hello, blogspot.

so, i have decided to start one of these blogspot things. apparently xanga is no longer the right thing to use.. it's so hard to keep up.
preface: i don't really know what this is going to be like, other than just things I'm thinking, reading, seeing.

lately i have been having a lot of those "out of your body" moments. the kind where you feel like you're outside of yourself, watching from above or something. the kind where you know that this moment is being seared into your memory forever. and i've been remembering a lot of those moments as well. i've heard that smell is the sense most associated with memory, and i completely agree. but i also know the other senses play a pivotal part in memory. for example:

the nites that my parents would go out when i was young--i will never forget the sound of my mom's heels on the linoleum kitchen floor. or smelling in her Chanel No. 5 as I would sit on my mom's bed and watch her put on her jewelry. or the way she would just touch her cheek to mine so that she wouldn't smear her lipstick.

standing in the Aegean Sea and watching the Sun come up, feeling the smooth, algae-covered rocks under my feet and how cold the water was. or the musty smell of the Sistine Chapel.

standing inside the Outpost at Saranac, watching people walk by outside, smiling and laughing. but not hearing them because the windows were shut.

the warmth of someone's hand on my shoulder and the sound of sniffling noses as we huddled around Karl and prayed for him, as one body united under the Name of Christ.

the way concrete smells when it rains on a hot day. and then running and dancing around the ark in the rain with katie.

the way my hands smell like bleach and my hair reeks of french fries after leaving the k.

how to me, pipe tobacco and worn cardigan sweaters means my granddad.

how all i could think when i watched meg being baptized was "new creation, new creation"