Two Posts in the Wee Hours

I dozed off earlier this evening, then I had to wake up and drive Ev's friend home and pick up Sara. So, my sleep cycle reset and now I'm all wakey-wakey at 1 am. The weather's horrid so I'm not going running in the morning and since I was supposed to be gone this weekend, and the kids are off school, I have nothing on my calendar, so I can sleep in a bit once I finally get there.

I'm excited because for the first time in months, I'm caught up on my blog reading. I even made a few comments tonight. I stopped commenting on blogs and then almost stopped reading altogether because my brain was has just been full this past summer and on up till now. My parents' move and my work as Young Women President combined to leave little room for much beyond that and my family. So, for the past couple of hours, it was great fun to catch up on all my online and in-person friends' many goings on. I'm definitely not feeling guilty about missing all the posts, but I remembered tonight that I really do like being part of the blogosphere and discovering new books and great sites and fun songs and reading about what everyone is up to. I have been blessed to make some real, true friends through the magical internet, plus it is the primary way I keep up with certain faraway friends, and it was good to see how they are all doing. I so appreciate the comments that I receive and the way they help me feel a closer connection to people, and I'm glad that I've got the motivation back to want to share a little more in that way.

It also occurs to me that I have the time and inclination right in this moment to get back into the larger world because Wednesday night marked the real end of my Young Women leadership. A real sea change for me. We had been planning an annual culminating activity called Young Women in Excellence, and the transition to the new leadership happened so recently that the new president asked me to help bring this activity to completion. I did, and I'm glad I got to be part of it because it was really beautiful. We had the girls plan the whole thing. We mostly made suggestions and then helped put up the decorations, but the girls made all the major decisions. We were able to get at least some participation from the majority of the 35 or so actively attending girls. That was a primary goal. I think the thing I liked the most about last night was that the girls and their individual wonderfulness were at the heart of the evening. We were there to cheer them on and we did. It was fun, it was spiritual, it was full of music and even some laughter and always a few tears. In our church, we say that the Spirit was there if we feel that an event or talk or activity had a special feeling of peace and abundance about it. This night did. There was love in the very air.
The first two are photos of the decorations that my Sara took as one of the official photographers for the evening. That last one is of Ev and Sara at the end of the evening and I just like it. :o)

So, it was a nice way to wrap up my time in the position, with lots of partnership and help from the amazing women I worked with. It is a very strange thing to still be in the process of figuring out a job when you have to hand it off to someone else. I feel like most of the questions that the new president has asked over the course of the transition have required me to answer, "Uh, I was just getting started on that." or "Uh, I don't know, I hadn't even thought about that yet." Sometimes all I could come up with was the "Uh..." Not so good for one's feeling of competency. Last night gave me sense of completion and closure. I think I must have needed that because I finally feel like I can really move on to the next thing feeling nothing but glad for the time I had with the girls. Let the permanent record show that I loved them with all my heart.