Borrowed words

On Wednesday night Andy and I flew down to Georgia/South Carolina to attend Andy’s brother’s graduation from boot camp. He is now a United States Marine. He looks great, sounds great, and seems happy. We are extremely proud of him.

We are also extremely still in Georgia. We figured we came all the way down here, we may as well make a vacation of it. Right? Right! Well, we forgot that we’ve already been on like twelve billion vacations (or “vacations”) this year. And we’re tired. And the holidays are coming up. And we just need a break.

Oh well, too late now.

So anyway, while we check out all the town squares and fresh seafood that Savannah has to offer, I thought I’d serve y’all some delicious (borrowed) words.

Everyone’s favorite editorial assistant Moonrat has chosen the winners of her Mentors, Muses & Monsters contest, and I have to say, I’m glad I didn’t enter something (half-assed) because she got some AMAZING entries. Here are excerpts from the first two that she chose as winners:

“Tribute to Andy” by Gemma Noon (Note: The name is a coincidence! She’s not referring to MY Andy. That would be weird…):

Andy was my first real boyfriend. We were 15, invincible, naive and ambitious. He was going to be the top engineer in the country, probably work on the first deep space shuttle or something equally cool. I was going to be a writer. I’d win all sorts of prizes and be bigger than all the bestselling authors combined. We believed in each other. Nothing else mattered.

“Something to Spit At” by David Alton Dodd:

It never occurred to me that I should be a writer someday, I was too busy investing my time in studies and activities and work that would never wind up leading me toward anything I even remotely enjoyed. When I was a teenager, my mother gave me her old black Underwood manual typewriter with the round keys, and since I had spare time in those days I would pound out very bad chapters for what would have been a very bad novel. It was fun. Halfway through high school I lost interest in the story and in the typewriter. And then came college.

Angie also posted a beautiful combination of words and images over at our joint blog Just Between Us: “Darkness doesn’t exist without light”.

And last but not least, my friend Aurora is launching a new (and very eloquent) blog that ruminates on life as a twenty-something who is trying to find her path — personally, professionally, and spiritually. Check out First Person Narrator! Update 10-12-2010: Or not. She took it down. Sorry!


9 responses to “Borrowed words”

  1. Alex Avatar

    Congrats and best wishes to Andy’s brother! :-)

    (And this means that Andy will officially definitely be able to make it to the wedding, so yay for that, too!)

  2. Sonja Avatar

    Wow, another trip. You guys must get a lot of vacation days from your jobs – lucky you! That’s your second southern beach this year, isn’t it? Didn’t you go to a NC or SC beach at some point? I will now confess that I have a (not so secret) desire to go to Wilmington NC because that’s where Dawson’s Creek was filmed. Maybe one of these days…

    That being said, it’s hard to imagine a beach town right now. Here in Philly, we’re supposed to get 12-20 inches of snow in the next 24 hours! Wowzah! And it’s really coming down right now, so I believe it.

    Enjoy the beach!
    .-= • Recent post by Sonja: Introducing Mr. Poopy-peey =-.

  3. Angie Avatar

    I love how you pimp me out. Thanks! I can’t wait till “my vacation” i.e., going home in a week. Texas here I come!
    .-= • Recent post by Angie: At least the strangers I meet are nice =-.

  4. Aurora Avatar

    “personally, professionally, and spiritually”–hm, I like that. couldn’t have put it better myself. thanks!
    .-= • Recent post by Aurora: The power of first person: how to change the way people think =-.

  5. Kristan Avatar

    Alex-
    Thanks! (And lol yes it does.)

    Sonja-
    Yeah, since I’m part-time (for now) my work schedule is more flexible. But I have taken a couple unpaid days. :(

    Dude, I didn’t know (or forgot more likely) that DC was set in Wilmington!! Now I kinda want to go too, lol.

    Good luck with the snow! I think we’re lucking out and it’s mostly missing OH…

    Angie-
    YAY TX! See you there!

    Aurora-
    Hehe, no prob. ;)

  6. Jon Avatar

    Never been to Savannah–take pictures for your blog followers!
    .-= • Recent post by Jon: Pico Pick: Four Seasons Lodge =-.

  7. Albie Avatar

    ouch… i know the “i’m on vacation but i don’t want to be anymore” — last summer when i was going to all those weddings, i thought “why not… why not spend a few more days here. i’m here already” but after a few of those it got pretty tiring. “i just wanna go home” :P

  8. Kristan Avatar

    Albie-
    You have NO idea. The first few days with Andy’s family and the Marines stuff was fine, but the weekend by ourselves in Savannah was awful. Not because it’s an awful place — in fact, I quite like it — but more because we didn’t have a realistic sense of what it’s like and what (little) there is to do. We should have left a day earlier.

  9. Kimberly Franklin Avatar

    Enjoy your vacation and Happy Holidays!