Personal Piece
Life Lessons to Ella from Mommy
1.
When I was in the 7th grade I went to Ichthus, a Christian music festival, for the first time. I went many times after that, but this first time was just, well...different.
I was so excited about going. There were eight of us staying in an eight man tent with all of our stuff. Here’s a side lesson already: Eight girls plus their stuff cannot fit in an eight man tent. Anyway back to the story. We left on a Thursday night after school and made the four hour drive in the Ferneau’s camper down to Wilmore, Kentucky, unloaded in a cow pasture and began to set up our tent. Between the eight of us we could not set up our tent. We had to enlist the help of Dusty and Joe, some nice (and cute) high school boys, but we did get our tent up and we all crammed inside.
One of the things that I had always heard about Ichthus was that it rains every single year. That next day the rain came. We had decided to put all of our bags around the perimeter of the tent and sleep side by side in two rows feet to feet. At least we were keeping each other warm. I was snug in my sleeping bag in between Liz and Val when the drip started. A tiny drop of water hit me square on the forehead. I groaned, but was too sleepy and squished to do much about it so I just wiggled my face into my sleeping bag, letting it soak up the water. An hour or so later, Liz woke me to let me know she was sleeping in a puddle. We were whispering but soon several girls were talking. We were all lying there awake, uncomfortable in our own ways, and didn’t know it. Liz switched on her flashlight and stood up and lifted the roof to help end my drip. We heard someone outside scream as they were doused with that water. I didn’t get much sleep that night, and as the sun was rising, lightening the tent, I just thought “What a I doing here?”
I actually met Jesus at the big communion night that year at Ichthus and many of those girls and I joined a weekly bible study that met at Tonia’s house. We were, and in some ways still are, a very close group. Six years after that night in the eight man tent many of those same girls and I took a mission trip to Jamaica.
We had been looking forward to and raising the money for the trip for over a year. After traveling from Cinncinatti to Miami to Jamaica we finally arrived well after dinner time. We drove up to a small house where our group of 9 girls and 4 adults would be staying. We carried our massive suitcases into a small bedroom with one twin-sized bed. The sweet older woman hosting us wanted to treat us to something American and cool for dinner since it was so late and we would be going to sleep shortly. She served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I’m allergic to peanuts, but had luckily packed some Oreos that I ate instead.
We went back to the bedroom and began to get ready for bed. About half of us had packed air mattresses so we began to blow them up and lay them out across the floor. We covered the floor. We agree we would let Abby and Emily share the bed while the rest of us arranged ourselves on the now cushy floor. Good thing we’re a close group! When the lights went out that night I was hungry, missing Max and your daddy, and very anxious about the trip. I just thought “What am I doing here?”
We ended up having a wonderful time, of course, and making so many good memories on that trip. I later found out that the five churches my group members and I attended had organized a 24-hour prayer schedule for while we were gone, that explained so much of our success on that trip that I embarked on the summer after I graduated from high school. Little did I know the adventure was just beginning.
A few months later I moved into my college dorm with Val, Brittanee, and Kristie (yuck) at Ohio University. Move-in weekend was Labor Day weekend that year and it was all pretty stressful. I had brought my cordless phone from home to use instead of the one the dorm provided. Val, Brittanee and I went to all the new freshman stuff they had going on and were exhausted that first night. Meanwhile, Kristie had apparently been on the phone all evening with her friends in the next building over. So when I got home I went to call your daddy (who was on a family trip and therefore had no internet access to chat online) and the phone kept dying and we weren’t able to talk. That night I collapsed on the top bunk to fall asleep and again missed Max and your daddy. That same, “what am I doing here?” thought passed through my head yet again.
Of course daddy and I eventually talked, Kristie thankfully moved out, and I had many more fun roommates through the following years. I loved OU and still feel “homesick” for Athens quite often. Right after I graduated, your daddy and I were married and I worked at Candle-lite for the summer while I looked all over the country for a teaching job, with no success. In the spring I had attended a teacher recruitment day at OU where I had 8 interviews in one day. The one that stuck with me was with Dr. Buckwell from Kannapolis Middle School. I harassed him all summer and he did a follow up interview although there were no positions available. He said they would like to have an interview on record “just in case,” whatever that meant.
On Wednesday, August 23rd my mom called to say there was a message from a Dr. Buckwell on her answering machine saying he couldn’t find my new number and to call him as soon as possible because something came up. School started that Friday but I told him I would try to be there by the next week. I talked to Dr. B at about 5:15 so I knew daddy would be coming home any minute. I waited on the stairs to tell him the good news, and he picked me up in one of his big bear hugs.
