Life sure has been full of ups & downs - this hasn't been an easy summer or an easy transition from working girl to college student. I have to say, though, that I'm definitely on an "up" right now, & being the optimist that I am, I had to share how happy I am when things are good...

On Saturday, TG ended up coming to Talent to go see Princess Bride with me at the park (which is a good thing, since every single one of my girlfriends bailed, but no worries). He arrived looking incredibly adorable in a new hat that he just got & with a wonderful, sweet card in hand. I was wearing a new sundress I just got at the consignment store & it was a perfect warm, clear evening with a nice cool breeze. We took my Harley blanket that I carry everywhere with me (the one my sister, Laura, gave me for Christmas abut 6 or 7 years ago) & laid it out on the lawn to watch the movie. In addition to some much needed & enjoyed snuggling & romance (and "Twoo Wove!"), I was treated to a fabulous back rub! Really, it doesn't get much better than that.

I had an absolutely fabulous day today, too. I delivered my persuasive speech & got an A! The professor's only critique was that I made some smacking noises with my mouth. (It's amazing all the weird habits we have that result from nerves that we aren't even aware of.) Usually he has a lot of suggestions or comments or critisisms, however you want to take it... I take it for what it is: he knows what he's doing & is teaching me, which is what he's paid to do! But this time, there was only that one comment. I asked him after class what my overall grade was & he said that I definitely got an A in his class! I got several compliments from my classmates & one of them came up to me & told me that I set the bar really high for the rest of the class. After class, I bumped into a lady whom I had Writing 121 with who is also majoring in Sociology & going for her MSW. She told me that she was thinking about me the past weekend & wanted to tell me that I will make a great therapist & that I am a great listener who knows how to talk to people & make them feel comfortable & that I have exactly the qualities that a therapist should have. What an amazing compliment! Between that & the speech, I was really on Cloud 9. Then, on my way to stop by to see TG on his break on my home from school, I got a call from Tyson, who just wanted to tell me that he loved me. (Really!)

Tonight, I did some online homework & an online quiz in math & tallied up all my scores, along with the graded tests I received back from my math prof today & have an average score of 99.29%. And I've turned in all the paper homework, which will get me points just for doing the work, so as long as I do well on the final, I'm fairly certain I'll get an A in math, too! I was relieved to find out that the final isn't a review of everything from the term, but just on the last chapter of factoring & exponents, which has actually made the most sense to me of anything we've studied all term.

Anyway, sorry to go off, but I have so many things to be grateful for & just had to share. Now I've gotta get some sleep!