Confession

I'm incredibly inconsistent with my blogging habits.

But...in all fairness, I've been so stinking busy. The past couple days have been fall break, full of relaxing right? Wrong, in need of cash, I worked as a nanny for a few days.

So, in an effort to be a good honest blogger, here's what I've been struggling with this semester:

• Going to my Intro to Research Writing Class
• I really, really despise this class.
• Practicing clarinet 
• It's not that I don't love it, it's just...I always find something better to do.
• Working out
• Yeah, that just has not been happening. Shame on me.
• Going to Mass
• Yes, I know. I'm a hypocrite. But it's hard to get to mass when you don't have someone nudging you to get up and GO! 

Fall break marks the halfway point for the semester, so I've got the attitude of "let's fix some of this". Don't get me wrong, I love my life, and almost everything about it, but when I see an opportunity to make it better, why not go for it? Besides, isn't the point of college to become the adult you've always wanted to be? Well, that's my approach at least! 

So, with that in mind, I will write to you all again on Thursday, and hopefully will have a solid, Catholic-Girl style post. But then again, there's more to being a Catholic girl than just knowing your stuff, there's that whole, Catholic lifestyle thing right? Maybe I'll just focus on that for a while. It is, after all, my whole goal for the rest of the fall semester.

Totus tuus loves,

LeAnn 

Daddy's Girl

Happy Birthday Daddy! 

I'm not a hugely sentimental person, but there are few people who mean absolutely everything to me, one of which being my dad.  My dad is that movie dad, who everyone wishes they had.  He coached me all the way through basketball and softball.  He cheered me on at my swim meets, attended every single one of my band concerts, and grudgingly judged at speech and debate tournaments for me.

My dad taught me how to throw and catch a softball, how to mow the lawn, and how to drive a stick shift.  I would be lying if I told you that all of these learning experiences were all enjoyable, that we never disagreed and always had a good time; we didn't.  We are both extremely stubborn, we have insatiable need for the last word, and dislike being wrong.  This led to more than a few long, loud arguments.

He's taught me more than just athletic staples; he's shown me how to be a leader.  I coached my first basketball team when I was 16, all thanks to my dad and the role model he was to me.  He has always encouraged me to try out, to take charge, and present my own ideas.  With his help, and others, my friends and I headed the Diocesan Youth Conference in 2011.

Now that I'm 20, in college, and becoming a full-fledged adult little by little, he's been there for me every step of the way.  From frustrating classes, to that heart-stopping moment when I thought I wasn't going to be able to pay off tuition, he's been there.  He's guided me through taxes, the FAFSA, loans, car trouble, and occasional homesickness.

My dad's puns are possibly the worst I've ever heard; they're also the best.  No one can complete with him in my book.  Sitting on the front porch listening to the Cardinals play on the radio, managing another baseball tournament, or chasing the dog around the yard, he is someone who makes me feel safe and loved.  Skiing, playing sports, watching Disney movies, setting boobie traps, and hundreds of other childhood memories would be incomplete with him.

Happy Birthday Daddy, I love you and so am blessed to have you!

Totus tuus,

LeAnn

Vocations; Part One

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

When I was five, I wanted to be a dance teacher.  This dream continued until I realized dancers needed to be able to touch their toes, which is something I still cannot do.  If someone asked me from fifth grade up until my sophomore year of high school, my answer was lawyer.  It was shortly into my sophomore year when I started toying with the idea of being a high school English teacher, or maybe a band director.  

But if you ask me today, my answer is lawyer.  

This past summer, I had an opportunity to really think and pray about who and what I wanted to be in five and ten years.  I spent months tossing around ideas of what I wanted to be, and how I was going to get it.  Starting in early April, I toyed with various plans:

a different college; maybe I need more of a challenge 

a double major; pushing me outside my comfort zone 

maybe I just needed time off from school

I could just live on campus next year.

I couldn't reach a decision I was comfortable with.  Almost every one involved money I didn't want to spend, not one offered me the sense of peace or security I was hoping to find.  So, finally, I did what I had been avoiding the entire time.  

I let go; I just let things happen. 

The funny thing about our vocations, they're never too far off.  It's right there in front of you, maybe just a step or two ahead, and always attainable.  

There's a reason people ask us what we want to be when we grow up.  It's because they're trying to plant those seeds young.  Help us to create, realize, and fight for our own dreams.  

Remember that cliche:

"Do what will make you happy, not earn you the most money"

It's a cliche for a reason.

Totus tuus, 

LeAnn 

Growing Up

Welcome Home!

Fall break presented me with a great opportunity to wander around my hometown a bit.  My first full day back, I had coffee with an old teacher and now friend.  Instead of staying inside, we decided to take our coffee to go.  As we walked around downtown, talking about everything we had been up to, I saw my home with new eyes.

Monett was not a bad place to grow up; I don't dislike it, for all its small town, often narrow-minded ways.  It has a certain rustic appeal to it.  Something about the flea market next to the gun and knife store I suppose.  My small south-west Missouri town taught me many lessons, some of which I decided to share.

1.) We all gossip.

I feel like this one is rather self-explanatory.  We all gossip, especially in our small-town settings.  Even my dad is able to tell me who is seeing who in the high school, courtesy of information from my fourteen year old sister.  

2.) Never, ever, under any circumstances, agree to take on the PSR class that scared away the nun. 

There was a reason the nun decided she "didn't have time" to teach them anymore.  It's because they had no desire to be there.  We all became very good at Bible Pictionary and Bible Jeopardy, because that was the only thing that seemed to hold their attention.  But on that same note, I learned a lot about working with preteens that year; including that I didn't want to work with them for a career.

3.) Lots of things change; but for as many change, just as many stay the same.  

Walking up and down the streets of Broadway, there are several new shops.  But there are more old than there are new.  Things are going to change, even here, in my hometown where things seem to move so slowly.  I only recognize a third of the names on the football team, there are new lights for the field, and the band has a new director.  But the same fans are still yelling the same obscenities at the refs, the field is still as torn up as ever, and the band is still a high school marching band, making the spiral after every show. 

On days like today, when I have time to stop and reflect on how different everything is, I find a little overwhelming.  But on the other side of that coin, I love seeing how far I've come, and how much further I will go.

And yet, there is that comfort of knowing, if I came home, it would still be there.  As small-town, slightly red necked, extremely comfortable, as ever.

Totus tuus,

LeAnn