Monthly Archives: June 2014

06.29.14
by

Sunday Morning

Image

Sundays have been routine for me for many years — Get up, eat breakfast, shower, go to church, come home. Repeat week in, week out. When we went on vacation, especially in Miami with Mom’s parents, it was exactly the same. I love Plymouth Church – It’s so beautiful (See below if you don’t believe me).

 

Image

Image

As the years have passed, Sundays have changed. As a child and teen, it was always church and youth group, with helping Mom or Dad with things around the house in between.

As I settled in Farmville for my college years, I attempted to attend Farmville UMC a couple of times, as a freshman. However, it made me so homesick for Aldersgate, that I quickly abandoned that attempt by the middle of the semester.

Some things didn’t change in college – I still ate, showered, went out, and came home. Just in a different order. As those four years quickly slipped away, Sunday afternoons became occupied with movies, laundry, and getting ready for the week ahead. Sunday nights were filled with The Rotunda, WMLU, and Alpha Sigma Tau.

Now that I’m back home with Mom and Dad, it’s altered again. I don’t attend church every Sunday any more. It’s really nice to take this morning for me – I usually open up my laptop and put on a YouTube playlist or Pandora and then go around checking email, Facebook, and working on my homework (reading and Blackboard assignments). Once Mom and Dad get home, I’ll eat lunch with them and then see if there’s anything I can help with around the house (That certainly hasn’t changed). In the afternoon, I usually head out to run errands and then go be with Al, until I have to come home before 10:00. It’s not a curfew, that’s bedtime for me. 5:30 a.m. comes early, especially on Monday mornings!

What do you do on Sunday mornings?

I leave you with one of my favorite songs – aptly titled. Enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are!

Craig Morgan – That’s What I Love About Sunday

“That’s what I love about Sunday:
Sing along as the choir sways;
Every verse of Amazin’ Grace,
An’ then we shake the Preacher’s hand.
Go home, into your blue jeans;
Have some chicken an’ some baked beans.
Pick a back yard football team,
Not do much of anything:
That’s what I love about Sunday. 

…

That’s what I love about Sunday:
Cat-napping on the porch swing;
You curled up next to me,
The smell of jasmine wakes us up.
Take a walk down a back road,
Tackle box and a cane pole;
Carve our names in that white oak,
steal a kiss as the sun fades,
That’s what I love about Sunday,
Oh, yeah.”

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

 

06.26.14
by

Writing Prompt #2: “Self Portrait in Third Person”

I follow this wonderful website, Freckled Italian, religiously. I check it every single day, excited to see the newest post. Megan is a fellow writer and Longwood grad that I love. She is so sweet! Her post on June 25th was the inspiration for the following.

This is the postscript from Megan: This post is in response to the following prompt: “In the same way a painter does a portrait of a person, do a portrait in words…Do a self-portrait in the third person.” (From Old Friend from Far Away, page 214.)

I originally posted my response in the comment section. I read it over multiple times in the last two days, and each time I felt more confident that it needed to be shared here as well. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

She is jolted awake by her two cell phone alarms at 5:20 a.m. each morning. As she fumbles to press the right buttons/screen on her old LG and her new-ish work iPhone for another 10 minutes of sleep, she settles on her stomach and thinks about where she is thus far.

Laura Beth has recently moved back in with her parents to save as much money as possible, after being on her own in a cozy garage apartment for 10 months. She mulls over all the blessings in her life — Such a supportive family and a host of friends and sorority sisters that she treasures as an only child; a full-time job with multiple benefits such as a wonderful work family; the opportunity to work toward a paralegal degree. She knows that she only had a 50-50 shot at life when she entered this world 15 weeks too soon in 1988, and she is grateful for every breath.

She also knows that a wonderful man by the name of Al will likely ask her to marry him by year’s end, and thinking of that alone brings her utter joy and peace.

She studies herself before starting the water for her shower. Long legs like her namesake, great-grandma who lived to be 102; pale skin with a smattering of moles and freckles all over, and curves that she is finally loving and appreciating. She’s gained around 20 pounds since walking across the Longwood stage, Communication Studies degree in hand, a little over three years prior; but that doesn’t bother her anymore. She’s finally learned to be comfortable in her own skin. She is in complete control of her body.

