small town, small reunion, small bug - with pictures

rochester, indiana (population, 6414), where my dad works once every other week because there's no full-time cardiologist there.

relatives visiting another relative (not shown) in Indy - my paternal grandmother's siblings. I have never met any of these people before; my father has not seen most of them in 30 years, some he has never met. (white balance is a little off.)

home. a bee helping make our house prettier. (soft focus due to slow shutter speed. 9:15PM, 200mm f/5.6, ISO800, 1/25s with VR)

attached

i looked in my wallet today and discovered my washu id still occupies one of the four credit card slots in my wallet...

when i went to open a new bank account, i needed two forms of identification. almost instinctively, i pulled out my driver's license and washu id - the lady opening my account asked me about school, and it felt weird to say that i was actually going to be a student at indiana university in the fall...

i'm still attached (i sometimes think that i'm still going back to saint louis in august...) but glad to be moving on.

but i don't plan on taking that out of there for another few months...

slightly anxious

all this apartment searching in indianapolis has gotten me slightly anxious about medical school and the rigors of first year...

role reversal

so my mother is in chicago until wednesday. I dropped her off at the airport here in SB Friday afternoon, and she said to me, "Take care of the family while I'm gone."

by take care, she means cook and clean (except my dad beat me to the dishes yesterday...).

i'm cooking dinner today (some steak, hope nobody dies) when my sister gets home, refuses to help me cook the rice because Dad wants her to go outside and help him wash and wax the mazda...

then it dawned on me. why is my sister outside washing cars while i am inside cooking dinner?

faith and sports

I was watching ESPN First Take today. There was an interview with Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers, the 1999 No. 1 overall draft pick, the current RBI leader, the fastest person to 50 RBI in a season in MLB history, and also coming off a 3-year hiatus from baseball to overcome crack-cocaine and alcohol addictions.

He mentioned God a few times, and that piqued my attention. But then, when asked by the interviewer what his life was like now, post-addiction, he said, "...my wife told me, you're going to get back but it's not going to be about baseball. It's going to be about sharing what God's done in your life." When asked what he knew about himself now that he didn't when he went through his struggles, he said, "I can't do anything without Him, that's how I live my life today - Jesus first, family second, baseball third." Then he was asked what it would be like to be voted into this year's All-Star Game. He replied, "I had a dream I was at a Home Run Derby, and they had an interview after you come out from taking your swings...I got to share with a whole stadium full of people about Christ right there. That's a good combination right there, so I will hopefully get to do that sometime this year..."

I know there are Christian professional athletes. I know that every other athlete out there "thanks God" first for everything when they succeed. But he went beyond just thanking God for his success. He knows it's all about God. How many people would say that, on national television, in a live interview, and sound perfectly genuine, full of conviction. I can barely do that with people I know that aren't Christians - let alone on national television.