I Miss Ben

I don’t have much to say about this. I just miss my brother today. I do. I would like him to live closer.



I miss his hugs.
I miss the way his voice gets high when he laughs.
I miss the crinkles he gets in the corners of his eyes when he smiles.
I miss the one raised eyebrow he gets when I say something he thinks is dumb.



I miss his ability to follow my ridiculous jokes that don't make sense to anyone else. Also, our shared love for doing impressions of other people.


I miss his guitar. I miss his skateboard. I miss his crazy boot camp stories.

I miss his fashion sense. For real. The dude knows how to shop.



I miss his doodling and tattoo designs all over everything. I miss his insanely loud music and eclectic taste.



I miss the way he can make my mom laugh. 
I miss him a lot.
Who do you miss today?
love, elizabeth

PS: Benjamin, I stole pictures off your Instagram for this post. Sorry. Not.

making with the adventure

This blog was always supposed to be about adventure. And lately, I’ve been feeling even less adventurous than usual.

But then I spotted this on my brother’s Instagram and smiled so big. Apparently, he and his friend noticed this place through a Google search and decided to go ghost hunting. I love when I see little glimpses of myself in my brother because most of the time, we seem so different. But this is totally something I would do.

So thanks, Ben, for renewing a sense of adventure in your sister. I’m going to make it a point to see something haunted this fall (it IS on my bucket list, after all).

AND I’m doing a little blog re-vamping…what do you think?

love, elizabeth

Periphery: the colorado massacre

“Elizabeth, I’m really sorry to wake you up but I think you need to see this,” Kyle’s hand was on my arm and I shot up in bed and stared at the clock. 6 AM.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, my heart already in my throat. I texted my brother in a blind panic: “Ben, please tell me you didn’t go to the Dark Knight premiere.”

“I didn’t. But I know about the shooting.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too, sis.”

I don’t like to be one of those people that jumps on a tragedy bandwagon.This horrible thing is not about me. It didn’t happen to me. It didn’t even happen near me. Physically. And it’s like my dad says, there is no safer place than the arms of God.

And yet I find myself somehow in the periphery of the mass shooting in Colorado today since it happened about five minutes from my parents’ home, the home I grew up in, at the movie theater I visited almost weekly in junior high and high school. I am so thankful that the people I know who live and work near that theater are safe. I am thankful for the law enforcement and emergency crew who responded to the scene. I am thankful that they have the shooter in custody.  I am thankful for God’s mercy.

But I am shaken. I spent so much time in that particular theater. I took my brother to a midnight showing of the first Batman movie there a number of years ago. I had my first real date there. I held hands with a boy for the first time in that movie theater. Even now, I can see the inside of that building in my head. I know the layout, the feeling of that carpet under my feet, even which games are in the corner arcade. I was there just two weeks ago.

The pain of this for people who were there, who had loved ones there…that has to be unbearable. For me, it’s just on the edges of my mind where I can’t really see it in focus. Watching the coverage on the television and seeing that Century 16 sign, I just can’t even process it. I can’t read any more about it. I don’t want to see pictures. I don’t want to hear the 9-1-1 calls or look at the mug shot of James Holmes who is my age and a PhD student and I don’t want to see it or know it.

I guess I’m just sad. It’s staggering how far away “hitting close to home” can actually be.

love, elizabeth

Vacation Day Three: My Dream House

I have never been to heaven so I can’t exactly verify this but…I have it on good authority that it looks a lot like the Outerbanks. If you’ve never been, I want you to drop whatever you’re doing right now, get in your car, and head east. Or west. Or…whatever direction gets you closer to Cape Hatteras because it literally might be my favorite place in the entire universe. What am I saying?? Uh, forget about Hatteras. It’s mine. GO AWAY. When Kyle and I move there, we will live in a house that looks like this.



And I will do nothing but float around in gauzy white linen with a glass of chardonnay in my hand and voice-over narrate my life story with a Fray song playing in the background. It will be a simpler life.



Please just appreciate this sign with me. I kept looking for Richard Gere.



The tallest lighthouse in North America. Bam.





Ladies and gentlemen…my brother, the American Eagle model.




My beach love-note to Kyle.





Mom and Ben practically had to carry me off the OBX (oh yeah, I call it the OBX now. Because I’m cool like that). I am not even a little bit kidding when I say that I looked up available rentals for about half an hour before I remembered that I have to finish graduate school in Ohio. So…way to squash THAT dream, universe.

Where would you live if you could live anywhere?

Check out this chance for some free blog advertising, if you're interested.

love, elizabeth

Vacation Day Two: At Ease, Marine

So day two of the trip, we drove from Wilmington to Jacksonville where my brother is stationed. But not without our morning coffee…



Ben has been deployed for the last year and I have missed him so, so much. So nice to see him back on U.S. soil.



The day was particularly special because it was Mom’s birthday. Look how pretty she is…



After a few excruciating hours at the DMV switching titles and registration for Benjamin’s car, we took a local recommendation for a little Caribbean restaurant called Elsa’s.



The food was saltier than I’m used to but I loved all the fresh vegetables and rice!



Ben escorted us on base and we got a peek inside his barracks. I realize Marines are pretty much required to be neat and orderly but it was still a shock to see his room so clean. He played and sang a few songs for us, too, and it made me pretty nostalgic for our childhood. Sometimes I just stare at him and can’t believe how grown up he is.



But then I see his dirty combat boots and I remember that not only is he an adult now but he’s in a dangerous and demanding line of work. Not going to lie…I got a little choked up when I saw these.



And his dress cover which I think is just so pretty. He rolled his eyes at me but I got him to put it on for about thirty seconds that afternoon.



It was about a four hour drive to Cape Hatteras that night but soooo worth it. Can’t wait to show you THOSE pictures on Monday!

If you have siblings, are you ever just blown away by their talents and abilities? Ben never ceases to amaze me.

love, elizabeth

For My Brother

I don’t have the emotional wherewithal to say what I really am feeling right now. Instead, I thought I’d post a few pictures of my brother and ask that you keep him in your thoughts and prayers as he deploys to places unknown (to us, anyway). My heart is with him and with the loved ones of all marines, soldiers, sailors, and pilots.

		Ben VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

May God send His angels to watch over them and keep them safely in His arms. Amen.