Saying goodbye…

Love makes us do crazy things. I made a promise to my husband when he moved to Pulaski County for me a year and a half ago that when he found his dream job, I would follow him, because he followed me to mine. So with a mix of sadness and happiness, I write my farewell letter to you, Pulaski County, and wish to do nothing more than thank you for the wonderful few years I have spent here.
As a very green, overly confident college graduate (of exactly two days when I started at the Journal), I had no idea my education would have very little to do with my job here. Now, I look back and see how far I’ve come thanks to your support, praise, criticism, suggestions and input over the past nearly two and a half years. Thank you. You, as a community, welcomed me in and showed me the ropes, and gave me the confidence to spread my wings and write about anything. I treasured the trust instilled in me from citizens and county officials alike and pray to be even nearly as accepted in our new community. My memories are never-ending from festivals to events to commissioner and school board meetings. I learned so many thing through each.
Above anything, I will miss the people. And yes, that includes those who were constantly positive and those who were constantly negative to keep me in line. Life needs those checks and balances, right? I will miss going to the grocery store, or anywhere else in town, and seeing familiar, smiling faces.
I hope that you accept the new reporter, whoever it may be, as you have accepted me, and continue supporting the Journal as the wonderful community newspaper it is. It has changed my life in so many ways, and I am so thankful.
With that, Jeff and I are off to our new home in Michigan this weekend. It all evolved quickly and we know for certain this is God’s plan for us.
You will be missed.
Michelle Blevins

I can…but I can’t

OK all you wonderfully talented bloggers out there, I fully admit I’m a bit envious of your abilities. For example, I am currently in love with http://solomamahood.blogspot.com/ and http://perfectstrangerla.com/. Both are simply truthful recounts of life’s journey, unedited.

I have come to realize lately that the choices you make in life will forever determine what you can and cannot do. People always say “you can do anything” and while that is perhaps a true statement in meaning, most people never get the chance to do what they truly want because of money, work, family or other commitments.

For example, I have been struggling lately with a strong desire to go back to school to get my masters. I have SO many things I want to do with my life, and I have a terrible fear in my heart that if I do not reach my educational goals I will regret that always. But here’s the deal: yes, I CAN do anything I want, however, my schedule does not allow me to do what I want, nor does money, or location, etc. etc. And while I watch my college friends pick up and move around the country, taking these wonderful leaps of faith into completely new situations, I find myself wishing J and I could do the same, but realize as well that that simply is not logistical.

The sad part is, what is really keeping me from pursuing more education is the education I already have. Yup, the student loan black hole. Now I escaped college with less than the average amount of student loan debt nationwide, which I realize is great (and makes me wonder HOW they are POSSIBLY making their monthly payments). But that student loan debt is no a stopping point toward my pursuit of more education. How can our nation’s leaders expect us all to have college degrees to get higher paying, better jobs when we can barely afford the payments on the other end and are then stuck?

So, Michelle, what is your dream job? I want to be a ghost writer, or someone who helps people write their biographies. I love learning about people and telling their stories. I am a factual girl and frankly anything fiction bores me completely. Tied for dream job is also being a college professor thanks to the wonderful influence from a certain French professor whom was so patient and understanding with me when I struggled so much in her class(es). I saw her connection with her students and her love for her job. I also saw how cultured and beautiful she was as a person and how wonderful of a journey her life has been thus far. I want to do that. I want to be an inspiration to college students. I want to be the professor everyone wants to have each semester than teaches outside the box, is creative and thoughtful in assignments. But guess what…until I at least get part way into my master’s degree, professorship (even adjunct faculty) is nowhere is sight.

I can, but I can’t.

The support of a community

Fair week has come and gone in Pulaski County oh so quickly, as it does each year, and again left me touched by the impact a community has on its youth.

Growing up in more metropolitan areas like Colorado Springs and Detroit, I didn’t even know what 4-H was until I moved to Winamac in 2008. As I watched 4-Hers show their animals and projects that first year I was struck by how hard working and dedicated they (and sure, often their parents), had to be to 4-H. They had much more responsibility than I ever had, despite my daily chores list.

