grit and glory

I took a look at some of the search terms that have led people to my site lately. Here’s a sampling…

These ones concerned me a bit:

• weird hairdos
• ugly hairdos

Ummm… Are you serious?

• heavenly bathroom
• feminine decor
• how to decorate a bathroom
• clever guest bathroom theme

I have no idea why this search landed someone here:

• rent a soft serve ice cream machine

And my personal favorite:

• is it hard to get pregnant with ocd?

While we’re having a real conversation about serious stuff, I wanted to share three unbelievably note-worthy things:

1. According to our contest, I just won the dog of my dreams! (You guys rock!)
2. Because of the love and dedication of my faithful blog-friends, I received over 1,000 comments on one post! (I wish you could have seen how excited I was about this!)
3. Niel ended up getting aebleskiver balls today. (Pretty gross…)

“Unfortunately, sometimes we have to be who we need to be and not who we are.”

Niel and I were discussing the fact that much of what we do on these fundraising trips is very… not us. I asked him if he thinks it’s unauthentic for us to spend so much time engaging in activities that are against our nature. That’s when he made the statement that sometimes we have to just be who we need to be rather than who we really are.

It left me feeling as though we are being disingenuous in some way.

• When I have lengthy small-talk conversations, am I wrongly giving the impression that I naturally enjoy that sort of thing?
• When I speak in a church, am I painting an artificial portrait of what I feel comfortable doing?
• When I spend more time talking in one day than I normally would in a week, am I being insincere?

I guess I’ve been pondering where the line is between a lack of authenticity and doing what needs to be done.

My conclusion (so far) is that it’s not so much that I’m being artificial as it is that I’m emphasizing certain areas of my personality as needed. My friendliness and warmth aren’t fabricated; they’re just being expressed more often and in ways that don’t come natural to me.

What do you think?

Some happenings over the past few days:

• We had a great week in Colorado. We’ll be returning there for sure.

• I got to see an old friend whom I hadn’t seen in almost a decade. It very quickly felt like old times, and I so enjoyed meeting his wife and holding his baby.

• I spent an hour with my high school English teacher. Mrs. Warren believed in my writing ability when I was just a nerdy, insecure teenager. (Yes. I really was a nerd. Still am.)

Random snippets from yesterday:

• I talked to a new friend on the phone for the first time ever. It felt…comfortable. Like snuggling on my couch with a blanket and a mug of lemon tea.

• A friend sent me a message: Africa misses you. That made my day.

• We spent 12 hours in the Denver airport because our flight got canceled. We finally arrived in California at midnight.

• I kept my laptop company while Niel napped during our lock-in at the airport.

Oh—and…uhhh… Have you seen what’s going on over at The Anti-Blogger?! Please leave some more puppy love on my site.

Our friends have the craziest shower curtain in their guest bathroom. I couldn’t help but laugh every time I was in there.

This is the view from inside the shower: