Taking the Wheel

I love driving. I think it is the most relaxing thing to do. Whenever friends and I are going on a road trip, I never hesitate to say that I will drive, which I am not sure my parents are really thankful for since they pay for my gas. (But I am also a horrible passenger because I hate the loss of control that comes with not driving-- but that's beside the point).

I haven't figured out how to take pictures at night with my new camera. I think I need a different lens for doing night shots. And your camera is susceptible to shaking when you have it on the night setting. Needless to say, this was the result.

Sometimes when I leave campus late, which has pretty much been every night since before I can remember, I put on a great song and drive for about 5 minutes. I take a breather from the day and just drive. It's my best stress reliever. Tonight was pretty beautiful. It's cold. But beautiful. The streets were empty and the moon lit the streets where street lamps failed to do so.

This weekend went by in a flash.

Friday was spent catching up and scraping together everything for the fund-raiser on Saturday. Want to hear lots of laughter? Get the three of us together in one room and everything instantly becomes way funnier than it probably should be.
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Saturday was spent at a little fund-raising event.

Kids4Kids was an art show where a local high school and elementary prepared art that would be sold to benefit UNC Dance Marathon. We have been wanting to hold this event for a while, but it wasn't until about 10 days ago that someone said that we could have the space. I was ecstatic, but ten days is no time for a fundraiser. So I did the best I could with what I had.

 The event went fine. A few glitches here or there. We had some visitors. It wasn't really as much a fund-raiser as it was getting our name out in the community. And in the end, I am happy with that.

 And when crowds dwindled, which happened way more often than I'd like to say, I took the time to be silly and enjoy with some of my favorite people.

Weakness: Girl Scout cookies. Their sweet, pitiful voices saying, "Cookies for sale" really worked. They must've practiced.

Gracie took the time to demonstrate her artistic abilities. She should stick to history.

Overall, you take events like these in stride. Celebrate your successes and not harp on your failures-- knowing that next year it may become what you had envisioned. It's these kinds of things that I think about when driving those extra 5 minutes home. Purposefully taking the long way in order to put life back into perspective. Centering myself.

Last night a large part of the Overall Committee got together for some stress relief and we chatted until the wee hours of the morning about things like our biggest fears, what makes us happy, and what we've learned throughout our time at Carolina. We sat there and learned from each other and that became my favorite part of the weekend. Totally love reflection-- I'm sure you know. It brought me so much closer to these people and I can't explain to you how much of a burden was lifted as we recognized that a lot of us have those same fears and goals for the future, for the marathon, for life. I don't think I'll ever forget that night because life never seemed as clear. Have I told you yet how lucky I am to have this UNC Dance Marathon experience? What a learning process that I could not have anywhere else.

The marathon draws another day closer as I write this and I cannot wait to see the culmination of all the hard work that all 14 of us have put into this organization. It's going to be pretttttttty magical.

Eleven Days.