Recruiter on the Road: Ashland

The road from Pikeville to Ashland is paved in coal. Not really. But that's about all you see on the drive. I want to talk about coal later this week, so I'm gonna save a lot of those photos for then. I've got some other stuff I want to talk about today.

And Things

I did take a minor detour on the way here, following some signs to Loretta Lynn's Home Site. These signs took me about 10 minutes off my route...but I never did find her home site. So I just took some pictures of other stuff instead so it wasn't a total waste of drive time.

You have to understand that sometimes I just pull off on the side of the road to take these pictures. I have to be careful though, because I am in a state vehicle, and I don't want to pull up on some abandoned property ((like above)) and hop out to find some hobo with a gun. So sometimes I just roll down the window, snap a quick pic, and zoom off. ((Well, as fast as the Ford Focus can zoom)). 

Tonight's event is in a really cool old theater.

Yadda yadda yadda, work stuff, blah blah blah. Now on to other matters.

How a person reacts to a book says a lot about them. That's why when I was particularly moved by Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook during my freshman year in college, I made LAS II read it. I needed to know he felt the same way about it that I did. Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't expect to (Prayed that I wouldn't) look over and see him sobbing buckets like I did when I read it. But just in general I wanted to know that he bought into the idea of a love story that will move time and space to bring two people together if they are meant to be together.

Guess we're pretty close to the same page on that one, huh? ;)

LAS II has another reading assignment (he hates reading, FYI) now that I've finished Heaven is for Real. Wait. Didn't you just say yesterday in your blog that you started Heaven is for Real at dinner? Why, yes, I did. To be fair, I am a speed reader. It only took me about two hours total to finish the book.

I did not want to look like an arsonist, 

so I discreetly took this picture 

without flash. Sorry for the blur. 

I should pause for a second, and tell you that I was WIDE awake at 10 pm last night, so that enabled me to finish what I had left of this book by 11:30. I had just curled into bed with my book when the fire alarm started ringing. Sometimes, this happens, it's a false alarm. So I called the front desk. No, hello? No, Hampton Inn Pikeville front desk? Just, Evacuate the building immediately. Well, If this building is going down, it's not going down with all my stuff. You know how people ask, what would you take if you had to leave a burning building? Well, luckily, I pack light. I threw everything (after ripping my laptop charger from the wall) in my fleur-de-lys duffle bag, threw on my rain jacket over my pajamas, slipped on my rain boots, and was out the door. Mind you, half of my colleagues are also staying at this hotel. My car was right across the street. So I sat in the car while the fire men did their thing, hoping not to see anyone I knew.

I reentered the building after we got the all clear, and of course saw about four of my colleagues at the elevator. And what is the first thing out of Tucker's mouth? "Don't take this the wrong way (never a good way for Tucker to start a sentence) but when you were just walking up, from a distance, I thought you were a little old lady. And I was thinking to myself, "Are you the old lady who stole all the cookies?'" (Tucker was upset because the evening stock of cookies at the Hampton Inn was gone by the time our event ended). Geez.

So back to Heaven is for Real. After the fire scare my adrenaline was rushing. I knew I could just go ahead and finish the book. It's been a while since I shed a tear. I mean, I can't really think of the last time I cried. Well, as I predicted, this book had me shedding buckets. It is the true story of Colton Burpo, who goes to Heaven during an emergency appendectomy. I know what you are thinking, sure anyone could make that up. But Colton is just four years old, and the story is told by his father after Colton starts telling him some strange stuff. I highly recommend this book. It made me reevaluate my motivations in life and refocus on my real purpose on earth. Here are some quotes from the book that I loved...

((On what is required to enter Heaven taken from a Bible verse "...whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."))
"What is childlike humility? It's not the lack of intelligence, but the lack of guile. The lack of an agenda. It's that precious, fleeting time before we have accumulated enough pride or position to care what other people might think. It is the opposite of ignorance--it is intellectual honesty: to be willing to accept reality and to call things what they are even when it is hard."

((And then on the concept of faith, and believing in things which you, yourself, have not seen))((this is taken straight from the bible))
"Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

You can choose to believe the truth behind this story, or come up with whatever arguments you can muster for why it is fake. Or you can just choose to have faith, and believe that God does exist and decide how you are going to deal with that news. For me, it's motivation. Just like I always want to please my parents on earth, I want to please my Father in Heaven. I'm not saying I've always done the right thing, or that I'm perfect. I have made many mistakes and have many flaws. But I believe in God, and I'm trying my best:) Anyway, just READ.IT. I promise, you will love it. And if not, you can throw the book at me.

Tomorrow is my 30th birthday. Wowzas. At least tonight is the last travel night of the week! And it's the last Kentucky Preview Night! We wrap up the final two weeks of Preview Night season out of state. See ya back at the ranch!