for that impulse is Elivs. I once let him out on Moriah, in a conversation that is best forgotten, and has long since been deleted from the databanks of our emails. I do remember, however, it ended with Elivs yelling ‘Ellipsis!’ a lot, and John threatening to throw me and my ‘Olives’ into a river, or something equally threat-worthy.

“Just so you know, an ellipsis are those three or more periods that show someone is trailing off in the conversation. Kind of like me, now....”

Thanks, Quotations. Oh, and John’s reasoning for throwing me into a river was because I apparently gave Moriah a migraine. Or, I should say, Elivs did.

*Dude, Elivs is you.*

^Pinochle!!! Sugar and spice and every-^

So, that brings me to the final day Moriah wrote about: picnic day. I was picked up by Heidi from work, from where we drove to Moriah’s house, picked up John and Moriah, then drove to Onondaga Lake Park (after making two pit stops along the way: Heidi’s (now former) employers, and Stewart’s (For Root Beer)), where we spent most the evening. Heidi and Moriah raced to the swings, Moriah chased me because....I don’t remember, and John laughed quite a bit. I danced, while Moriah sang step in line. In other words, we just kind of acted like our goofy selves.

But my part in the story doesn’t end there. Just a few months ago, Moriah and I met up with one of our other mutual friends for a ‘grad party’, so to speak. While waiting for the third party to arrive, Moriah relayed some shocking information. Along with wanting me to play the piano at her wedding (Heidi would do it, except she’s the Maid of Honor), John wanted me to be one of his groomsmen. ‘Why? I asked, a reasonable question by my assumption.

‘He likes you,’ Moriah replied simply. And now I eagerly await an actual invitation by John. (Hint, hint...)

Okay, time to get serious here. No more Elivs, Quotations or Asterisk. Just me.

Once, there was a girl talking to a tree. A guy introduced himself to her because of that. Now that girl has grown into a beautiful woman, and the guy...Well, we’ll call him ruggedly handsome and leave it at that.

How does one end a post like this? With a blessing? A joke? Both? We try that last one, I guess. Moriah and John, you have been through so much together. So, as your dear friend (or ‘lil’ brother, even though I’m taller than you, Moriah), I plead with you: GET MARRIED ALREADY, WILLYA?

Thank you for putting up with this, and have a wonderful day/afternoon/night/morning (check one that applies)

~Elijah

(You can read his ramblings, as well as some others, at his blog: Glorious Mess!)