This is harder than it looks

Well, here we are. Rachel Jane and I have finally bitten the bullet and started a blog. We’ve been talking about it for ages. Actually, we’ve been talking about it for about ten months — but that seems like ages in post-grad years.

We first came up with the idea in a place where Rachel and I come up with many ideas: a table at Joe’s Coffee Shop in Irving.

it’s very inspiring

If you haven’t gone there and live in Irving… well, you’re probably not reading this blog. Never mind. Anyway, that’s where we came up with the idea. We had probably had too much coffee, so we were very enthusiastic.

Originally, we were going to start two blogs, but when they didn’t happen and didn’t happen, we finally decided that the best way would be to get together and tag-team. So here we are! To start off, here’s a short list of reasons we each wanted to blog (as much to remind ourselves as to tell you), and please remember: this is harder than it looks.

Rules and Reasons:

1. I (Teresa) wanted to blog for several reasons. One of those reasons is I love stories. Who doesn’t. But I mean, I really love stories. So does Rachel. I think the first time I started loving the story of my own life, or even looking at my own life as a story, was during a semester studying abroad in Rome, through the University of Dallas Rome program.

The semester was really hyped up at UD. Some might say unjustly so. I mean, Rome is cool and all, but as my Mom always says (get used to reading that she’s a freaking genius): wherever you go, there you are. And Rome doesn’t change that. That being said, I expected it to — change me, I mean. And so I entered the semester looking everywhere around me for that Thing, that Rome Thing that everyone talks about, that changes you.

This attitude was compounded by some advice given to us by our literature teacher there, Dr. Greg Roper, who told us on the first day of class, “An inconvenience rightly considered is an adventure,” or something like that. He was quoting G.K. Chesterton, and his point was (I think) to make us realize that even though yes we were going to be rained on and lost and in danger and hungry and lost, that was all part of the experience.

I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Everything around me became The Rome Thing. I mean, I really did embrace the rain and hunger and missed trains (for the most part), and they became part of my very own exciting Rome Story.

Sorry, I’m not sure if I’m getting my point across here, but what I’m trying to say is that in the end… the hype was true. Rome does change everything. When you are studying in Rome

(or maybe just on the Due Santi campus, because there really is something magical about it)

 you are the very same person, yes, but you begin to look at that person differently and the normal, everyday inconveniences that you might face in the States become colorful Italian adventures.

If you’re lucky, like Rachel and I were, when you come back, that stays the same. Your life has been transformed into a story and your inconveniences into adventures, and you can’t forget it. Except you can. When you graduate. And suddenly the inconveniences are things like not knowing what to do with your life and being lonely and not understanding politics and all sorts of adult worries that aren’t very adventurous at all (you really could go for those missed Italian (or British) trains after a while). Then it’s hard to remember. So you blog.

Or we do. Anyway that’s why I want to blog — to remember that my life, your life, our lives are all stories that are a thousand times better than the stories you read in books or see on the screen or hear, because they’re written by the First Storyteller, and they’ve never been told before.

Okay Rachel’s turn:

2. Alright, can I just say “What she said” and leave it at that? Probably not. Oh dear. Here goes: I do actually mean “what she said” … (Teresa says, “Not to be confused with ‘That’s what she said'”).Anyways, that is part of the joy of the shared experience and experiences of Rome. And college. And High School. 9 times out of 10, after we talk, I feel like we have just spent an hour or 4 agreeing with each other. Which isn’t exactly true. That is what I love about our conversations and conversations in general.

So I guess if Reesa’s theme is stories, mine is conversations. (Which is strange, because most of my posts here are probably going to be about books, or movies… maybe songs. Mostly movies.) However, that is because only in discussing these stories do I end up finding or remembering that perspective that was granted us in Rome. Sometimes on weighty and important stuff. Like God. Other times not so much… a conversation on the rival merits of top 40 artists springs to mind. What am I actually trying to say?

Mostly, I am trying to say that I hope that this blog serves as that kind of conversation. For me and for Teresa, and hopefully for whichever brave souls end up deciding to read this. (I am sorry in advance for my very long sentences. I am working on it. See?). SO COMMENT! PLEASE!  But bear in mind that most of these are not finished thoughts. Believe me when I say, we know that. That is eve one of the reasons we chose this layout – because it didn’t look too polished and finished. Also because it was pretty.

OK. Enough. New number.

3.  (Teresa now. We need to use different fonts? Or something?) Actually I think in general we’ll have different posts entirely. Which brings me to my next point. ALTHOUGH we have suggested in the previous two number bullets that our purposes and experiences are, in fact, related and that this is why we have chosen to blog together, this is not always going to be the case. Again: we’re blogging together because we’re lazy.

(We didn’t even mean to match here. Truth.)

If and when a common theme appears between our blogs, consider it a happy accident. We reserve the right to always and forever write on totally different things in totally different ways and for all intents and purposes ignore the fact that this is a joint blog. Got it? Good!

4. (Still Teresa. Is this throwing you off? See the “About Me” section, in which I mention that Rachel doesn’t like introductions — a charming quirk!) Another reason I wanted to start a blog was I wanted a place where I could write — simple as that. I’d like to eventually make money doing it, and guess what to do that you have to be good. And the only way to get good is to do it. So there you are.

This is a very long post now. Consider it an introduction. That’s the beauty of starting your own blog. Your thoughts. Your rules. No arguing. Okay there can be arguing, but please no arguing. I don’t like conflict. Rachel does. You can argue with her.

If you made it through this whole post (or even part of it), thank you. I’m happy to have finally started writing, and I hope we continue for a long, long time.

xo

Reesa & Rachel