A Day Where Everything Falls Into Place

Yesterday, March 13, 2013, was a wonderful day.

Papa Francisco, Papa Francis, was elected as Pope.  I was able to listen to his first address to the audience live, in my car, driving back from work.  You may wonder why I called him Papa rather than Pope Francis.  That's just something my cousins and I do sometimes.  I don't do it to every Pope.  Just the ones I feel like I could connect with.  The ones I really admire.  Same thing with priests or others with titles as such.  My dad's side of the family was, and still is, very close to the priest at the church where I grew up.  Many of those people just call the priest by his first name.  I've always liked that.  Yes, some, like my Mom, use the title as a sign of respect.  But if I want to respect someone, become friends with that person, have a relationship with them on an individual level, I would never use a title like that.  They'd just be "Joe" or "Greg."  I can't bring myself to be that casual with the person sitting in Saint Peter's seat of the Church.  But I can humanize the title a little.

I'm thrilled we have a Pope from Argentina as well.  J is almost done student teaching and will be a Spanish teacher next year.  Our mom is a Spanish teacher too.  I have a love for Spanish speaking countries because of this.  And it's wonderful to have a nod to all the Catholics in Central and South America.  He has set a precedent as being the first Pope in many ways.  I'm just so thrilled.  He seems wonderful.

Most of you likely know that I'm engaged to Kyle.  He and I have been waiting on his acceptance letter to the colleges he applied for.  Yesterday he received the acceptance letter to one of them!  Finally, things are not quite in so much limbo anymore.  I can start scouting out apartments and potential jobs now.  I'm so happy to not be waiting anymore.

The last thing that made yesterday wonderful was once again related to my weight.  The gym Kyle and I attend partnered with a local radio station for two months.  They had a campaign and if you lost 10 pounds by the end, you were entered to win $1000.  I weighed in yesterday at the final event and had lost 13.8 pounds which brought me down to 162.8!  I had won a drawing earlier in the contest for a free pair of running shoes from a specialty shoe store if I did lose the weight so I have something to show for my diligence!  Next week my feet will be all decked out in a new pretty pair of running shoes.  I did not win the $1000, but I'm thrilled about the new shoes!

My day was complete at that point.  Everything that could have gone right, did.  Things are finally falling into place for us.  I can't wait to see what surprises await us next.  :)

~M