You know when you have those days when you just have so many things you want to write about. Today (and yesterday) were days like that.

First, I loved my English class last night. I finally enjoyed poetry…not sonnets, I’ve always enjoyed that, but I finally got it, I finally understood what people fall in love with. It’s incredible. There are so many hidden meanings to discover. Last night reminded me of that first time I found a shiny, pink tile in our sandbox. The sandbox is often fun at face value, but when you discover the treasures hidden within, it becomes magical and every scoop becomes a sort of treasure hunt. If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, I will explain a little further. Growing up, we had a jungle gym in our yard that was in a huge sandbox. In the sandbox there were tiles, the largest being about 1″ x 1″ and when we discovered this (my little brother and I) it became our mission to find the tiles. Now that I’ve discovered poetry, I want to find the treasures within. The history of the authors, the words, the rhyme, the form, the sound…it’s all so deliberate and there is so much to be found within.

Next…My dad sent me flowers yesterday (a day early for Valentine’s Day) and they are beautiful. I know that flowers on Valentine’s Day may seem a bit cliche and foolish since we are buying into the marketing machine that has perpetuated the irrational spending on items that are normally half the cost, but I love them. I will always love getting flowers, especially lilies and roses and tulips and iris’. And it is so fun to have them on my desk at work. And I love Valentine’s Day, single or not. While I realize that is a contrived holiday, I love to watch people in love.

Third…Katie Melua’s version of “Just Like Heaven” and the XM version of Sting’s “Fields of Gold”. While I love the originals (The Cure did “Just Like Heaven” and I love The Cure), these two versions make me happy.

Fourth…I have decided to make a regular habit of volunteering at the Missionary Training Center on Wednesdays (when the French speaking missionaries do their time in the Training Resource Center). Today, of all days, I didn’t have time, but I had planned on it, so I didn’t take any homework with me to do on my lunch break. I knew that if I had, I wouldn’t have gone and I would have missed out on one of the best and most spiritual experiences that I have had in a long time. I will spare you the details (plus, while I do share so much about myself here, some things are too special to share on a public blog), but I will say that there is something so sweet about two 19-year-old boys who have decided to give two years of their lives to go out in the world and teach people about the thing that is most important to them, a thing that they hold so sacred, a thing that is so easily discarded or mocked. As I sat across from these two missionaries, humbled by their limited ability to speak a language they are just learning, I could feel of their desire to convey to me their feelings about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Last (at least that I am going to share because I need to get to bed)…and a little less important…I went to see “Music and Lyrics” tonight with the girls. It was so cute. And, with my dreams of cutting my own little album someday, I always enjoy a movie about music of any sort, even the silly, chick-flick kind. I definitely recommend it.