Antiques, College, Forsythia, and Homeschool Magazines

In that order…(Yes, I know this post is a little long… But it’s from my heart and I’ll try to make it interesting.)

Three weeks ago, I went antique shopping for the first time in my life. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a more fun “first.” I’m so glad that I didn’t have any cash on me, or it would have all been gone by the end of the day. Monongahela City doesn’t just have some antique shops—I think it might be the antique center of the mid-Atlantic region. There are no fewer than five FULL houses of antiques and nick-nacks. I saw everything from a sweet compound bow to a camera from 1912.

{Heh, A BarlowGirl song just on the party shuffle on iTunes… Just thought I’d let you know.}

Everywhere we went, my mom and I were offered hot beverages and cookies. Everyone was so happy and carefree. In one of the shops, a turntable was floating Frank Sonatra’s silky, young voice around the antique jewelry. To my complete surprise, the record didn’t pop or skip: It was in perfect condition. Records are a beautiful thing to me… The sound that comes out of them is so warm and mellow. If I’m going to listen to Frank Sonatra, give me a spotless record over a CD any day.

I had a really cool revelation while antique shopping… As I was going along, I found at least one item that I could associate with a friend.

“Hah! Shannon would get a kick out of this coat.” “I bet the Calvettis would like this sweet Cavalry Cutlass” “Wow, this painting (from a local artist) reminds me so much of John!” “Alaina would love this picture.” “I bet Danielle would think that this quilt is awesome.” “Nathaniel would like these books from the 1800s.” “Kevin and Dillon would probably compare this ancient (unused) cologne with Axe or Tag.” “Mitch would probably put on that wig.” “Dave would love that cast-iron firetruck.”

The list goes on.

I love antique shopping, although I wasn’t so sure I would.

Last week, I went to *airquotes* Junior Crimson Day *airquotes* (insert royal fanfare here) at Grove City. If I wasn’t already sold on GCC, that day sealed my inebriation.

Inebriation:
To make drunk; intoxicate
To exhilarate, confuse, or stupefy mentally or emotionally.

So, now comes the “disclaimer referencing the true doctrine of providence.” I, Wesley Sames, do give God the complete right to do his will with my life… But I certainly ho—pray that his will for me involves GCC. I listened to the professors like a kid in a candy store, and I almost actively salivated as they dangled knowledge and faith in front of me like some kind of chocolate-encrusted, caramel-filled, innoxiously-scented carrot.
I don’t care what the odds of acceptance are or what languages they make me take.

I love Grove City, and I can’t wait to send my full application.

The forsythia is blooming. It’s official, Spring is livin’ large. My mom has always loved forsythia and she has always let our forsythia bushes grow naturally. While driving out to route 51 last week, I saw a row of forsythia bushes that were chopped down into perfect 4x4 cubes. If I was any more saddened I would have wept. Call me nostalgic, but I think our forsythia is amazing… It’s natural branches look so awesome in the breeze. I would never dream of forcing them to conform to a symmetrical pattern. Everything is coming to life out here. I praise God with all my heart and soul at the sight of new life in spring. That’s a big deal considering the fact that I don’t do it often enough. Thank you so much Lord for the seasons and their beauty, uniqueness, and glorification of You. The Farm may be a little out of the way, but it has its advantages.

I love forsythia, so much so that I hope we have it in heaven.

I wrote my untitled “Place” essay for AP English Language and Composition a few weeks ago. I liked it, but I didn’t think there was anything exceedingly special about it. Oddly enough, my amazing APLANG teacher, Maya Inspektor(formerly Molly Richman), loved it. Last week, she emailed me and said, “Hey, Wes, my Dad is going to print the next edition of The Excelsior tomorrow and he has an empty page he needs to fill. I would really like to put your ‘Place’ essay in there.” Now, I never was an avid reader of The Excelsior, but I felt like it was an honor to have one of my essays placed in here. Needless to say, my mom was even more ecstatic than I was.
So, the issue came, and I was shocked to find out that I knew most of the names of the authors in the magazine, and I knew two of them very well. Now, here’s a lesson in the loving providence of God: The entries on pages 7 and 9 were—if not comically ironic—so awesomely encouraging to me, in two completely different ways.

"You who are broken-

Come to Him and trust,

He will love you unconditionally...

You who are hopeless-

Draw close to Him,

He will give you reason for Life...

You who feel forgotten-

You who feel alone.

He will be with you

and loves you more than is fathomable."

"An ambition itself is a basic, purposeful idea to do, see, or become in life.

To have ambition is to have dedication, to place importance upon execution,

and to deem a certain amount of sacrifice as worthy that an accomplishment might be fulfilled...

Talking too much about dreams can begin to feel the same as if you've eaten an entire can of marshmallow fluff, or squirted a whole can of whipped cream down your throat--rather empty of anything but sugar and nitrous oxide.

Don't just imagine your dreams, but follow them up with action."

The next month is going to be hard... In so many different ways... I'm so blessed that I not only have a God who cares, but also friends who give encouragement even when they didn't mean to.

I love my friends; I don't deserve them, and I don't want to leave them.

But the most important thing is:

I love God, and I will follow where he takes me... Even if it is into the wilderness.

-Wes

"Runnin' down corridors,

Through automatic doors,

Got to get to you,

Got to see this through."

"Wires" -Athlete