chasing the sun

i like Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I like how she makes profound statements rhyme. I used to think I could write poetry, but I was too tempted to steal ideas from greater minds and I don't exactly know how to write a poem about social justice or church reform...so, I stick to prose.

I'm listening to Dido. She reminds me of London. I was only there for a week. Actually it was almost exactly one year ago...I can't believe its been that long. One of my favorite places we went there was the British Museum of History. I would need at least two days to see the thing properly. I think we only had two hours or something. Most of it was spent looking at old coins and the Rosetta Stone, which was very cool. There were also these Assyrian reliefs that depicted all kinds of awful and brutal warfare the Assyrian army concocted to ravage the ancient near east. Yikes. We learned about them in Isaiah class and I saw pictures before I saw the real things. They're monstrous things that take up practically a whole room of the museum.

How precious is history!! (Not a question, actually, its a rather old-fashioned exclamation). I've always loved history. This weekend I saw the history of Broadway on PBS. Very interesting. It's like watching the history of American ethos. I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said that those who do not learn their history are doomed to repeat it. I think it is truly beautiful the way history keeps repeating itself. The Assyrians were not the first war-mongers and they definitely weren't the last. But kingdoms rise and fall and don't learn from the former's mistakes...that's why they keep falling.

Dido is singing about sand in her shoes...its amazing how that can be both an annoying and delightful experience simultaneously. I like the way the sand feels when you stand in the tide as it comes in and then washes the sand out from under you (this is where high arches come in handy - you can build your very own bar). Even though the ocean is salty and can burn ferociously if ingested or inhaled (accidentally, of course), I love it. I love the sound and the smell and the way it rocks you if you're a skilled floater, which I am.

Do you think God was being literal or hyperbolic when he said Abraham's descendants would be like the sand or the stars? Just a thought...

Anyway, I'm just a little silly and day-dreamy on this cold, bitter cold Monday. Props to my friend Karla who has made me feel a lot better and little less crazy today.