Ok, so perhaps not precisely a myriad, but that sounded much better than “multiple” or “a few”.
For those of you all who hadn’t heard yet, I am no longer living in Memphis. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I am in Memphis right now, but only for the next week. And then I head out to Arizona, where I’m going to work at the Grand Canyon again. Everyone seems to think I’m exaggerating when I say that I have an ongoing-impossible-to-break-off-no-matter-how-hard-I-try love affair with Arizona…but I’m really not! I’m more or less going to be out there indefinitely…I have a tentative plan to leave in March/April and move back to Raleigh…but I may not actually do that. We’ll see where life takes me!
But on to other things.
First of all, my best friend is an incredible singer/songwriter. I mean, we’ve been friends for 12 years, and she’s been making music since before we met, and I’m still constantly in awe of her. What I wouldn’t give to write/sing/play like her! She recorded an EP this spring called Silver Living. And it’s awesome. So go check out her myspace: www.myspace.com/jessicalongsilverlining. You will not regret it! I swear! (Also, the song Attic was recorded on her computer after the EP, which is why the sound quality is not so hot…but the song is great!)
Second of all. I still get some mail at my parents house, which they collect and give me whenever I visit. I was there earlier in the month, and among other random pieces of mail was a copy of Boundless. I have no idea where that came from. I sure as hell didn’t request it (as evidenced by the fact that it was addressed to Katie…and, you know, the fact that it was Boundless!). But I was bored one evening, so I picked it up and gave it a look through. It made me want to slit my wrists. Ok, that might be a bit extreme. But seriously, it was pretty depressing.
I now understand that it’s a magazine specifically for singles, but the tagline on the cover of the magazine said “a magazine for 20-somethings”. The entire thing was filled with articles about making the most of being single, being single in your mid-20’s when you thought you’d be married, accepting help from parents on picking a mate, preparing for a solid biblical marriage, etc. I know I already said this, but it really made me want to hurt myself.
I know that singleness sucks sometimes. It sucks more for some people than others (like the people who want nothing more than to be married and have kids…I have all kinds of thoughts on those people, but I’ll save that for another day). But I felt like I was reading about a disease. One that’s virtually incurable. One that consumes the every thought of 20-something’s everywhere.
I guess that’s what really bugged me about it. It claimed to be a magazine for 20-somethings, but it was entirely about relationships—most notably, the lack thereof. Is that really all that 20-something’s care about? I know that I, for one, care about quite a bit more than my relationship status. To be sure, I’d like to get married and have a family someday, and I wouldn’t mind if it were sooner rather than later, but in the meantime I’d prefer to pour myself into other endeavors, things that actually mean something. Like art, or friendships, or service, or ministry, or writing, or traveling, or just plain being me and being happy with that. I’d rather not spend every minute of the prime of my life bemoaning my lack of a significant other. But maybe that’s just me…
