Spreading the Weirdness EVEN MORE!

So last time I talked about spreading weirdness to my campers as well as to my boyfriend. Now I've been spreading it to his mother! Every time I am around her she is impacted and acts really weird. (Keep in mind that I am using the word weird in the positive, standing out from the crowd, fun-crazy sort of way.) She has been apologizing for this saying, "I don't know what you do to me, but I act crazy whenever you're around! After you leave, I think, 'What came over me? Why did I act like that?' You just make me feel comfortable and act crazy!" My boyfriend pointed out that her craziness is definitely weirdness! :) ...and that I'm spreading the weirdness to her as well. This does not mean she is not weird on her own, rather that I bring out the full extent by being in her presence and of course being myself! Others have seen her act this crazy/weird in the past, but it is a consistent attitude and behavior when I'm there. I love it! I love having that kind of impact on someone! :: Allowing them to feel comfortable enough to be free, crazy, and especially weird! ::

Spreading the Weirdness

This summer I returned to camp as a camp counselor again. It was an amazing experience. God truly worked; Satan was at work as well which was quite evident, but we did prevail through the Lord's strength! My campers were a great group of ladies this year and I love them dearly. They are a very unique bunch! :)

One night I shared with them about how I LOVE being called weird and told them the whole story behind it and explained that Weird is one of the biggest compliments one could give me! The girls thought it was a great story which explained so much about me. Later they called me weird intentionally as a compliment and I was so touched; they even started using it on each other.... So now the weirdness has spread around the world as my camperinos live out their crazy wonderful lives! :D I miss them so much and am so proud of them as they seek after Christ and His call in their lives.

Now I started a new relationship with a wonderful man of God. When he talked to my dad to ask for his blessing on our relationship, Dad recounted the story of telling me I'm a Weird Welch and of people being upset when I thanked them for the compliment. My boyfriend loved the story! It's great to be surrounded by people who love me for being me, even and especially in my weirdness! <3

Idiot!

Do you ever have trouble making a decision . . .
and then once you've finally decided and taken action . . .
realized it was the WRONG choice . . .
and in that moment it's *crystal* clear????????

 

This seems to be the most sure-fire way for me to determine the right decision!

Whether you have experienced this or not, we're gonna talk about it.

 

 

 

For those of you who do not have to endure this suffering, let me explain:

Something happens that really bothers me. For the sake of explanation, let's say someone said that they actually hated my spinach puffs which I take such pride in.

 

The rest of the day I debate how to respond to this person. Do I lash out and say "How dare you pretend all this time"? Do I ignore them and never speak to them again? Do I ask if they have any suggestions for my recipe? I think back to all the times they said they loved my spinach puffs, and try to understand what this person was trying to do to me, all the possible interpretations of their actions... Anyway, this takes up all my thoughts because it bothered me so deeply.

 

Finally, I decide to place a huge pile of spinach puffs before them just to spite them and irritate them the way they irritated me, BUT once I pass the point of no return, I realize that this person is allergic to spinach. That's why they were being so polite in pretending. When they did lash out at me, they had finally become fed up with the fact that I kept trying to make them eat it!

 

Unfortunately, I already put the allergic trigger before the person and made them start swelling up, coughing, and breaking out.

 

Upside down aerobics

I love when life just erupts with craziness, like the way it did with my girls tonight after the bonfire! Following a serious bonding time, which was very emotional for some, my wonderful, energetic campers were laughing over great memories from our time together. One girl (who is 6'1") was sitting with her feet against one wall of the hallway and her back almost flat against the opposite wall. This led to other girls seeing how short they are in comparison... Somehow this made me think of this weird position that I love to chill in against the wall. Basically, I lay down with my feet up the wall and my bottom against the wall on the floor (sometimes I also lift my bottom off the floor and walk my feet further up the wall in a nice streth). I proceeded to show the girls this, and they joined in. The hardest part for all of us was simply scooting our behinds to the wall!!! :) We invented all sorts of ways to do aerobics in this position:

• swinging our legs to the opposite wall of the hallway, so our legs are horizontal over our heads
• putting one leg on each wall
• switching how we straddle the walls
• lowering our legs down the the floor to make more of a ball shape
• switching legs from touching the opposing wall to being bent at the knee over our bodies

It was such a blast; there was so much laughter! While still on our backs, we named the event Upside-Down Aerobics with Aimee! :)

Then the girls wanted me to teach them how to do proper push-ups. If you know me, you know that this is practically a dream come true for me! It was so much fun: demonstrating, explaining, correcting, and finally teaching all the variations and how to build up the "push-up muscles"!

So... I hope you all are having weird days too, as I obviously am! :D

Beginnings.

First: an explanation for this blog

I consider myself weird... I have since I was about eight years old. My family always prided itself  on being unusual, and this definitely passed down to me. Even at a young age, I loved attracting attention to myself for doing crazy things, whether it was a crazy outfit or a goofy thing I did or something surprising that I said. When I was eight, Dad told me that we are the Weird Welchs and that if someone calls me weird, my response should be "Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment!" Since it happened so long ago, I don't remember how this conversation started, but it has stuck with me. In fact for most of my life, I have been known for this phrase. This phrase, along with being weird, is almost like a trademark!

 

Anyway, this blog is dedicated to any weird thing I did or noticed or just want to blog about! Another note: the word weird is spelled a lot of weird ways at the top of this blog to represent how so many people have trouble spelling it and think that it's a weirdly spelled word. This blog is also dedicated to teaching, so I figured it's a great way to tie it in... by showing many spellings of the same word like what you would see in a second grade classroom or something. 

Second: a new chapter

Not only is this blog new to my life... I'm in an entirely new chapter of my life. In May I graduated from a nearby university, and now I'm waiting to hear about and hoping for a JOB! It's so crazy to think about that in August I will not be moving into a dorm and buying books and reliving the college life. That is all behind me now. Not to say that I will never take classes again... I will, but not in that setting. It will be part-time, as a commuter (which I always warned against... hahaha), while working full-time. Yes, indeed, my life is changing a lot!

At the end of that paragraph, I was smiling... alas, now I am not.

A thought emerged and dimmed the mood: the thought of all the friends who I usually reunite with in August. I'm not leaving a bunch of people behind (some but not most)... we are moving on, but not together. I am turning a new page and penning a new chapter and I fear the loss of some dear friends. Already tension has crept in as times changes. It is no longer so convenient to meet up. It used to be a matter of "Hey, I'm hungry and you have to eat at some point too, so let's eat together". If any of us are to hang out now, we must plan and sacrifice. It must be intentional. This will be good, because that is how you show someone you really value their friendship, but it is a change that will take quite a bit of effort and time to adjust.

I peer ahead at the blank pages of my life, so to speak, wondering what is to come. What does God have for me, even in the next few months? Who will remain a part of my life and who will fall away as we drift apart? Who will I meet? How will He use me to impact them? What opportunities will God bless me with? What challenges will I face? Will I know which job is right for me? Will I  get any job offers?  Only the Lord truly knows the answers to all these questions and those which I still dare not to utter. Now I just have to wait until He fills those pages with places, people, events, and experiences... and trust His almighty and gracious hand to provide so that I shall not lack any good thing.

Third: Go be weird!