The following Thursday daddy drove the Uhaul with all of our belongings, pulling my VW Bug behind while his dad and uncle followed in a van. We were driving to an apartment unseen to a city where we only knew one person, Laura. It didn’t occur to me to be worried, I was on an adventure. The three guys unloaded me and helped me put the big furniture in place leaving me the boxes to unpack. They got back in the van and turned around, leaving me in Charlotte, NC all by myself. After I had been alone for about an hour that familiar phrase popped back into my head. But this time I quickly realized that “What am I doing here?” is usually answered with “The right thing!”
2.
When that bible study group I told you about was getting ready for Jamaica we did many things to make money. We held dinners, cleaned windows, babysat, stripped wallpaper, planted trees, and baked cookies. But the very first fundraiser we did was the Wheels of Progress Lip Sync contest. First prize won $100 and we thought it would be the easiest money we would ever make. Because of summer vacations it was Mackenzie, Molly, Katie and I that were available to be in the performance. I don’t know who found the song “Guitarzan” by Ray Stevens, but it was perfect. Mackenzie dressed like a safari explorer and did most of the lyrics. Molly was Tarzan in a loincloth with her hair totally wild. Katie was Jane stealing the show by “belting out” those high notes and that left only one part for me... the monkey.
We practiced at Buckeye Hills and choreographed our routine. The day of the contest Erin did my monkey makeup and I pulled my hair up to look like monkey ears. Because of the blocked off streets the easiest way to get to the stage from my house was to walk. So yes, I walked through Greenfield dressed like a monkey. I met up with the rest of the jungle crew and we gave the organizers our CD and took our seats near the stage to wait for our turn. Watching all the cute little kids eased my fears slightly, but when they called our group the butterflies in my stomach were fighting each other to get out.
I walked on the stage and I can still vividly remember looking out over the sea of people stretching as far as I could see, full clear up to the courthouse. I took my place on the side of the stage and heard the music start. I felt sick and wondered if I would be able to do my monkey moves.
At that moment I thought back to the previous fall when my friend,Autumn, had came up to me at one of the football games after I had performed with the Tigerettes at halftime. She said, “I don’t know how you do it.” I asked do what? And she said, “Go out there and dance in front of hundreds of people! I could never do that.” Well I convinced her that, yes, she could and she tried out for Tigerettes the next year and loved it.
So Autumn’s comment ran through my mind and I thought, what’s a few hundred more? I executed my monkey moves with passion and heard the crowd laugh, a good thing in this instance. Now whenever I’m nervous and about to hit the stage I flash back to that vivid image of the sea of people and think if I can be a monkey in front of all of Greenfield I can do this.
I recommend that you try new things all the time and create these moments of bravery for yourself then refer back to that no fear moment when you feel the nerves coming on.
3.
One thing I still kick myself over is leaving some of the most important possessions I had in Italy. I wanted to keep all of my important stuff together in a safe place so I kept my 35mm rolls of film (5 or 6 rolls), my bible (the youth bible I received from New Directions when I was saved), address book (with all my high school friends addresses so I could send them postcards), and travel journal (documenting all the adventures with crazy Grandma Betty) in the bedside table drawer in our hotel room.
The day we were coming home was a long one, we would leave Rome at 7 AM and arrive in Columbus at midnight, even longer due to the time difference. I wanted good-looking hair that day so I got up early and was very tired while packing, but carefully packed up all the souveniers I had aquired over the week: the cameo ring I splurged on for myself, the Italian candy bar Teshia had requested, the jewelry box for Val, the Jesus picture for my mom and the portrait I had sat an hour for. I was also sure to grab Oreos and my toothbrush for the plane.
Once we had all luggage in the hall my grandma went in to make one last sweep of the room to be sure no one had left anything. She did not look in that bedside drawer.
Somewhere over the Atlantic I had a yearning to do my daily devotional so I began to dig through my carry-on. When I didn’t immediately find the bible among my school books a horrible realization dawned on me. I had not laid hands on my precious salvation bible all day. No bible means no film, no address book, no journal. I panicked. Grandma promised we would call as soon as we got home. I still had some calling card minutes left so I begged her to do it when we reached New York. She did. The room and been cleaned and they did not now where my valuables were.
I will never again leave a hotel room without taking one last look, myself, once we think we’ve taken everything out.
