sepia

Holla.

Well I'm in Memphis again- I think things are good... it's surreal being in this situation. I remember crystal clear Dave Hobbs coming to stay at the house 1 year ago for this same reason. For those of you who I haven't explained this for, my schedule this week is as follows:

Monday- drive to Memphis (check!)
Tuesday- Board Review and PDC graduation ceremony at the house (where I'm staying)
Wednesday- More board review (law stuff)
Thursday- actually don't have any board review- just a Banquet for family
Friday- 9am Pharmacy ceremony in the morning- guest speaker and some awards and stuff... 1:30 pm: graduation at the FedEx forum- 525 people (comprised of MDs, PharmDs, DDSs, and some OTs) will be graduating... should last a couple hours--- and then we all head back to Nashville.... sound like a plan?

I'm really excited to see that Josh and Jesse will be coming- I know it's not easy to re-arrange work plans and make this drive- ALSO my cousin Kevin will be making an appearance on Friday and I'm really happy to hear that... I think I'm partly in denial right now- I was SO excited about graduation Feb, March, April... but right now- I'm having a hard time feeling it for some reason- it might be nerves.

I stopped at the Shannon's on my way out of town for Colton's graduation thingie- I was only there 10 minutes but it was nice to get to see so many special people. It's hard not to turn a little red-faced every time David Shannon brags on you... it's been such an odd feeling being introduced as a pharmacist (and, when possible, I DO correct people that my graduation isn't until the 30th)... I've been pleasantly surprised at the positive reactions I've gotten when people discover my vocation and that's nice. (not that I expected anyone to really look down on what I did...).

Speaking of being introduced... I was invited by the charming and lovely Jennifer Henderson (we dated, briefly, my Jr. year at UTK)- to a memorial day cookout at her house for the '20-somethings' group of her church (Brentwood Hills Church of Christ)- I was glad to find about 35ish people there- and just before the devo her dad introduced me as "...Scott- he's a Pharmacist and he works for target..."- you wouldn't think it, but it just feels funny to hear that- but it's a good kind of funny. Jennifer is about to graduate from nursing school and she's going to take a position at Vanderbilt this fall (can you say, awesome?)... it was really good to get to re-connect with her now that we're both living in Nashville. We got to talk about some things from our relationship that were left perhaps a little unresolved and it was good just to be able to talk openly and honestly with her- I was certainly glad to meet several new people, but at the same time it was nice that we went aside and talked alone for a bit... don't get me wrong- it's been great hanging out with JoshN'Jesse and Phil the last few weeks- but well... yeah... you know what I mean... and yadda yadda yadda we're gonna get some sushi sometime when I get back from Memphis.

Dad's been kicking my butt on the home front- we've been out running 5 times in the last week and a half- and that's in addition to (as opposed to in place of) the extra-hard working out I've been doing in the gym... I'm starting to feel and see some very nice results... "hello leg muscles... long time no see!"... it was funny to hear him say on our first run: "we're gonna get back in shape... back in BLUECOATS shape" as I chuckled --- you know--- that old guy can be kinda tough at times- but I've very rarely gone wrong when I've listened to his advice... even things that were hard to hear- advice about girls, jobs, school... sometimes it's not what I want to hear or not something that's popular- but more often than not when I look back, sometimes years later- I can see the truth in his advice-- of course I've also learned the value of sticking to my guns when I really feel deeply about something- I've truly been blessed with some amazing parents and I'm thankful for that on a daily basis- (that's not to say that I'm going to delay my moving out as soon as closing day [june 30th] rolls around on my new house!). Everyone talks about how painful it must be to live at home with the parents (as though I had a choice?)- and sure, to some extent the up-close and personal daily communication with people you've been apart from for some time can be a bit much at times... but it's not too bad...