My favorite part of the fair is the livestock auction. Why? Because most of the buyers don’t even keep the animals. They have no intention of keeping the animals when they purchase them. It is just the community’s way of giving to its youth. This year, more than $11,000 was spent on the purchase of animals that night. Oh, and $1,200 on a kiss for Miss Pulaski .

The best moment of this year’s fair was watching Veronica Leman be chosen the 2010 Ultimate Livestock Showman. As she fought back tears to let people take some photos, she suddenly could hold back no longer when approached by her parents who embraced her so lovingly and proudly. It was such a wonderful moment that reminded me of days in my youth where acceptance and pride from my parents meant more than winning any prize.

Pulaski County shuts down the week of the Fourth of July each year to come together on a small parcel of land to support its youth, show off its country roots and enjoy time together.

I’d like to see a city get behind its youth like this county does.

Kindred spirits

I was raised on Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, etc. They are classics and Anne’s character is so well defined, memorable and familiar. It was not Anne that struck me so much as a child, however, it was the relationships Anne had with those in her life…from Gilbert and Marilla to Diana. It was the relationship between Anne and Diana that taught and has truly impacted my life the most. Kindred spirit friendships are magical and so amazing you never want to let it go.

Kindred spirits find their way back to each other through thick and thin. No matter the distance or the time apart, they remember even the tiniest details of the other and, more than anything, kindred spirits know the heart and soul of each other.

I suppose I have been blessed in life and friends and have always had wonderful best friends in my life whom I love as a sister. It wasn’t until the past year that I even learned there were varying levels of friendships between “best friends,” ranging from just spending time together to opening your soul. You have not truly experienced friendship until you find your kindred spirit. Kindred spirit friendship is stronger than all others because it holds a deep promise of honesty and loyalty. It takes a great storm to tear it apart.

I am fortunate to have two such spirits in my life these days, outside of my husband, Jeff, with whom my relationship is far deeper than kindred friendship. I must admit my life feels empty when I do not have that kindred spirit connection with at least one woman in my life; and when I lost a kindred spirit months ago it was followed by months of heartache.

Since moving to Winamac, I have learned more about friendship than I had in my entire life up until then. It is also here that I have realized the true meaning of kindred spirits and just how right Anne was.

To my kindred spirits: I love you.

A cheater’s confession

Scrabble has become a favorite pastime of my mom and I. As a child she read to me and played other word games with me to constantly build my vocabulary and speech. I watched her and my aunts play Scrabble during family gatherings but it never held my attention, until I reached my late college years. It was then we became rather addicted to the game, playing whenever we can. We have gotten competitive over the past few years are our skills continue to improve.

Just last week I had my all-time highest score (and higher than any of my mom’s scores ever, and she’s an AMAZING player), of 381. Yup, I’m pretty proud.

Now comes my confession: we cheat when we play. The rules clearly state to not use a dictionary except to dispute words on the board. We’ve ignored that, with my mom’s original idea to build my vocabulary, which has now transformed into a several-nights-a-week marathon of Scrabble games that builds BOTH of our vocabularies as adults. We seriously learn new words each week because we form a letter with our words, then reference it in the dictionary. If it IS a real word, we read the definition out loud to infuse it in our memories. We have learned so many new words this way, it is wonderful. I plan to play the exact same way with my children someday, and I give my mom all the credit in the world for instilling in me my love for words and the American language (which SO many native speakers speak so poorly, but that’s for a different entry).

Our scores are not really affected by our use of the dictionary throughout the game, it just makes the game more fun.

Now that I live four hours from home and when Jeff and I travel home our trips are short, my mom and I have gotten even more creative with our Scrabble games thanks to technology. We play over the phone, with our phone on speakerphone mode. It’s simple…we each set up our boards and turn the tiles right side up. When I draw, I tell my mom what I drew and she picks them out of the box, placing them on one a separate rack tile, and vice versa when she draws. When we draw our own letters we do not look so as not to cheat…and it’s proven time and time again that we do not cheat when one of us ends up with all consonants, four “I”s, or other crazy lettering mixes.

What does the future look like for these Scrabble addicts? I plan to buy a Web cam for her for her birthday….Skype here we come!

Customer service…and hair loss

I am really not one to complain when service is bad or to make a big deal of things. I never leave a restaurant without tipping, no matter how poor the service, and I never get upset with customer service people in stores or over the phone when they are not understanding my issue.