As the sun starts to break through the clouds, she climbs into her Camry to make the 40-minute drive to Newport News. The commute is longer now, especially heading home, but she knows she’s making the drive for a good, stable job that will carry on into her future career endeavor. She knows that she is strong, independent, compassionate, with a touch of dramatic flair when she gets excited. No need for coffee or Starbucks – Her seemingly-endless amount of energy is fed with a whole-wheat bagel, vanilla yogurt, and water. At nearly 26 years old, Laura Beth is full of life and can’t wait to write the next chapter.

Happy Thursday! I’m really trying to get on a consistent blogging schedule, more than once or twice a month! Have a great day, and Go Team USA!!!

US_Flag_Backlit

Thursday-happy-dance

 

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

06.04.14
by

Ask Me What’s Now

I found a hot link to this article on Facebook earlier tonight. It rang true with me from the title: 26, unmarried, and childless.

Amanda, or Mandi Marie as her website shows, is basically my age. I’ll be 26 in August. I’m not married, and I definitely don’t have children.

I’ve felt many of this woman’s frustrations for quite a while now. And it deals almost exclusively with other people’s thoughts and opinions.

For example – There’s this lovely woman at my parents’ church who I’ve known for at least 20 years. I was talking with her after the service on Sunday and suddenly I saw her head dip down, like she was looking for something on the floor. My conversation trailed off and I asked, puzzled, “What are you looking for?”

Her head popped up as soon as I asked the question and she smiled ever so sweetly. “I was just checking your hand.”

And I quote from the article:

“I shouldn’t be overly concerned with what they’re saying. They’re only teasing or encouraging me with the next step in my life. It’s harmless! No one means anything by it, it’s just time for me to be heading in the same direction as my peers. It makes sense. I get it.

But it doesn’t feel very nice.”

BAM! Mandi Marie, you hit it right on the head. Thank you!

Case in point: Al and I, along with his parents, went to a lovely wedding on Saturday. Their neighbors’ daughter was getting married. The ceremony was beautiful and funny. The reception was elegant and sweet. However, there was one constant question during the five hours we were celebrating the newly married couple with their friends and family:

“Are you taking notes?”

It’s no secret that Al and I are planning to get married, eventually. On September 4th, we’ll celebrate four years together! Personally, I’m happy that we’re not engaged, or married, yet. It’s been a great 3 1/2 years so far! Plus, we’ve experienced a lot together already — Long-distance in the very beginning as I finished my senior year at Longwood, my job search as a new graduate, Al’s work stress, Al losing that job last fall, my desire for independence and leaving Chesapeake for Newport News … Then celebrating new jobs, my return to Chesapeake with the idea and burning desire to save money and prepare for our eventual future, and so much more. I could write a novel …

The other thing about us is we perfectly balance each other in terms of our emotions and the way we handle our feelings. I love that. Al is one of the most laid-back people that I have ever known – and it’s fantastic. When we first met, it was such a breath of fresh air for me, and it still is. However, I’ve never taken it for granted.

While he’s laid-back, I tend to be the complete opposite, 99 percent of the time. I’m going to use high-strung as a generalization.

Back to the Saturday wedding for a minute. We left the reception early, right after the cake was cut. Originally I was disappointed because I wanted to stay and dance for a little while, but my feet were screaming at me, begging for no more torture from my imitation-satin stilettos. I actually walked barefoot to the car!

Anyway, Al and I got in his Mustang and started the drive back to his house. Keep the laid-back vs. high-strung tendencies in your head for a second.

We were making small talk, and then suddenly the “taking notes” comment came up. I remember saying something to the effect of the comment didn’t really bother me; that I was pretty much desensitized to it at this point. Then Al spoke up and said that since the comment was brought up several times, it took a lot of the fun out of the celebration and he wasn’t happy about that at all.

It was very interesting to see how our tendencies were completely flip-flopped at that moment. A little scary, actually. However, it made me realize that we are not defined by our tendencies!

Back to the article – One sentence that set off cheers in my head: “I would like to suggest one thing, though: instead of asking me what’s next, ask me what’s now.”

Whats-next-banner

Most conversations that I have with people tend to start with asking me what’s now, but it always drifts to what’s next. And quickly – Like within five minutes, unless we’re discussing something like our jobs, our hobbies, their children and/or grandchildren, etc.

Unfortunately, I know that these “what’s next” questions definitely won’t stop. Once we get engaged, all the questions will be about the wedding. And once we get married, all the questions will be about where will we live and when are we going to have kids. Believe me, I have many, many friends who are either currently engaged and/or married, and they’ll back me up!

It would just be nice to carry on one full conversation about the now.

present-4

Thanks for listening!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