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Actually, it’s not my first day of school. It’s work I’m off to, and it’s not really the first day, but this week will be the first time I meet all of my colleagues for the first time. This monday begins my 4th week on the job and, more significantly, my first week working with people rather than just digesting information. Their mid-year sales meeting, affectionately known as POA (Plan of Action) is in Stamford this week, and I’ll be along for the ride.

I have been equating this experience to a first day of school experience because glimpses of anxiety over convening with my team (and the entire Northeast sales force) for the first time have been surfacing. What if no one talks to me? What if they call on me to do a role play not knowing that I haven’t even been to training yet? And most importantly…What if no one sits with me at lunch?

Ok, I’m sure I won’t be sitting in the corner by myself with people pointing fingers and laughing (or at least I hope) but I’m still a bit anxious/excited. Right now I know 3 people: my boss, my teammate, and my sales trainer (who is also a friend and the one who referred me for the job). By the time I get there, I’ll know 5, since I’m driving myself, my sales trainer and her teammate out. And I found another new hire on the Albany team who I know through friends of friends, who will be my roommate. I think I will be good to go with 5 whole people knowing my name. Worst case scenario, I will cling to one of them each day of the meeting so I am never alone haha. That’s a funny thought. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Last night was our last youth event with Northway as the Student Pastor (and his wife). Check out some sweet pictures on Jon and Nic’s blog. As you might guess, this transition is entirely bittersweet, and last night it was more bitter than sweet.

I’m sure Brian has much more to say than I do, but I know one thing he told me tonight…there was no better way to go out than with this amazing event. First of all, because it was a huge success, and marked not only how far we have come in our ability to offer something relevant to students, but how the next phase of Northway’s student ministry is just beginning in the new Clifton Park location. It was also amazing because we had very little to do with it. We are surrounded by the most talented, giving, God-seeking leaders, and they completely took over this event. Tonight we saw the future of NSM without us, and the outlook is very, very good.

But believe it or not that’s not what I want to write about. Our awesome leaders also gave us some amazing gifts, one of which was a book with notes from NSM students and leaders to Brian. I spent some time reading it and was overwhelmed at some of the things these kids had to say. These are the kinds of things that a lot of us would hope someone would say about us at the end of our lives. To say I’m extremely proud of my husband for making an investment in these students would be an understatement. I think these words say it best:

You have been a real blessing to all of us teens. Thanks for being next to me in some of my major times in my walk with God.

Thank you for the chance to let my gifts come out.

You inspired all of us to do great things.

The past few years I’ve been here have been awesome, it really changed my life.

I came here and I thought it was awesome mostly because of you. I love how you’re so comfortable with us. I could really better understand God through your talks. You also made it fun.

Man I’m gonna miss you bro. You are definitely up there with my heroes. If it wasn’t for you, I would have never found Christ, and I can’t thank you enough for that.

It’s been an amazing ride seeing God use you to reach out to our youth. God has used you to change me.

I’ve had such a good time getting to know you. Thanks so much for what you have done in my life, preaching God’s word to me.

It’s been a great two years that I’ve known you. I’m so glad to have had a leader that I can actually relate to.

You made it really easy for me to open up to people and also to God.

This experience has made an astronomical impact on my life and my future as a servant for God and I appreciate everything.

You have changed my life by showing me how much fun a relationship with God can be.

I’m not gonna lie, I’m gonna miss you. You’ve helped me get through so much in the past.

If it were not for you or Northway I don’t know if I would have found my way to Jesus. You always say you’re there for me whenever I need it, and I’m proud to say I’ll be there for you too.

Wow. When I go back and read those words, I’m amazed that they were written by students. Brian might kill me for writing this and putting it out there for all to see, but this isn’t about a selfish pride; it’s about being proud of someone for doing what God told them to, and showing how much God can do through us when we serve Him.

In this world of “ministry” you don’t always get to hear words like that…in youth ministry you very rarely hear them! But these students are a testimony to what God can do when the people who say they love Him do what He asks them to.

Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe, even if you were told.
Habakkuk 1:5

I think they might be some of my favorite shows period, they just both happen to air in the summer…I guess that means not everyone thinks they’re that great. I think it just means not everyone knows they’re that great…yet! Either way, The Closer (Mon. 9pm TNT) is officially back and My Boys (Tues. 10pm TBS) is on its way. I got hooked on both of these shows in their first season and am SO happy to have them back!

The Closer season premiere was Monday night, but don’t worry, there’s an encore presentation on Thursday night at 8pm. Why do I love this show? Well, first of all I love all crime-solving drama shows. Add an overstressed team of mostly-male LAPD priority homicide detectives led by a petite, blonde, neurotic, sugar-craving, relationally challenged, tough-talking, case-cracking Deputy Chief (Brenda Lee Johnson, played by Kyra Sedgwick), and I’m completely hooked.

No, I don’t just love it for it’s obvious femi-power undertones. In fact, it’s starting to rack up a nice resume of honors for a show just starting its second season, including a Golden Globe for Kyra for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, and the honor of being the “Most Watched Cable Series of All Time” (or so the ads claim). Add to all this the benefit of watching it in HD…it’s a no brainer! Give it a shot. Check out the encore presentation of the premiere Thursday at 8.

You may be wondering how I got hooked on My Boys since it airs at 10pm, clearly past my bedtime. Well one day last year I was home sick from work and had just picked up my new HD Cable box, and therefore had nothing on my List to get me through my sick day. Repulsed at the idea of watching daytime television, I browsed through the TBS on demand offerings and saw that I could watch every episode of My Boys (for free). Sold. I think I watched the whole season that day.

