Defragging.

Today in discipleship I learned the valuable meaning of a new word: defragging.

Josephine and I have just finished doing a myriad of tasks she needs to get done before this weekend, one of them being editing her resume and submitting her application for FOCUS, another being a stop at the bank to get some quarters for laundry, another a simple stop to drop a wedding RSVP in the mail. Since the moment we locked eyes on each other outside the adoration chapel in the union at 3:05 we both knew we were really happy to see the other. To be fair, we haven't seen each other since Sunday for a brief stint, and we're used to going for a run every single morning. Let's just say that we were both in impeccably good moods which had side effects of excess giggling and lots of cheeky smiles. I couldn't think of a better mood in which to fill out and submit an application for a future job position (for Josie, not me). The best part about helping her edit it to make it more "her" (which basically just includes more jokes and snarky comments) was that she used me as a reference so I got an email with a form that I had to fill out. Luckily I knew all the silly little things she put in there; for example, with my reference in the "Relation to this person" section she wrote, BEST friend. So when I was asked how I knew her... Best friend. Plain and simple. We had a lot of fun and I'm really excited for her to go to the interview weekend!

After we spent a lot of time just being goofy and "word vomiting" all over one another there was a period of silence and I could tell we were both finally coming off of our excitement high. It doesn't usually take two hours for that to happen, but it was clear to both of us and suddenly Josie bursts out, "I'm defragging right now. I'm totally defragging." Excuse me?! was really all I could think. She continued to explain that her brother Jim used to come home after a day where he had a lot going on, such as tests and quizzes, and he'd say, "Don't talk to me right now, I'm defragging." In the process Josie learned valuable lessons and improved her vocabulary a pretty substantial amount! And who would've thought that years later she would be sitting with me on a rainy Wednesday afternoon, explaining to me what defragging is.

But the real reason I'm writing about defragment is because, I, myself am defragging as I type. Let me start by saying that this semester I love Wednesdays. I usually have time for a nap in the a.m., discipleships and holy hour at the union and then Bible study in the evening. Tonight for study we met up a little before eight and drove down to pray in front of the abortion clinic for a little bit. A couple of the girls in my study had never done that before and especially with the 40 days for life going on we figured it would be the perfect time. We all hopped into Lady, drove downtown and upon arrival saw Alea, Michael and Tom (a few other NDSU students) and prayed a Rosary with them. Ideally I would've liked to stay for the entire hour, but a few of the girls couldn't make that part so we decided to just go pray for a little while, then come back and have bible study after. And boy was bible study great. We had an amazing conversation about attachments, both physical and sentimental, tithing, faith and works, bringing Jesus more and more into our lives and ended with a discussion about confession--completely on their accord, I didn't even bring that one up! Sometimes I forget that people just forget how to go to confession, or they get nervous about telling their sins to a priest. It is, however, extremely encouraging to see one of the girls in particular, Kristen, who I met last year and told me how much she didn't like confession mention how she started going more often and it's "not so scary anymore." Nice.

The best part of the evening, however, was when they got in my car to get a ride home and Kristen mentioned having a cup of hot chocolate when she got home. Instantly I saw an opportunity for quality time with the b-study girls so I had to jump on it. "Did I hear someone say hot chocolate? You guys wanna come over and have some with me?! (while trying not to sound desperate)" Three of the four girls agreed and all trotted right on over and plopped themselves down at the table while I warmed some milk over the stove. Mmm!! I love serving people, and even more when people just let me serve them! So we sat at the table, sipped cocoa and shared stories. Sam, about her husband Andreas who currently lives in Denmark and she misses like the dickens, Kristen and her boyfriend Jake and me and, well, how much I love being a missionary and what exactly it is that I do. You know, I've been getting that a lot lately and I'm not sure why so much more this year than last. But people are curious, and I'm more than willing to share! I love the position I'm in and couldn't ask for anything more. After cocoa and story-time I gave a couple of them rides home (Sam lives conveniently below me) and Kristen and I ended up sitting in my car and chatting for over an hour. Oh how good for both of our souls. I've mentioned her before, but I met her last year on the Itasca biking trip and we used to go rollerblading and drink delicious hot chocolate together before Rae asked her into discipleship and the two of them started meeting up more frequently. I realized tonight that I genuinely have missed her and that I love her friendship and the encouragement she so freely gives. What a bunch of beauts in my life these days, boy am I blessed.

And because I took that extra long nap this morning I'm just now starting to get tired... here's to throwing off my sleep schedule two days before a 13.1 miler!