college friends

Who would ever think that a week in northwest Ohio would be better than a week at the beach?

I haven't seen one of my best college friends, Ann, in eight years... since we moved to Nashville. But this week, she's in town for the Crossroads Children's Chorus Festival. Shes now a music teacher in Rapid City, SD (for more than 14 years now!) AND she works as Artistic Director with the Rapid City Children's Chorus.

Not only were we friends, RA's and roomates during college at USD, but we

I've been cleaning up a lot around here lately, trying to make room for the fiance, who's moving here when we get married in late June. So far, I've cleaned off one shelf of a bookshelf [still!], sold my CD player and speakers, and gotten rid of a lot of miscellaneous junk that I don't really want him to replace with junk of his own.

Thanking God this week for...

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so
many others her age, she considered herself to be a liberal/moderate, or new
progressive - in the tradition of classic socialism - and was very much
in favor of a "Progressive" income tax for the redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch supporter
of the conservative wing of the Republican party, a feeling she openly expressed.

Based on the lectu