The Future is Here!

Throughout my childhood, the year 2000 was set before me and my classmates as this futuristic year when our class would be the first to graduate high school in the new millenium. In my scrapbook there is a copy of a 1987 Amana Bulletin with a picture of me and my Amana classmates on the front lawn of the elementary school with the caption, "The class of 2000 started Kindergarten today." There I am in the midst, with people like Greta and Hollan, and we can't even understand 2000- it was just too far in the future to even comprehend as real. And now it's seven years past my graduation, to the day. And I saw Hollan and Greta yesterday at Nancy's party. We're still friends, but now with "adult" lives. It's weird.

And at the time of that 1987 Bulletin picture, Nancy was not even born yet. If 2000 seemed incomprehensibly futuristic, 2007- the projected end of all of our collective schooling- was even more sci-fi. Yet, yesterday afternoon, at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City, Nancy Lyn walked across that stage to receive her high school diploma as a member of the Class of 2007. I couldn't help getting a little emotional- if you ignore her braces and her overall littleness, she really is starting to look like an adult. Seeing her in her cap and gown was a sharp reminder of the fact that time moves faster than we realize.

So Nancy is now a high school graduate, ready to head up to Luther College this fall. We had many family members in town from Ohio to celebrate, and it was a blast having them here. Some of them were able to go to Nancy's soccer game on Friday, we listened to live music in the Ped Mall in Iowa City, ate filling Amana food, and just enjoyed the time together. It's all a bit surreal to Nancy, who can't quite grasp the fact that she is done with this long chapter of her life.

We still have A LOT of cake leftover, though, so whether we like it or not, the sweetness of the weekend will last at least a little longer!

Natalie, our cousin Abby, Nancy, cousin Hillary, and me after the ceremony.

Uncle Gary, Abby, Uncle Dale, Nancy, Dad, Hillary, Me, Aunt Linda, Mom, Uncle Joe and Natalie- quite the entourage!

The proud parents.

Me, Greta and Hollan

I love my sisters!

Drama Club

At the One Acts last month, Kathi suggested she and Ann and I get together sometime over graduation weekend. And when I learned that the infamous Bill Huff was also in town, we all decided to make an event out of it. So yesterday, after I visited Aroea and Cainen for a bit, I met up with Ann, Ben, Kathi and Bill at Ruby Tuesday's. Oh, the drama...

That Kathi Pudzuvelis is just too funny. Our poor waitress didn't know what to think of her. She started to read off the beverage list and partway through Kathi cut her off: "Wait. Stop. Back up. What in the world are Jones sodas? I am not of this culture..." No, she certainly isn't, and that's why we all love her craziness.

And so Bill told us stories of Boston: "I'm not in love with Boston, the way that I need to be in love with a city. But it's a great place to be at this point in my life," Ann and Ben showed pictures of their new house, and I just took it all in. It was a great day full of many of my favorite people.

Kathi was 20 minutes late for lunch because she just had to stop at the Salvation Army on the away. Of course. Naturally. She had sassy scarves for all of us, including Ben. His can be made into an ascot, Bill's had leopard print, and Ann's and mine both sorta matched what we were wearing. And of course Kathi kept one for herself.

I will say it again: "Oh, the drama..."

And the madness ensues...

I am writing from Staci Mae's apartment in Cedar Rapids. She is sleepy and Tauna and I are updating our blogs before we head out to see Shrek 3. With all of these graduations happening, my life is crazy these days! Thursday night I drove to Des Moines to hang out with Wendy and Clint and we watched the season finale of Grey's Anatomy (holy crap!). Then yesterday I came up to CR with my parents to help Natalie pack up her apartment at Mount Mercy. In the afternoon we went to Nancy's soccer game and then all went out to dinner at Peking Buffet to celebrate Natalie's graduation.

And today was the big day. After departure time drama at the Palof house (Dad always has to worry about parking and finding a seat, you know!), we finally made it to the US Cellular Center and saw Natalie graduate from Mount Mercy College. Way to go Natalie!!

