So I have to look back on this Christmas and think about how great this year has been for me.
Last year at this time, I was waiting anxiously to board a plane to England for one of the most incredible vacations of my life.
Now, I sit at home as it pours rain outside my house and spend the day cleaning my room, making room for the new presents of this year.
But the best blessing of this year has been the new experiences I have been able to be a part of.
I know it is hard after Christmas to be motivated and continue to look forward to things. Thanksgiving came, we were thankful for all we had. Christmas came, and we thought about so many possessions we wished to possess.
Christ came for us so that we might be reborn. It is fitting that this holiday falls before New Years. We have a chance to be reborn for ourselves. As another leaf turns in our calendar, we can look at what we need to change in our lives. Resolutions are our yearly reincarnations.
Therefore, among others, I am resolving to make better use of my time, give more of myself to organizations I have committed myself to (not necessarily in workload, but in passion), and to reinvest myself in my schoolwork and some friendships I have neglected. Also, for those of you that know me well, you know I can be untidy and often tardy, and those are two traits about myself I wish to change as well.
So, in this season of thanksgiving, rebirth, and personal reincarnation, we have so much to be thankful for, but so much more to reinvest in the year to come.
d
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Tickle Family Road Trip: Part I
On Thursday morning, Aug 4, we loaded up our rented minivan and hit the road for Philadelphia. Most of the part between buckling my seat belt and hitting the streets of Philadelphia is a groggy blur except for the part where we stopped for lunch in Maryland and I got lunch at Sbarro (which makes it safe to say that this is the ONLY time I have ever missed MarketOne at JMU, because DHall, Chick-Fil-A, Let's Go, and Dukes, basically ALL campus dining facilities outrank it...except for two punch combos, the soup combo and the Sbarro combo)
Anyway...I digress. In Philadelphia we toured the Declaration house, a historical recreation of the house Thomas Jefferson rented when he stayed in Philly during the summer of '76 to draft the Declaration of Independence. We walked across the street and got in line to view the Liberty Bell. This bell is truly a magnificent symbol of our liberties and freedoms. Never has there been a more iconic representation of the democratic ideals our founders set forth to create for us that summer of 1776. They pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors so that we might live freely.
After a short rest, we got in line for the free tour at the Pennsylvania State House, or Independence Hall, where the Founding Fathers worked to write, draft, revise, edit, and sign many documents upon which our country still stands. Seeing the chair where the President of the Constitutional Convention, George Washington, sat during those long, hot summers, truly takes you back to a time much different from our own.
That evening, we took a short stroll on Penn's Landing and saw the beautiful river views before returning to our hotel for a bounteous feast of Chipotle.
Which, while we are on the topic of hotels, I must tell a funny story. So we arrive at our hotel in Philly and pull in under the overhang by the front door to unload. We take an empty luggage cart and wheel it over behind the minivan. Suddenly, and quite mysteriously, a bell-hop appears and says that we cannot carry our own luggage on the cart into the hotel (though I have just seen another man do it with fewer bags than I) due to "insurance liability". In other words, he saw a van with 5 people and just as many suit cases pull up and saw $$$ in his eyes. I'm not stupid...you saw a money making opportunity and you jumped...don't lie... Needless to say, this bell hop wasn't happy when I didn't tip him for a job I could have done myself.
The next morning, we hit the road for our next stop in Boston. Traffic being heavy, we arrived in Boston around dinner time and decided to take a short trip to Salem to see some of the historic sights there and to have dinner. We had an excellent dinner at a cafe (known, as they told us, for their bacon). We also saw the Salem Witch Trials memorial which was a beautiful garden with stone benches in honor of those killed in the trials.
The last leg of our trip took us up the coast of Maine on Route 1 North with stops in Kennebunkport, Freeport, Camden, and finally Bar Harbor. We checked into our cabin, just outside of Bar Harbor, a beautiful, rustic cabin with 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, living space, and loft upstairs. We hit the hay pretty early last night.
To all my fellow Episcopalians, greetings from the Diocese of Maine. Dad and I went into town this morning for Eucharist at Saint Savior's Episcopal, Bar Harbor. It was a gorgeous church that at one time entertained a summer parish of nearly 1,000 people. Today's crowd was slightly more modest, but Dad and I enjoyed ourselves and got a lovely tour of the church from one of their parishioners. We really enjoyed seeing all their lovely stained glass, stone carvings, and intricate designs. Their Tiffany windows were gorgeous (though maybe not quite on par with the All Saints Tiffany collection).
