January and February can be very YUCK!

Really--these months are pityful!! However, as I'm writing this, I'm reminded that the past couple of days have been glorious. But I need to say this--It just seems everyone gets a little moodier (is that a word?), a little more sad and quite frankly, a little more paler (is that how to spell that?) this time of year. Is is the hype of Christmas, New Year's, and for this area, Mardi Gras? Or is the the lack of sun, the lack of vitamin D? All possible answers-not sure if they are right. Basically, I'm ready to go to the beach.

Ok--so I've noticed that people down here like to, in the words of LG, "Stain" each other. In translation, "stain" means saying the same thing over and over and over and over again, just in different words. Maybe I'm just not that detailed of a person in my words. I really just like to sum it up and not bore the other person. These people I've had lots of contact with down here are seriously the ultimate non-summer uppers. I feel real bad sometimes when I'm nodding my head and am totally NOT paying attention. Do they know I've checked out 5 minutes ago? Who knows, and I doubt they care, I think it is the culture down here.

Speaking of culture down here. There is a totally different culture in the heart of NO. One that I'm still learning slowly about. But here on the Northshore, I'm learning alot. They are so different from the people I grew up around. I remember going to an Auburn/LSU game and sitting amongst the LSU'ers. My summation that day after the game was over was that people from LA were drunks, bleach blonde haired women that wear too much make-up and jewerly and are highly concerned with themselves. That's pretty mean, but I think that was my quick judgement of them after that. Never in a million did I think I'd be living with them 10 years down the road. Ha Ha. I do actually see alot of those types of people around here, but certainly not all. I think what I've noticed most about this area is the lack of depth in people's lives. There is a sad sense I get, especially on sundays. The lack of people that actually attend church here depresses me. Sunday is just another saturday. There is a lack of old cute couples in this area, young single people like me, and big loud trucks. And hills, lets not forget that. This is not my home at all. I feel very different from these people. But I love them. Today, I thought about one of my moms that I see twice a week. She is the most depressed person with her life. I honestly don't know how she goes on from day to day. She does not know Jesus. She grew up Catholic, but if she ever knew him, it doesn't seem like it was ever on a personal level. I want to just hug her and let her come live with me and tell her that there is something so much more outside of this 30 mile radius she has been living in her whole life. She wasn't fortunate enough to grow up in community saturated by the fear of God. Rather, she was saturated with the taste of alcohol of her neighbors lips, with the idea that in order to be someone you had to attend the best catholic school, with the vision of homeless people everywhere and the hate for people that were not the same color, ethnicity or religion (or lack thereof). Hum...I let her borrow my copy of redeeming love. She gave it back without reading it. I want her to know her redeemer. "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.". Her existence is like so many people in this world. rich or poor, famous or unknown, black or white, big or small. No matter where, who or what you are, they are everywhere. They are walking around in the dark with no guidance. Well, there is guidance there, but they are so consumed by the thing or problem right in front of them that they don't have the knowledge to look over it or around it and look ahead. Look for that light that is the always there right in front of them. Those hurting people, I want to make them feel better. Wow, I know our Lord aches over there pain. He didn't have to touch the leper when he could have just spoke the words to heal, he didn't have to hang on the cross when he could have spoke the sins of the world to be forgiven, he didn't have to relate to us, but he did. I have to relate with these people because Jesus lives in me. And thats what he would do. This isn't my home. But I'm here.