1.
When I was in the 7th grade I went to Ichthus, a Christian music festival, for the first time. I went many times after that, but this first time was just, well...different.
I was so excited about going. There were eight of us staying in an eight man tent with all of our stuff. Here’s a side lesson already: Eight girls plus their stuff cannot fit in an eight man tent. Anyway back to the story. We left on a Thursday night after school and made the four hour drive in the Ferneau’s camper down to Wilmore, Kentucky, unloaded in a cow pasture and began to set up our tent. Between the eight of us we could not set up our tent. We had to enlist the help of Dusty and Joe, some nice (and cute) high school boys, but we did get our tent up and we all crammed inside.
One of the things that I had always heard about Ichthus was that it rains every single year. That next day the rain came. We had decided to put all of our bags around the perimeter of the tent and sleep side by side in two rows feet to feet. At least we were keeping each other warm. I was snug in my sleeping bag in between Liz and Val when the drip started. A tiny drop of water hit me square on the forehead. I groaned, but was too sleepy and squished to do much about it so I just wiggled my face into my sleeping bag, letting it soak up the water. An hour or so later, Liz woke me to let me know she was sleeping in a puddle. We were whispering but soon several girls were talking. We were all lying there awake, uncomfortable in our own ways, and didn’t know it. Liz switched on her flashlight and stood up and lifted the roof to help end my drip. We heard someone outside scream as they were doused with that water. I didn’t get much sleep that night, and as the sun was rising, lightening the tent, I just thought “What a I doing here?”
I actually met Jesus at the big communion night that year at Ichthus and many of those girls and I joined a weekly bible study that met at Tonia’s house. We were, and in some ways still are, a very close group. Six years after that night in the eight man tent many of those same girls and I took a mission trip to Jamaica.
We had been looking forward to and raising the money for the trip for over a year. After traveling from Cinncinatti to Miami to Jamaica we finally arrived well after dinner time. We drove up to a small house where our group of 9 girls and 4 adults would be staying. We carried our massive suitcases into a small bedroom with one twin-sized bed. The sweet older woman hosting us wanted to treat us to something American and cool for dinner since it was so late and we would be going to sleep shortly. She served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I’m allergic to peanuts, but had luckily packed some Oreos that I ate instead.
We went back to the bedroom and began to get ready for bed. About half of us had packed air mattresses so we began to blow them up and lay them out across the floor. We covered the floor. We agree we would let Abby and Emily share the bed while the rest of us arranged ourselves on the now cushy floor. Good thing we’re a close group! When the lights went out that night I was hungry, missing Max and your daddy, and very anxious about the trip. I just thought “What am I doing here?”
We ended up having a wonderful time, of course, and making so many good memories on that trip. I later found out that the five churches my group members and I attended had organized a 24-hour prayer schedule for while we were gone, that explained so much of our success on that trip that I embarked on the summer after I graduated from high school. Little did I know the adventure was just beginning.
A few months later I moved into my college dorm with Val, Brittanee, and Kristie (yuck) at Ohio University. Move-in weekend was Labor Day weekend that year and it was all pretty stressful. I had brought my cordless phone from home to use instead of the one the dorm provided. Val, Brittanee and I went to all the new freshman stuff they had going on and were exhausted that first night. Meanwhile, Kristie had apparently been on the phone all evening with her friends in the next building over. So when I got home I went to call your daddy (who was on a family trip and therefore had no internet access to chat online) and the phone kept dying and we weren’t able to talk. That night I collapsed on the top bunk to fall asleep and again missed Max and your daddy. That same, “what am I doing here?” thought passed through my head yet again.
Of course daddy and I eventually talked, Kristie thankfully moved out, and I had many more fun roommates through the following years. I loved OU and still feel “homesick” for Athens quite often. Right after I graduated, your daddy and I were married and I worked at Candle-lite for the summer while I looked all over the country for a teaching job, with no success. In the spring I had attended a teacher recruitment day at OU where I had 8 interviews in one day. The one that stuck with me was with Dr. Buckwell from Kannapolis Middle School. I harassed him all summer and he did a follow up interview although there were no positions available. He said they would like to have an interview on record “just in case,” whatever that meant.
On Wednesday, August 23rd my mom called to say there was a message from a Dr. Buckwell on her answering machine saying he couldn’t find my new number and to call him as soon as possible because something came up. School started that Friday but I told him I would try to be there by the next week. I talked to Dr. B at about 5:15 so I knew daddy would be coming home any minute. I waited on the stairs to tell him the good news, and he picked me up in one of his big bear hugs.