Tomorrow's plans are up in the air, but they may include a trip to Bar Harbor for some shopping, lunch, and a tour at one of Bar Harbor's Breweries. Until the next post, a quote from today's rainy day book, James Frey's A Million Little Pieces.
Anyway...I digress. In Philadelphia we toured the Declaration house, a historical recreation of the house Thomas Jefferson rented when he stayed in Philly during the summer of '76 to draft the Declaration of Independence. We walked across the street and got in line to view the Liberty Bell. This bell is truly a magnificent symbol of our liberties and freedoms. Never has there been a more iconic representation of the democratic ideals our founders set forth to create for us that summer of 1776. They pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors so that we might live freely.
After a short rest, we got in line for the free tour at the Pennsylvania State House, or Independence Hall, where the Founding Fathers worked to write, draft, revise, edit, and sign many documents upon which our country still stands. Seeing the chair where the President of the Constitutional Convention, George Washington, sat during those long, hot summers, truly takes you back to a time much different from our own.
That evening, we took a short stroll on Penn's Landing and saw the beautiful river views before returning to our hotel for a bounteous feast of Chipotle.
Which, while we are on the topic of hotels, I must tell a funny story. So we arrive at our hotel in Philly and pull in under the overhang by the front door to unload. We take an empty luggage cart and wheel it over behind the minivan. Suddenly, and quite mysteriously, a bell-hop appears and says that we cannot carry our own luggage on the cart into the hotel (though I have just seen another man do it with fewer bags than I) due to "insurance liability". In other words, he saw a van with 5 people and just as many suit cases pull up and saw $$$ in his eyes. I'm not stupid...you saw a money making opportunity and you jumped...don't lie... Needless to say, this bell hop wasn't happy when I didn't tip him for a job I could have done myself.
The next morning, we hit the road for our next stop in Boston. Traffic being heavy, we arrived in Boston around dinner time and decided to take a short trip to Salem to see some of the historic sights there and to have dinner. We had an excellent dinner at a cafe (known, as they told us, for their bacon). We also saw the Salem Witch Trials memorial which was a beautiful garden with stone benches in honor of those killed in the trials.
The last leg of our trip took us up the coast of Maine on Route 1 North with stops in Kennebunkport, Freeport, Camden, and finally Bar Harbor. We checked into our cabin, just outside of Bar Harbor, a beautiful, rustic cabin with 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, living space, and loft upstairs. We hit the hay pretty early last night.
To all my fellow Episcopalians, greetings from the Diocese of Maine. Dad and I went into town this morning for Eucharist at Saint Savior's Episcopal, Bar Harbor. It was a gorgeous church that at one time entertained a summer parish of nearly 1,000 people. Today's crowd was slightly more modest, but Dad and I enjoyed ourselves and got a lovely tour of the church from one of their parishioners. We really enjoyed seeing all their lovely stained glass, stone carvings, and intricate designs. Their Tiffany windows were gorgeous (though maybe not quite on par with the All Saints Tiffany collection).
Tomorrow's plans are up in the air, but they may include a trip to Bar Harbor for some shopping, lunch, and a tour at one of Bar Harbor's Breweries. Until the next post, a quote from today's rainy day book, James Frey's A Million Little Pieces.
I know my faith makes my life better, and whether what I believe in exists or not, because I have faith in it, I get the benefits of that faith.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Feelin' HOT HOT HOT!
So, it is July 22, and today they predict temperatures of 103º in Richmond. But, as terrible as this sounds, we must reflect on the beauty of the Mid-Atlantic. Only in this magical place can we get crippling amounts of snow and cripplingly high temperatures. Is it not incredible that we can enjoy such a temperature differential as to suffer 20º temperatures in the winter, and 100º+ temperatures in the summer, over an 80º temperature difference between our winters and summers. So, when the heat of summer is getting you down, just remember how you felt in January when it was snowing, there was ice on your windshield, and you were wishing you had your bathing suit on and you were at the pool and it was hot again...
~Philip
~Philip
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Welcome
So here it begins. This is The Here, The Now. If I think it, I write it. So here begins the blog. Please follow me. I will be trying to update weekly or twice weekly. Hope you enjoy what is hopefully to be an interesting piece of thought.
~Philip
~Philip
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