Goodbye, Selections

... hello, Little Stories.

While it has been fun blogging here for a few years, things have changed and I'm moving to a newer, fresher location:

abbyfp.wordpress.com

If you like, continue to follow me here! I probably won't be posting for more than a week or so, as I imagine the move to Charlottesville and the beginning of my new job will be more than a bit time consuming. But I'm looking forward to writing again.

With much love and joy,

The newly minted Mrs. P.

going to get married

Well, friends, it's about that time. Tomorrow morning at 7, my mom, sisters and I are packing up and headed out for Chapel Hill. I'm getting married on Saturday and it's totally crazy and exciting! I feel like my brain is already splintering into a thousand pieces when I think about all that needs to be done. But strangely, and mercifully, I also feel very peaceful and content. I just have to breathe every now and then. Things will go wrong (like the expected rain on Saturday, and other things I simply can't predict), but at the end of the day, I get to marry Guion. And that's all that really matters.
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This morning, I read this verse, which charmed and calmed my heart. It's a passage that talks about God's presence among the Israelites as they wandered in despair:
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"Your way was through the sea,
your path through the great waters;
yet your footprints were unseen."

(Psalm 77:19)
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It communicates to me this beautiful idea of God's omnipresence. Even when we fail to detect him, he's there, treading the same ground. This is something I will strive to remember this weekend, and, hopefully, always.
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This blog, my Flickr, and any other Internet presence I may have will understandably be on hold for a week or more. I have to get hitched, honeymoon, move to Charlottesville, and start my new job in a mere two weeks!
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Thanks for the encouragement, support, and mutual excitement that's come from all of you out there. I shall return, a happily married woman!

ten days left

Back from the bachelorette retreat at Topsail! We had such a perfect time. I love these beautiful women so, so much and my life is infinitely richer because of them.
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We're now in the 10-day countdown! It's a bit unbelievable to me still. As soon as I got back, I checked the weather forecast. It looks to be much of what I expected for a typical May day: hot, humid, and the possibility of transient thunderstorms. I hope they will hold off so we can take photos in the Arboretum...
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Will try to write again soon. Much love!

the memorable weekend

This weekend, I said goodbye to my six fabulous and graduated housemates...

Remembered four amazing years with dear friends...

Celebrated with family...

And (most likely) found a place to live with my husband-to-be! (If all goes according to plan, we'll have the upstairs apartment in this charming, historic home near downtown Charlottesville and the Belmont neighborhood. Old doors, transom windows, and heart-of-pine floors = I'm thrilled.

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There is so much going on in my life right now and I am thankful to be home for a few weeks so I can sit still and think about it all. I graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill and I'm getting married in 18 days; I feel like I should do something else momentous to keep the ball rolling... like become a first-time owner of an angora rabbit (today's obsession, for whatever reason).

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All I want to do is lounge in the sun and read. But there are veils to be refashioned and plates to be counted and mason jars to be ribboned! Much, much still to be done. Love to you all, my largely anonymous body of readers!

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You care for the land and water it;

you enrich it abundantly.

The streams of God are filled with water

to provide people with grain,

for so you have ordained it.

Psalm 65.9

words words words

Sorry if the last post sounded mean or ungrateful. I know it's no excuse, but I've been really stressed this week.

In better news,
I've almost graduated
My truly FINAL exam is tomorrow at 4
I'm reading Pale Fire and it's reminded me of why I love Nabokov
It's been great being home and I'm looking forward to my time here in May
Guion and I have some decent prospects for housing
We're getting married in 25 days!

Warmly,
A.

i'll be so good to you

Annie Clark (St. Vincent). She looks like my beautiful mother, doesn't she?

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Mercy! Done with classes. Two final exams and then I'm really done with academic work for my undergraduate career. Graduation happens, and then I'll move home until we get married (which happens in a MONTH, for those who care). These have been swift, swift weeks.

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I got to see St. Vincent and The Love Language last night for free at Memorial Hall. Emily came with me and we adored Annie Clark (see above) from a not-too-far distance (we had third-row seats). I also got to see Angela almost get herself kicked out of the concert for being so happy and dance-y. She stole most of the show with her joyful antics and managed to drag Emily and I (and about twenty other people, including Sarah E., who I was pleased and surprised to see but not too surprised, because it's St. Vincent) back to dance with her.

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"She said, 'Why is my life so uneven?' ..."

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Today was my last day at UNC Press. They threw me a mini food party and my eyes misted up. I am sad to leave these people. They have been such excellent coworkers and endlessly encouraging and patient. I would work here again one day if I could. If we ever return to Chapel Hill...

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Things I'm excited about doing in Charlottesville:

- Getting to know all of the great shops and restaurants in the Downtown Mall

- Reading The Hook weekly

- Going to the Charlottesville City Market

- Having a full-time job and being an Adult

- Hiking in Shenandoah National Park!

- Making friends with our neighbors

- Becoming a part of a local church

the recognition of things

This is my last week of classes as an undergraduate. Somehow, I never imagined getting here. When I arrived on campus as a bright-eyed first-year, I never pictured reaching The End. College was supposed to last forever! And now here it is: The End. It seems like a very morbid way to think about it, but I'm excited about what lies ahead. I talked with Danielle about it last night, and we both agreed on this general feeling of readiness. At the same time, I feel unusually possessed of the awareness of time, of the need to be very present this week.

"He thought that in the world it had always been and always was like this: a bearded man lies in a room on a bed. The boy had just entered into the recognition of things. He still did not know how to distinguish their different existences in time." -- Yuri Olesha, "Liompa"

I will miss riding my bike around campus. I hope I can still bike places in Charlottesville.

Annie Dillard wrote in Living By Fiction that language is like shining a light on Venus. She didn't really explain what she meant by that, but I will keep thinking about it.

I started a personal study of Jude for the next few weeks. It's a very dark little letter. But I like his opening greeting, which expresses this hope: "May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you" (Jude 2, ESV). I like this expression of these virtues (spiritual gifts, perhaps) as finite things that may be increased many times over.

Still anxious about jobs and a place to live. But I'm getting married to the best man I've ever met in 32 days, so I don't really have much to worry about.