It’s a clever show. The main character is very Carrie Bradshaw-esque, except that her group of friends and confidantes includes five guys and one girl. She’s a successful sports writer who spends her free time at the local pub or playing poker with “her boys.” The supporting male characters are pretty funny, and her character is pretty endearing as well. You can watch last season online if you want to get up to date. There was a pretty good cliffhanger at the end there. Not so good that I remember it, but good enough that I remember I should go back and watch the last episode before the season premiere.

If you have to choose one, watch The Closer. Mainly because of its awesomeness.

Today is my third Father’s Day without my dad. My sisters and I were hoping to convene in NYC and spend the day together, but that didn’t work out, so I didn’t really have any special plans. To be honest, sometimes it’s easier just to not focus on the fact that I have no one to send a card to.

This morning at church I couldn’t help but focus on him. It was an awesome service and Pastor Buddy and his Dad (affectionately known as “The Chuckster”) talked about the importance of affirmation and expressing pride and approval from fathers to their children. I guess I never realized that it was that hard for Fathers to do that, because my dad made it seem effortless. Here are some of the things that I remember when I think about my dad, which is, on average, about 100 times a day:

• Of all his nicknames for the three of us girls, one of his favorites was “Champ.”
• I used to sit and play piano for hours. He would sit and listen (to the same songs over and over) for hours, like there was no where else in the world he’d rather be. He would yell “Brava” and clap after every song.
• He would play tennis with us every chance he got. He was really, really good. He said if we ever beat him he would buy us a car. We should never have been him but we all ended up with cars anyways. He always let us win a game here and there.
• He would not only show up at my tennis matches, he would bring pizza for the team and take us all out to Friendly’s after.
• He told all of my friends they were his “4th daughter.” They loved it.
• He was named the top Stockbroker in his target market, but he still managed to make it to 5 chorus concerts and 2 plays every year, camera and videocamera in hand…and of course he’d take me and my friends to Friendly’s after.
• He always took each of his girls on individual Daddy-daughter dates, and we ALWAYS chose shopping. He would go to any store and stay as long as we wanted, as long as there were chairs outside the dressing room. He’d talk on his cell phone but he’d put it down as soon as I walked out to model an outfit. He didn’t care how much it cost, his only criteria were that it was modest, and that it made me happy.
• He had a brand new Lexus SUV when I was in high school. He would let me take it to school, and he would drive my hunter green 2-door Buick Skylark to meet clients.

I guess what I’m saying is, I never realized my dad had to put effort into spending time with us, or telling us he was proud of us, or telling us how much he loved us. I’ll never know if he really did do it consciously or if it was just an outpouring of his heart. Either way, he did it consistently and unconditionally. I think that’s pretty cool. And although I can’t send him a card, bake him a cake, or give him a kiss today, I know that today and every day I’m a living testament to the investments he made into me for the first 22 years of my life. And although I can’t hear him say it anymore, I know he’s looking down on me, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is proud.

I hadn’t heard about this performance but I just watched it online. If you don’t cry when you hear it, see a cardiologist…you may not have a heart. Regardless of politics and opinions about war, this song is a great tribute. Make sure you watch it until the very end…this video clip shows the ACM crowd’s response and the guests that join Tim McGraw at the end of the song.

Well, my first week of home study is coming to a close and I am feeling much better about it than I did as it opened! When presented with the concept of home study I was pretty excited…I’ve always been a good student and I LOVE taking tests. Good thing, because I have to take a lot of them to “pass” this phase of training, and I have to get 90’s or above. No problem…I’m a straight A student, right?

Well I had a few moments of panic at the beginning of the week when I was not only behind the training schedule, but also having significant trouble absorbing what I was reading. I think it just took my brain a few days to transition from the business of managing mass cell death from lack of use, to actually storing and retreiving information again. Not to mention, I can’t remember the last time I’d taken any kind of biology course. 

The first day or two was rough but I got into the swing of it and now I’m rolling. I have passed all four of my exams so far, thanks to the fact that they actually assess whether you understand the most important information, rather than the most obscure and useless information (you know, like in college). 

Yesterday I even got to do a few hours of my studying outside. Plavix + sunshine = a pretty sweet day of home study for me. Today my coursework is slightly less demanding (on my time, that is) than previous days, so it should be a nice way to close out the week. I’ll continue with this for two weeks, then go away for their sales meeting for a week, come back for two weeks shadowing others in the field, and then they ship me off to Jersey for three weeks of “Phase 2″ training. At that point, in my manager’s words, I will “re-learn everything I already learned in home study” (and then some I’m assuming) and when I get back, I’ll hit my territory.

I’m pretty excited about the whole thing. I got my home office all set up and it’s proven an effective work environment so far. Not to mention I love the 15 foot commute. I think I would be terrified if I knew I were hitting the field any sooner than 6 weeks and several hundred hours of highly specialized training from now, but knowing that they pretty much have this down to a science, I’m ready for it! I’ll keep you posted.

…and the feeling is becoming very mutual. This weekend I finally felt like I was recovered from the “incident” last week. Although I ate nothing but cheerios and ginger ale the first day, and plain white bread and rice for the next 2, I was tolerating various meats and vegetables…even some dairy without hesitation by Sunday. I think some of the slow recovery was psychological in nature, but either way, I was good to go yesterday, which I thought was perfect b/c my first day of home study was today.

This morning I woke up with an upset stomach that has intensified throughout the day, accompanied by chills and sweats, and, once again, an inability to tolerate food. I keep forcing down rice and ginger ale thinking it will settle my stomach but it doesn’t seem to be doing any harm or good.

I haven’t been hugging the toilet seat like last weekend but the discomfort is becoming debilitating as the day goes on. It is really hard to read 250 pages about the cardiovascular system when all you can focus on is your own poorly functioning digestive system.