God's Sense of Humor

About three weeks ago I started volunteering at the local library. The children's librarian was excited to have me as her special volunteer, and I was excited for the opportunity. The first day she gave me a full tour of everything. The library's main part, I was already pretty familiar with, but she took me in the back and showed me everyone's cubicle and told me about all of their functions. That was interesting, kind of. Didn't meet too many of them since it's evening hours, but eye opening still to get an idea of the inner functionings of a library.

Otherwise, my tasks have been fairly mundane, or it would seem. Every time I go I work a little on shelf reading the YA section. That means I look for misplaced books and put them where they go. I also verify that all the books are from Sherwood Hall rather than another branch. See, it sounds fairly mundane. But since I like YA and have heard of a number of these authors, it's interesting to see authors I haven't heard of, or to see books by authors I didn't know they'd written. So, it's kind of exciting for strange little me.

I've also done a few other things--preparing carts to be shelved by putting them in order--Dewey for nonfiction and alphabetical for fiction. Also fairly mundane, bu I get a little pleasure out of it, I guess. I've always been one for order. Some might look at my bedroom and disagree, but really I like order. I remember a friend in junior high called me Tidy Heidi because I straigtened things in a grocery store.

Anyway, so I'm contemplating getting a Master of Library Science degree, though I'm somewhat hesitant to go back to school, but working in a library might not be such a bad thing for me. So since I kind of need work now, I've been praying a lot for the best opportunities, and even said, "like maybe in a library" a few times recently.

Well, I haven't gotten any library jobs, but fortunately I have had some small opportunities for a little cash.. I created a profile for Wyzant tutoring quite awhile ago, and finally I've been getting close to tutoring some people. Yeah! It's kind of interesting because I'd supposed the school year would have a greater demand for such. But it turns out, I'm having more luck now that school is out. Not that I'm complaining.

I actually even got my first tutoring gig through Wyzant this last Saturday. Yeah! It was for a nice Korean girl, college-aged, who needed some help with some writing assignments. Since I'd worked with Koreans at FSI a few years ago while they were creating Korean Express and Out & About Seoul, I had some experience and looked forward to helping her. It went really well, too. She was a good learner and better in English than she gave herself credit for, though I could understand her frustrations.

We met in the Fairfax County Regional Library, which I'd never been to, but that was fine. It's quite the library! Anyway, as I was driving home, it occurred to me, I'd just had a job in a library. My prayers were answered. Very funny. Thank you Heavenly Father.

Mom and Dad Visit

Last weekend my parents came out to visit me! I'd been looking forward to it for a very long time, and it was well worth the wait. They arrived on Thursday night then left the following Tuesday afternoon, so we had a few full days to fill. I had to work on Friday and on Monday, but they got themselves around on the Metro those days and took in a few museums and the memorials. Saturday and Sunday, though, I had all day with them.

On Friday afternoon, I picked them up from the King Street Metro and drove us up to the temple, a beautiful drive, and we did a session, which was pretty nice. When I graduated with my B.A. they came to Provo to celebrate and we did a temple session then, too. Curiously, though, both then and at this one, a hearing impaired person was in our session so we got to watch the sign language video. I wonder if that will happen again if I get another degree?
Anyway, they took a picture of me in front of the temple, too, but it's pretty funny looking, so this one will do.

Saturday, we went to the Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum over by Dulles Airport. I hadn't been to that one yet, so that was a good opportunity for me, too. But it was undoubtedly most enjoyed by my dad. His dad was a pilot in WWII in the Canadian Air Force, and my dad himself had at one point wanted to be a pilot but his color blindness wouldn't allow for it. He's obviously studied a lot about the aviation field, nonetheless, because he had quite a bit to share about just about all of the airplanes in that place, and some that weren't. Mom's comment was approprite--he was in hog heaven! When I asked, he said he wouldn't mind being a tour guide, but he wouldn't want to live out here. Too bad!

Aside from the tour my dad gave us of the museum he'd never been to before, we also saw an IMAX movie about fighter planes. That was pretty interesting. Those people have some pretty rigorous training. A real eye opener. The whole tour of the place was kind of an eye opener. When we were coming out of the space air, my mom made the comment" "You know how sometimes they say, 'it isn't rocket science?' Well, this is." It was a funny comment, but it made me think a little more as I wandered around looking at the engines that otherwise didn't do much for me. To think about making those, coming up with all of the intricate parts and finally get them to work, all together is pretty amazing, even if they did have to do a thousand failed runs. You remember how I was talking about different smarts? Well, um, I think there's a lot more smarts than I had in mind going on in the making of these machines. In fact, I would have to say that there's so much smarts that it had to be inspired. Except the guy who was showing us the rocks that were asteroids that he claimed came from the Big Bang. That wasn't inspired. Saying they were millions of years old would have sufficed.

We had planned to go from Udvar Hazy out to the Arlington Cemetery, but we had a bit too much fun out there, so we came straight back to Alexandria, did a little shopping and came home to get ready for my graduation party. Yeah me! I don't think I took any pictures of it though. Dang. Carrie had put up some cute little graduation window stickers on the back door and the front closet mirror. Cute, Thanks Carrie! And she also made some chocolate-covered pretzels that were a big hit. My mom made some chili which was awesome, and then after a little relaxation, we had about 12 or so friends come over and we chatted for awhile and played a couple games. Good times it was.

Sunday, then, we did make it to Arlngton Cemetery. We had planned to do the monuments tour, but we couldn't find parking. That's why they did that on Monday instead of more museums. Oh well. I've actually been to both before--the Cemetery and the monuments, so it didn't make too much difference to me. I was glad to go to the Cemetery though, I'll confess. It just felt a little more Sabbath-like. The monuments would have been fine, probably. Still free, and historic stuff, but with so many people wandering around it felt too city-like. There were a lot of peeps at the Cemetery, too, but it still felt a little more reverent. Anyway, so we saw JFK's site and the unknown soldier's changing of the guard, and even this time to Arlington House, which I hadn't seen before. It was all right. Not spectacular, but I got to hear a little French boy there oohing and awing in French over the number of pebbles he was collecting. Yes, indeed, as a follow-up to my last post, children are children wherever they may be.

Monday after work I had intended to take my parents to the river front in Alexandria, but they were beat, and I was beat. The school I'd worked at that day had broken A/C, and as always, I'd been on my feet a lot. My parents had walked at least 4 miles hither and yon around DC, so we took the evening to relax and watch some movies.

After the movies, around 12:00 or so, I still didn't have a job for the next day, so I assumed I'd have the morning with my parents. Yet, for some reason, I got a call around 8:30 on Tuesday morning, and I found 4 job possibilities online for that. Dang! Well, I was a little stressed, distressed, and my dad pulled mom into the kitchen and they said they'd pay me to teach them that day. Aren't they the best? Well, I think so, but I'm a little partial. We went down to Mt. Vernon, hoping that I could at least show them the view if we didn't do a tour, but since I've been down there, they've built a big entry thing so that you can't even see anything unless you do a tour, so we just wandered around the bookshop for a bit, which was fun anyway. They had some fun children's books that teach a bit of American history that I found delightful and my parents bought me one: We, the Children--straight text from the preamble to the Constitution, but with pictures that told a modern childhood story. Very cute. Then we went to the Post Office and to Subway and that was about all we had time for.

As with any vacation, there's always so much more to it than the events that give it structure. I had some great conversations and learned about my parents and my family, too, things I'd never known before. And the feelings shared, of course, are the highlight of it all. I love my parents so much! How blessed I am to have them.