A Frostbitten Spring Break

Webster's Dictionary defines depression as sadness; gloom; dejection. Another way to define it is a condition of general emotional dejection and withdrawl; sadness greater and more prolonged than that warranted by any objective reason.

Well I do have an objective reason to be depressed. Actually I have two of them. First, the obvious one is that my Kansas Jayhawks were upset in the NCAA basketball tournament by Northern Iowa University. To make matters worse, I have about 20 people text me about the game while I am full of sadness; gloom; and dejection. These are some of my closest friends. I'm reminded of Job in the Old Testament. His entire world had crashed down on him, and he had three friends named Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. These three men had good intentions to comfort their friend, but they did more harm than good. God eventually rebukes them for their stupid words of discouragement. So If you were one of the people who made fun of me because Kansas lost, watch out because God is probably mad. The second objective reason for me to be depressed is because as soon as I get home for SPRING break, it snows 6 inches. I am so tired of winter and coldness. I'm just depressed.

And to make matters worse, I'm getting older. I had my 22nd birthday this past Thursday. Now don't get me wrong. I was able to hang out with friends, and David Heffren even bought me dinner. I also had another friend, Jake Wiemelt, buy my lunch at Chick-Fil-A. It was awesome to be around people you love, but unfortunately, I heard a song yesterday that brought everything back to earth. Five for Fighting has a song called "100 Years," and in the song there is a line that goes:

I am 22 for a moment...

The song keeps going on and the singer just keeps talking about how he gets older and older. He says things like,

Another blink of an eye
67 is gone
The sun is getting high
We're moving on...
I'm 99 for a moment
Dying for just another moment.

Basically, life goes by quick and you keep getting older until you die. Here in about 2 months, I will be off my parents insurance...not cool. I'll have to start paying for all of my own stuff and cooking my own food. My Jayhawks lose to a Missouri Valley League team, and I'm supposed to be getting a tan outside instead of frostbite.

As I was complaining to my mom about the Jayhawks loosing and it snowing during my spring break she said, "Charlie-Bear (thats my nickname she gave me a long time ago), soon fans of 63 other teams will be feeling the same way you feel right now, and spring will be here to stay." My momma has always seen the good in things, and I admire that about her. Sometimes it is just so hard to see the light in times of darkness.

I know all of these things I'm complaining about really aren't that bad. If i put all my stock in a dumb sport team, I would say that I have greatly misplaced all of my priorities. If i get upset about how I leave Joplin, Mo when its 70 degrees and open my car door in Topeka, KS and it is 40 degrees, then I just need to move to Southern California. I guess what I'm trying to say is that our "dark" time maybe aren't so dark. I'm graduating in May, and God has allowed me to do a year-long internship in Indiana. I am so excited! The snow is already kind of melting, so by Tuesday or Wednesday, everything will be back to normal. And I don't know if there is anything good about the Jayhawks loosing, but at least I won't be stressed out not knowing if we are going to win a national championship? Yea, I really can't see the good in that one. But here is my advice to you, be like Momma Landis not like Charlie Landis.

Go Baylor.