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It is February 29, and that only happens every four years. Anyone else think it is strange that February is already the shortest month by two days and even the extra day doesn’t even it up with the next shortest months? Nope? Just me? Okay.
Here’s my quick four year look backs/aheads in honor of leap day.
Four years ago, I was president of my sorority, studying for the MCAT, and dreaming of med school.
Today, I’m three years into med school, finally on the wards, and dreaming of residency.
Four years from now, I’ll be finishing up my time in residency and dreaming of fellowship. Who knows what else life will bring!
As the attending discussed with me yesterday, this is a lifelong decision I’ve embarked upon…and I’m so glad I did! What were you doing last leap year? What will you be doing next February 29?
Did anyone else watch the Oscars last night? Okay, I’ll admit: I fell asleep after the first hour and missed a large part of the show. However, I woke up this morning and say some clips from the evening. On this 84th year of The Academy Awards, I loved that 82 year old Christopher Plummer’s won and got to give a speech. “You’re only two years older than me darling, where have you been all my life?” and ”When I first emerged from my mother’s womb, I was already rehearsing my Academy thank you speech, but it was so long ago, mercifully for you, I have forgotten it.” Bless him.
Anyway, this post is not really about the Oscars. However, it is a celebration of traditions and memories.
One of my absolute favorite places on earth has turned 60 years old. I’ve been blessed to have spent the last 25 years with many a visit to this special place.
{from google images}
Memorial Gymnasium, located on Vanderbilt University’s campus in Nashville, Tennessee, is home to the basketball teams and many of my memories. It was dedicated in 1952 to the Vanderbilt men and women who served our country during WWII. I won’t bore you with more “official” history here, but if you’re interested, you can read about it here.
I remember being a tiny child going to games with my grandparents and sitting in “our seats” on the back row of section 2c. (There is a photo of me as a baby there, but I don’t have it on my computer…) Before the game, we’d park in the lot across the street and walk down to Wendy’s for dinner. We’d trek back to the gym and everyone knew everyone as we climbed the (seemed to a small child to be) never-ending stairs to our seats. Seeing as basketball season is during the colder months, Grand-George had put coat hooks on the unpainted concrete block walls behind us. The lights would go dim and the boys would play, and I was in heaven. The squeaky tennis shoes and the loud whistles still take me back to that time. I can picture my grandfather sitting with his clipboard, his black pencils with the gold Vanderbilt name on the side, and his flashlight. These were the tools he needed to keep his own stats.
{from google images}
I remember the first time I went to the front of the section and realized there were more scoreboards than just the one on the side of the wall. I remember getting in trouble for cheering along when the cheer included a “we’re going to beat the hell out of you.” (For the record, I didn’t even know hell was supposed to be a bad word. They probably could have let that one slide.) I remember when the cheerleaders sprawled across the floor in the shape of a “V,” an “A,” an “N,” a “D”, and a “Y,” and I remember laughing each and every time the fans yelled “O” instead of “D”. I remember going to the women’s games in my adolescent years and agonizing over if the mustard yellow turtleneck was a proper color to support the black and gold. I remember walking out through the football stadium to get to our car and passing the players’ cars parked underneath. I was always so fascinated by the license plates from the different states! I remember going to a banquet at the (former) Stadium Club in the middle of a snowstorm and walking out onto the balcony and seeing Dudley Field covered in snow. We drove around later and saw snowmen and snow angels littering the yards of Greek Row. I remember walking by the swimming pool and thinking how strange it was that there was a pool right there. I (kind of) remember snooze-y rides home after a late night at the game.
I remember my first games as a student, and how more than anywhere else on campus, Memorial felt like home. I remember standing on the front row, pounding on the floor, and yelling at the top of my lungs. I remember beating Florida when they were #1. I remember being at MCAT class and not being able to be there when my ‘Dores knocked off the newly crowned #1 Tennessee in the middle of another blanket of snow. I remember helping Ashley grade papers before the games. I remember also dreaming with Ashley to return in the future, to sit in the “good seats,” to wear black and gold sweaters, and to have our radios on our ears as the game is played. I remember the heartbreak of standing in Memorial and watching the ‘Dores play in the Sweet Sixteen against Georgetown on the jumbotron, and I remember the silence when (Jeff Green traveled and) they lost. I remember the adaptation “Dolla Dolla Beal, y’all” playing before games. I remember the Alma Mater after the games. I remember “I feel good” playing as everyone leaves the gym after a win. I remember hearing about the electric performance by Shan Foster as he single-handedly beat Mississippi State in overtime on his senior night (I was building Habitat Houses for spring break). I remember having Abby’s bachelorette party there and watching the ‘Dores beat Marquette.