And then we went to the party on the hill...

After a trip to the Marion Summer Arts Festival, I went back to Andreas House to help Natalie and Kevin keep packing. Eventually, Tauna called...

We both decided on Happy Joe's because there is no Happy Joe's in Minnesota or in Nebraska. Tauna's friend Ginger was visiting too. Tauna hasn't been to Mount Mercy in three years and of course wanted to come in. She talked me in to walking up to B5:

We held the doorbell down for awhile but nobody answered. Then Tauna decided Ginger needed to see the tunnels...
On the way, we discovered that they have now put art up in the Andreas House hallways... Tauna was confused by this.

So we went to the tunnels, but they were locked. We decided to take Ginger up to the penthouse instead.

On the way, Tauna remembered that some of us B5ers as sophomores had written on the wall between the elevator doors.

So between the 4th and 5th floors, we opened them up...

But then the door wouldn't shut all the way. And the elevator wouldn't move. And we were stuck. And laughing.

Tauna called switchboard. "We're stuck in the elevator." The phone kept automatically redialing. "We're alumni and we're stuck in the elevator." The phone called switchboard again. "Will you please tell Mindy Chrisman that we got stuck in the elevator?" The guy transferred us. She wasn't home.

Security came surprisingly quickly and let us out. We were all laughing hysterically. Ginger had quite an exciting visit to our alma mater.

Fish Envy

I went home this weekend, and, as is the practice, I was sad to hit the road back to Omaha again. Very sad. Every fiber in my being just wanted to scream for being stuck in this seemingly endless cycle of despair followed by contentment and joy followed again by despair. It's not a fun cycle to be stuck in.

The saving grace of the long drive west was that I recently purchased my favorite book, Blue Like Jazz, on CD. I listened contentedly to Donald Miller for hours, and really could've kept driving in order to hear more of it. No book has ever resonated with me more. One section in particular, west of Des Moines, really hit what I was feeling right on the nose:

"I think I was feeling bitter about the human experience. I never asked to be human. Nobody came to the womb and explained the situation to me, asking for my permission to go into the world and live and breathe and eat and feel joy and pain. I started thinking about how odd it was to be human, how we are stuck inside this skin, forced to be attracted to the opposite sex, forced to eat food and use the rest room and then stuck to the earth by gravity. I think maybe I was going crazy or something. I spent an entire week feeling bitter because I couldn't breathe underwater. I told God I wanted to be a fish. I also felt bitter about sleep. Why do we have to sleep? I wanted to be able to stay awake for as long as I wanted, but God had put me in this body that had to sleep. Life no longer seemed like an experience of freedom."

Exactly. I feel so weighted down by the thoughts in my head that sometimes I feel like I could explode. I often wish I could just stop being me for just a day or two, just to have a break from the living and breathing and feeling and aching. My heart is heavy. I'm incredibly confused. I think so much more about the BIG questions in life than most, I'm sure. I doubt most people get ready in the morning while thinking about eternity, but that's the kind of stuff that is constantly circling in my head. I do get bitter and feel trapped. I didn't ask to come to the world as Nicole Palof and feel it all...

Is my faith so small? How many times does God have to amaze me with his timing before I will actually trust that it's good and perfect? My friend Annie challenged me with Romans 8:28 tonight:

"Nicole, we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
"I know," I grunted.
"But do you believe it?"
"With my head... but I have a hard time translating that knowledge to my heart."

Anyway, after he gets most of his bitterness out of his system, Donald Miller then goes to the Grand Canyon and surrenders to God and stuff. I'd be here all day if I typed it out word for word, but trust me that it's good, real stuff. By the end of this experience of bitterness-turned-peace, he "lay there under the stars and thought of what a great responsibility it is to be human. I am a human because God made me. I experience suffering and temptation because mankind chose to follow Satan. God is reaching out to me to rescue me. I am learning to trust Him, learning to live by His precepts that I might be preserved."

So, I'm going to do my best to hold on to the promises, live by His precepts, and let Him preserve me, despite my desire to breathe underwater.