Hmms (thoughts) very early on the Eve

I have things to write about tonight (early morning). It's vacation. I'm graduated. I've been robbed. Other things are happening in my life, too, that I might write about later on.

I'm up late and my mind won't shut off because it's not used to this much daily inactivity. I'm up late because I'm home for the holidays and we're all night owls. All of us. It's 2:45 am now and I think I'm still not the only one awake.

So, what do you want to know about, graduation or my house being robbed?

The graduation happened first. It was spectacular. I woke up, still stressed from an insane week of finishing school, walked through frigid winds in too-thin clothing to stand in line for forty-five minutes, and then sat for an hour and a half while a person gave a speech about something and they read off a million names. The most memorable part of the ceremony was...actually not at the ceremony, but waiting to go to the Colosseum. A girl standing opposite me in another line flatly refused to move where they asked her to move and UPD was called. She was apparently adult enough and responsible enough to be in that room, but I and the rest of the people in line with me had serious doubts. Poor girl. I should give her the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe she wasn't just selfish and obstinate. Maybe she was suffering from acute anxieties that caused her to be extremely rude to whomever spoke to her. Maybe...     I've got nothin'.

The best part of my day that day was sitting at my house with some of the people I like best in the world until all hours of the afternoon. The best part of my night was sitting around a fire with some of the people I like best in the world, listening to funny stories and a guitar.

That was last Saturday, but Tuesday was also a day full of adventure. It began with an exciting ride to h-ville with Tamara, then I had tea and an exciting conversation in Subway, and finally it ended with watching Inception and filling out a witness report. I don't even want to talk about the robbery, actually. It's unpleasant. But I will. Things are no longer in my house that used to be there--very special things--and that's disconcerting and sad, to say the least. Or, the way I feel about it (surprisingly), to say the most. It's only disconcerting and sad. And even that is rapidly passing.

The coolest thing about being robbed is realizing that my treasure really isn't here on earth. It's really not. It's not something I just say because that's what followers of Jesus say. How cool is that? It's way cool. I'm glad that I know that now, I'm glad that concept has been tested in me. This was the first time I've ever had something stolen from me and so it's been the first time I've had the chance to examine myself in this way. It's no coincidence, either, that I read that day in Acts about the early church not caring a bit about possessions but selling all they had and giving the money to the Apostles to apportion as there was need. My things were not asked of me. It was not my decision to relinquish them. But if the choice had been put to me, I hope I would have given them joyfully. Instead, I get to give them up in my heart and remember that I have given up my rights in this world; I have no right to "stuff". I get to remember, too, that everything that I truly hold dear cannot be taken from me by any power of hell or any scheme of man, praise the Lord.

These are some of the things going through my mind the last few days. Only some ;)