Old Potato Road.

i created a simple blog to keep track of the odd happenings in this unconventional life of mine. Old Potato Road is my favorite road in between Austin and my hometown of Bryan, Texas. at a point in my life when i was figuring out what the hell i was going to do and who the hell i wanted to be i'd pass Old Potato Road and laugh out loud. it reminds me to honor and seek those simple moments that give breath to our crazy lives.

even today, when i drive by after my mom, dad or courtney has graciously scooped me up from the austin airport i anticipate passing Old Potato Road. it reminds me of finding joy in the simple moments of our lives. the sort of simple joy that creates reprieve from the dust of everyday life we sometimes can't shake.

i offer no wisdom. just sharing my life. things that make me laugh. things that make me cry. things that make me, well, me.

MARDIS GRAS!

Lately a lot of things have made me think, sending me into that pensive mist of wondering why I trust a bus to fly in the sky and take me from place to place or why people think it’s okay to display their pajama pants in public, even if it does have a guy playing polo on them.  But I don’t ponder on these mysteries today.  Today is not my day to share about the bits of thoughts that churn about.  Today I simply share with you humiliation.

Once upon a time I was a youth leader for a church in Austin, working with high school kids.  My role was to become their mentor, someone they could count on when they needed a shoulder or a good laugh just for laughs sake; they ended becoming those very things to me.  A perk of this “job” was that a majority of my time was spent on the lake, one of my favorite places on earth.  

I am a particularly entertaining tuber given the fact that I lose all ability to hold on as soon as it starts going because I am rendered helpless by laughter.  Well this one day I am tubing with 8 high school boys, 1 high school girl and 1 dude youth leader.  We decide to stop in front of the HUGE rope swing on Lake Austin.  This thing is truly a beast.  You have to clear a boulder before you can go splashy splash in the lagoon below.

 If you know me well, you know my sense of adventure and awesome responsiveness to adrenaline kicked in and reason went to hell in high water.  I decide that I will just go off the lower boulder and have a nice simple dismount into the water.  Well lower boulder wasn’t good enough.  I needed to surmount the big guy.  So now it’s time for all of us to go for our 2nd jumps.  I climb up to the top of the second boulder, take a deep breath of confidence and let my inner Jane free.  What happened instead was that I let a little bit too much of Jane go.

You see I had to grip the rope super tight to make sure that when I reached the lowest point I didn’t buckle so I could clear the boulder.  When the rope swing took me so blissfully into the tree tops, something else occurred.  As my body began to turn towards the rocks and my elbows straighten my swimsuit top began to to rise as well.

I hit the peak of the swing with my jumbly bits brandishing all about while facing 8 high school boys waiting their turn for their next jump.  I tried my very best to put all my goodies together as I descended into the brisk Lake Austin water hoping maybe no one noticed.  Right before my cannon ball of shame I hear Creston shout “MARDI GRAS!!” from the rocks.  Maybe I shouldn’t have been so focused on the boulders below but on the ones that popped out to say hello.