Legally Blind...not quite

I found out this week that my eyes have gotten worse. I now have a -9.5 prescription in both eyes. Fortunately, I discovered that to be categorized as "legally blind" you have to have less than 20/200 vision WITH corrective lenses. So, as long as I have the sent-from-heaven-contacts, I'm good to go!

PSA: If you wear contacts on a regular basis, you need to take them out every night!! For the past several years, I heard similar warnings while continuing to wear my soft contacts for weeks, sometimes months on end without taking them out... uh, not a great idea. At my yearly eye check I was told that I had increased blood vessel growth in my eyes (not sure which part) due to wearing contacts too much. It's kind of scary when the warnings come true. Take Home Message: Give your eyes a break! You only get one set! Trust me, I looked into getting a new set, and got shot down.

In other news, perhaps you've heard of a little team called the "Patriots"? Yea, well, they are my hometown team now and they just so happen to be undefeated and are 1 game away from, uh that big game. (Hey, if the Players can't say the word, I'm not going to jinx it either!) 3PM on Sunday, I want to hear some good hootin' and hollerin' for those Patriots, even in Texas!

"Hey Sexy, Can I buy you a Pepsi?!?" -- yes, this was an actual pick up line shouted at me the other night as I walked to the grocery store. It's hard to be this beautiful...

Boston is good, but still cold. brrr. The high tomorrow is 24. 2 weeks ago we had almost record high of 62 degrees. I was inside working all day, but even going home that night was great, you barely needed a jacket! I'm hoping that will last me until Spring comes, which apparently isn't until MAY here! Yea, May. May in Texas is summer!

I realized today that I am several different ages, all at once. Let me explain:
Chronologically I am 25 years, 10 months, 14 days, 10 hours and 16 minutes. :)
My "Real Age" is 23.9 years
I feel, and probably will feel for awhile, 17 years old.
In Texas, especially West Texas, I'm considered old for being almost 26 and not married.
In Boston, 26 and not married is considered young.

I guess age really is relative, in that case, I wouldn't mind being this age again:


School Spirit? Check.
A great pair of jeans? Check.
An appetite for fine chocolate? Check.
A winning smile? Check.

I'VE GOT SPIRIT YES I DO! I'VE GOT SPIRIT HOW BOUT YOU?!?

Before and After

The picture on the left was taken on my very first day of PT School. No, the wind was not blowing as the picture was taken, unfortunately my hair does its own thing sometimes. I showed up late, the very first day, with wet hair, per usual. 3 long years. Lots of good times, a few crappy ones, but overall I am soooo glad I followed God's calling to PT school. And I couldn't have done it without His Hand guiding me the whole way. Trust me, I wouldn't have even made it past the 2nd semester kinesiology class (fortunately a 70.4 is passing!) if God hadn't orchestrated it all. I have no idea whats next, I mean, obviously I'll get a job, my school loans demand that. But my college life, as I've known in the past 7 years, is over.

I think of the hardest times in my life, and they are always times of serious change. It's hard, but when I get through it, I'm hopeful I know God better and am enjoying where He's taken me.

Okay, enough sappy reminiscing...uh, is that spelled right? HA! To think I once started out as a photojournalism major and prided myself on my spelling skills! oh, how the prideful are brought low... I watched "Never Been Kissed" tonight, and I realized how my life eeriely parallels some parts of that movie. Unforunately, there is no Michael Vartan look-alike in my life. Why can't we choose the parallels?

In other news, I made it a total of 4 days, 3 nights by myself in the mountains. That's it. I just am not good at being by myself, especially at night. Oh well. Let's pray for better study times at home. I did take some photos while at the cabin, OBVIOUSLY fantastic quality photos, you'll be asking yourself afterwards, "why in the world did she drop photojournalism?"

My, how the times have changed..

My 7-year-old niece, Paige, started third grade a couple of days ago. When I reflect back on my third grade experience, I wouldn't say it was the best of times, but it was memorable.
My family and I had just moved to Des Moines, Iowa; My dad was starting medical school at the young age of 42 and I had just come back from an ENTIRE SUMMER at my grandparents house. 2 months of Bluebell ice cream every night without fail unless the Astros were playing, in that case we drank cokes and ate popcorn. Um yeah, if you were thinking, "Emily you must have been fat after that summer!" You'd be right. I wasn't really into scales at the time, but there was definite weight gainage that summer. :(
So I started third grade fat with what was to become over half a decade of bad hair. (If you want to see miracles God performed, check out the miracle he performed on my hair! Praise the Lord for puberty and curly hair! :)
Why tell you all this? Because I received an e-mail from my sister with Paige's "first day of school" picture. She has a cute new haircut, and cute clothes. Not the hand-me-downs that her aunt had to wear, though I will say that wearing hand-me-downs that your mom originally made, will build character. She's beautiful and is already on her way to being tall! So, because pictures tell a story better than words, and at the risk of public embarrassment (not new to me) here is my 3rd grade photo with Paige's. Kids these days are so freakin' cool, it's not even funny! :)





















-1990- -2006-

What a difference 5 years makes....

I used to think that I wasn't that far away from being 18. That there really wasn't that much difference between me, the almost-finished-grad student, and the fresh-out-of-high-school 18 year old, however, i'm realizing the differences are bigger than expected. And, i'm glad for that. I thank God for the situations He has taken me through and the maturity lessons he's given me. I met a 19-year-old college student today who professed that her Saturday would not be great if she didn't sleep until noon and that she was having a "girl's night" and would probably stay up until 5am!
Here's what I think: Who wants to stay up until 5am?!? Sleep is a gift from God, it's terrific, let me go to bed at 11pm and I'll be happy. Furthermore, when you're in grad school, and have a job, you've got to get up at 8am on Saturday's to be productive, study, workout, get everything done that you've been putting off the entire week. There's always time for sleep, later.

Before this summer, I had never been a TA before, but I have loved it so far. Here's the one down side: all the first year students (or most at least) look up to the 3rd year grad students like we are really cool (well, cool for the science world) and think we are ridiculously smart for being TA's. Here's the truth: I got through PT school by the grace of God, nothing else. All the smarts I have were given to me. However, sometimes, when these students are complimenting you, telling you that you're so smart, After awhile, your head kind of gets big. And you forget that it wasn't you and your work that did this, but God's hand. And then, in one night, your humility comes rushing back to you.
Humility lessons hurt, they're necessary, but it's not a graceful fall from the pedestal you put yourself on. Tonight, i fell pretty hard.

I'm looking for good anatomy-related t-shirt ideas for the first years, let me know if you have any ideas.

peace.