The following Thursday daddy drove the Uhaul with all of our belongings, pulling my VW Bug behind while his dad and uncle followed in a van. We were driving to an apartment unseen to a city where we only knew one person, Laura. It didn’t occur to me to be worried, I was on an adventure. The three guys unloaded me and helped me put the big furniture in place leaving me the boxes to unpack. They got back in the van and turned around, leaving me in Charlotte, NC all by myself. After I had been alone for about an hour that familiar phrase popped back into my head. But this time I quickly realized that “What am I doing here?” is usually answered with “The right thing!”
2.
When that bible study group I told you about was getting ready for Jamaica we did many things to make money. We held dinners, cleaned windows, babysat, stripped wallpaper, planted trees, and baked cookies. But the very first fundraiser we did was the Wheels of Progress Lip Sync contest. First prize won $100 and we thought it would be the easiest money we would ever make. Because of summer vacations it was Mackenzie, Molly, Katie and I that were available to be in the performance. I don’t know who found the song “Guitarzan” by Ray Stevens, but it was perfect. Mackenzie dressed like a safari explorer and did most of the lyrics. Molly was Tarzan in a loincloth with her hair totally wild. Katie was Jane stealing the show by “belting out” those high notes and that left only one part for me... the monkey.
We practiced at Buckeye Hills and choreographed our routine. The day of the contest Erin did my monkey makeup and I pulled my hair up to look like monkey ears. Because of the blocked off streets the easiest way to get to the stage from my house was to walk. So yes, I walked through Greenfield dressed like a monkey. I met up with the rest of the jungle crew and we gave the organizers our CD and took our seats near the stage to wait for our turn. Watching all the cute little kids eased my fears slightly, but when they called our group the butterflies in my stomach were fighting each other to get out.
I walked on the stage and I can still vividly remember looking out over the sea of people stretching as far as I could see, full clear up to the courthouse. I took my place on the side of the stage and heard the music start. I felt sick and wondered if I would be able to do my monkey moves.
At that moment I thought back to the previous fall when my friend,Autumn, had came up to me at one of the football games after I had performed with the Tigerettes at halftime. She said, “I don’t know how you do it.” I asked do what? And she said, “Go out there and dance in front of hundreds of people! I could never do that.” Well I convinced her that, yes, she could and she tried out for Tigerettes the next year and loved it.
So Autumn’s comment ran through my mind and I thought, what’s a few hundred more? I executed my monkey moves with passion and heard the crowd laugh, a good thing in this instance. Now whenever I’m nervous and about to hit the stage I flash back to that vivid image of the sea of people and think if I can be a monkey in front of all of Greenfield I can do this.
I recommend that you try new things all the time and create these moments of bravery for yourself then refer back to that no fear moment when you feel the nerves coming on.
3.
One thing I still kick myself over is leaving some of the most important possessions I had in Italy. I wanted to keep all of my important stuff together in a safe place so I kept my 35mm rolls of film (5 or 6 rolls), my bible (the youth bible I received from New Directions when I was saved), address book (with all my high school friends addresses so I could send them postcards), and travel journal (documenting all the adventures with crazy Grandma Betty) in the bedside table drawer in our hotel room.
The day we were coming home was a long one, we would leave Rome at 7 AM and arrive in Columbus at midnight, even longer due to the time difference. I wanted good-looking hair that day so I got up early and was very tired while packing, but carefully packed up all the souveniers I had aquired over the week: the cameo ring I splurged on for myself, the Italian candy bar Teshia had requested, the jewelry box for Val, the Jesus picture for my mom and the portrait I had sat an hour for. I was also sure to grab Oreos and my toothbrush for the plane.
Once we had all luggage in the hall my grandma went in to make one last sweep of the room to be sure no one had left anything. She did not look in that bedside drawer.
Somewhere over the Atlantic I had a yearning to do my daily devotional so I began to dig through my carry-on. When I didn’t immediately find the bible among my school books a horrible realization dawned on me. I had not laid hands on my precious salvation bible all day. No bible means no film, no address book, no journal. I panicked. Grandma promised we would call as soon as we got home. I still had some calling card minutes left so I begged her to do it when we reached New York. She did. The room and been cleaned and they did not now where my valuables were.
I will never again leave a hotel room without taking one last look, myself, once we think we’ve taken everything out.