Well, now that I’ve said never, I take it all back. Dish Network has pushed me over the edge, beyond my realm of courtesy and politeness. It was for one moment last Friday as I was driving to an accident across the county that I, Michelle Blevins, let it out to the barely-English-speaking person on the other end of the phone clearly reading off the script. I immediately apologized for my clear frustration with the company, explaining I realize it is not her fault, that she just answers the phone, which seemed to make her feel better. See, I’ve learned from watching and reading how others deal with customer service reps, that being a b*tch does not solve the problem. Quite the opposite usually happens, it gets worse, they are much less likely to work with you and will eventually shut you out. Unfortunately, as my call to Dish Network ended (probably the 10th call or so to the company since last summer), the situation was still unsolved.

On May 26 I reluctantly filed my first claim with the Better Business Bureau about our issues with Dish Network’s billing. It appears in July of 2009 with my husband called to see if there was any way we could get Versus to watch the Tour de France (of which we had already missed the first several stages), the nice lady on the other end said she would upgrade our package from America’s Top 100 to America’s Top 250, and credit us the difference on our bill. Had we known the havoc this would cause us and our bank account for the next 11 months, we never would have bothered and would have found another way to follow our beloved Tour. The credits, it turns out, were applied on a date that hits right around the time of our billing cycle. SO…our monthly bill is SUPPOSED to be $55 but instead is anywhere from $35 to $75. We’re recent college grads and I have student loans…$40/month is a BIG difference. We called Dish several times as our bills kept being off and since Dish works on a 30 day billing cycle instead of just a monthly cycle as most companies (such as our insurance auto pay is taken from our account on the 15th of each month), Dish fluctuates when our bill is due (and our bill date) from the 10th to the 14th of each month. Oy. OK, people, I get why our bill is messed up..the credit sometimes hits TWICE in one billing period, then won’t hit AT ALL on the next. And they can’t fix it. Nope, no can do. It’s there the way it is and our bill is messed up until our contract ends this July. OK, fine, I get it. But no one has ever offered a way to remedy the situation. Ever. We did not ask for the credits in the first place (while they are much appreciated), and it is not our fault our bill is messed up! So why should we, the consumers, have to deal with their errors?

I received a call Saturday afternoon from an middle-aged sounding woman from Dish Network who apparently handles the more than 13,000 consumer complaints Dish receives through the BBB. She explained to me the same thing I already understood about why our bill is messed up. She said she can take it off and reapply it MONTHS down the road or we’ll just have to deal. I just sat and listened, told her I understood what the problem was, and she said in the future just ask that credits be applied on a different date. She asked if I was satisfied with her help, to which I frustratedly said “yes” and that was that. She said she would respond to the BBB and our bill is still messed up. I paid our $75 Dish Network bill this morning.

Sad thing is, Dish’s C rating is better than DirecTV’s F rating by the BBB.

I watch small businesses bend over backward to accommodate and please customers. I am sure Dish Network has cost me a few strands of hair, and given me a few gray hairs. $75 poorer and still frustrated.

Into the wild blue yonder

“Started out this morning in the usual way
Chasing thoughts inside my head of all I had to do today
Another time around the circle try to make it better than the last…
And somewhere it hit me like a lightning bolt
I saw a big frontier in front of me and I heard somebody say “let’s go”!

Above is fragmented part of a Steven Curtis Chapman song I listened to MANY times in my much younger years that I just remembered the other day. I loved it at the time because it spoke to my wild heart, my love for new places, new people and new adventures.

I think adventure is in a journalist’s blood. I can only name on one hand the number of friends/fellow journalists who have graduated and are still in Michigan. Some are in California, some in DC, some in Pittsburgh, some in Florida, and the list goes on.

Every once in awhile I get a little tinge of adventure lust, and boy do I have it really bad right now. Being young is for being adventurous. I would truly take off on a road trip on a whim, drive five hours to see my mom or hop on a plane in a split second and head for some far off destination I know nothing about. Life is too short to be afraid of it.

So, so everyone out there reading this, how is your sense of adventure? Do you ever feel as if you’re going to burst if you don’t find the next big adventure? Are you content with things exactly the way they are? Would you just pack up and leave your current life one day for a new adventure?