Chapter 2

The annual Thomason family beach vacation slays me. I suddenly feel the need to give myself permission to do all the things I would never do on a daily basis. Eating 7 meals a day, laying a chair half naked for hours, reading a boo in its entirety, and blatantly people watching are all on the list. I wear lipstain and bronzer and too much eyeliner. I suddenly care about what my hair looks like. My outfits match. I order things like "remoulade" for my blackened butterflied shrimp. I say things like "I would really love a ginger ale, hold the ice please". It's true. In a round about way I'm confessing to you that I'm a vacation diva. I don't know when it started or what causes it. Sun exposure? Increased caloric intake? Decreased physical activity? Lord forgive me for my vacationing gluttony.

All that being said, it's incredible to be sitting here on this plane, on the brink of a huge transition. Between one extreme and the next.

Y'all I really don't like transitions. I'm bad at them. It makes me feel like 8 year old me and I've lost Tina in the mall. It strips me of all of my self imposed maturity and security. Even writing that sentence makes me want to write some sort of witicism to mask the vulnerability of it. It requires me to look straight into the face of Jesus and see if I really believe that He's my security and savior. I want to be a woman who feels and lives in the light of the truth I've received. It's a struggle. It's a process my flesh would like to happen in a single 3 minute event- or sometimes not at all. My brain knows the truth of Christ, His redemptive power and the security that is found in Him. Transition requires me to live in the light of His truth. Lord baptize my mind.

I feel like there are so many people I need to thank for pursuing me and for loving on me in the transitional weeks at home. The weeks I was not ready to face, but came to love. The weeks I feared, but rather found confidence and foundation in. The weeks that looked like a bowl of nasty pea soup from afar but ended up being a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream when I got to it and actually ate it. Thank you for sitting with me on the porch. Thank you for letting me hold your baby. Thank you for letting me go grocery shopping with you-always. Thank you for the late night skype calls. Thank you for leaving me funny pictures of yourself on my facebook. Thank you for laying with me on the beach. Thank you for taking me to lunch. Thank you for letting me be your student again. Thank you for being the same. Thank you for the letting me be in your everyday even though we're hours apart. Thank you for calling me from camp. Thank you for helping me discover the organic gas station. If I could hug each of your necks right this second you know I would!

So here we are! Ready or not, PC! Here I come.