The pool is gone, the unpainted concrete blocks have since been painted, updates have been made, several different floor designs have come and gone, but Memorial is at the heart still exactly the same. So many memories dwell in that place, the emotions and the excitement linger, traditions carry on, and I know there are so many more off all of the above to which I look forward.
Memorial memories. Memorial Magic.
Happy 60th, Memorial Gymnasium. Here’s to 60 more.
Today is my friend Matt’s birthday!
We celebrated with a little lunch gathering. I got about as risky as I get by preparing a few new recipes to share. I am always a little nervous to try something new when there are other people involved, but this time the gamble paid off! Of course, it was a little less of a gamble since I followed Pioneer Woman’s recipes.
So, what did we have?
Here’s the chicken. The four men at the table were in love with this chicken…but who doesn’t love a little whiskey and barbecue sauce with their Sunday dinner?
Here’s the pulled pork. I looooved this pork. it is super easy (though it takes a while) and absolutely delicious. It is a little spicy without being overwhelming.
I also had a salad bar of sorts and one of the sweet couples brought some fresh fruit! Yum.
Our Sunday School teacher brought me some flowers, which were perfect with my new $10 table runner from TJ Maxx!
For dessert, we had key lime cake! Key lime is Matt’s favorite, so I couldn’t resist trying this recipe for a twist on birthday cake.
Plus, this color is quite unexpected and fun to cut into!
Great food, better company. I can’t wait to have another reason to celebrate!
Happy February 14th! This has never been my favorite holiday seeing as it cannot begin to hold a candle to Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. However, I got something in the mail yesterday that I just had to share.
My mom sent me a heart for Valentine’s Day! It is foam, splits in two, and labeled on the inside. The med school nerd/future pediatrician in me melted. Thanks, Mom. I love it (and you)!
Spiritual ramblings as I process discussions from small group tonight:
{from google images}
Babies drink milk. Right? Right. Be it breast feeding or bottle feeding, for the first few months of your life, you are complete dependent upon someone else to provide you with what you need. Around 4-6 months, they start adding rice cereal, but again, they feed it to you, and it is in addition to the milk you are already receiving. At 6 months, we slowly introduce foods, one at a time, slowly, and we begin with simple things. Pureed things. And you’re still getting your milk that provides your needed nutrition. It is what sustains you as you grow and prepare and gain the necessary tools to process solid foods. Then, suddenly, you are old enough you can start feeding yourself. You learn how to use a spoon. You can pick up a Cheerio. Overall, though, someone is still making your decisions for you. Eventually, you are self-feeding on solid foods. You continue to age, you begin making decisions, you choose whether to feed your body the healthy stuff or the easy stuff. Milk is no longer provided for you. You have to go find it.
Okay, that is a really long intro, but I was at small group tonight, and we were discussing many issues. One that stuck out to me tonight was this verse:
“I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready.” 1 Corinthians 3:2
And I was convicted. How much I depend on the people around me to “feed” me spiritually. I depend upon others to give me the milk instead of pushing forward to be ready for the solid foods.
Other verses expound upon this theme:
“In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!” Hebrews 5:12
“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” 1 Peter 2:2
These verses teach me how the milk is the basic need. The solid food will come with spiritual maturity, but I can’t neglect the basics and skip ahead. It is important to find those people that will feed me spiritually, but I need to be growing and working on learning to feed myself so that I might in turn feed them.
Just as you can’t give a newborn baby solid foods and expect them to receive the nutrition they need, my understanding and path as a Christian will not receive the nourishment I need if I skip ahead of the basic principles of discipleship and ahead of the basic relationship I need and try to delve into complex spiritual “foods” without having these basics first.
So here’s to milk. “It does a body (and a soul) good.”
"I give Thee back the life I owe, that in Thine ocean's depths its flow may richer, fuller be."
