Waffle Houses of the World....UNITE!

As a result of our many road trips as kids, Josh and I made a startling discovery; Every city on every Interstate Highway in the U.S. has some form of a WAFFLE HOUSE (granted this may include the famous Waffle & Steak, Huddle House, or the occasional IHOP. IHOP is not affiliated with Waffle House Inc, but falls into the same genre....or so I thought). During our 10 (which turned into 12) hour drive from Charlotte to Tampa last week, I told my 11 year old friend Sammi all about the geniuses who are Josh and Stephanie Longbrake and their brilliant decuction that Waffle House is trying to take over the world. We drove all other car occupants crazy by yelling out "Waffle House" every time we saw one on I-85, I-285, and I-75. We decided it would be worth the effort to document every Waffle House sighting on the return trip to Charlotte....and that's just what we did.
As we started our trek back to North Carolina, we kept a tally of each Waffle House along the way. In just the northern half of Florida we spotted 11 Waffle Houses along I-75. We stopped to eat lunch in Georgia at a, you guessed it, WAFFLE HOUSE.
***Disclaimer***I have always equated places like these with the Denny's in Fort Wayne. I now must send my apologies to Ryan Pfister (the only former Denny's employee I know) for having the audacity to compare such establishments!
***Yet another Disclaimer***Ryan is not the employee pictured. Any resemblance to "Bert the Diner Guy" is merely coincidental
Back to the story...I have learned that the only safe meal to order at a WH is a waffle and perhaps the occasional hashbrown. I did not order such a meal, and I paid the consequence by sacrificing that meal. There was however, a treasure to be found at this particular WH. The cashier's counter was fully stocked with Waffle House literature, including a listing of all continental Waffle Houses to be found off of Interstate highways! This made our data much more accurate and verified! There was an emotional time when we couldn't find the WH listed at exit 104, but we powered through. We were even surprised by the marvelous gift of a WH not mentioned on our map! I was able to encourage car riders that even though we weren't seeing WH's at a particular moment, we only had 10 miles to travel until our fears would be relieved. We even used our WH map to navigate our way home to Charlotte.
I find myself now searching all exits for a Waffle House, even though our experiment is through. It is as if my eyes have a mind of their own, and their hunger won't be fulfilled until they spot those beautiful black block letters on that stylish yellow background.
I believe and am stating it now that Waffle House is trying to take over the United States of America!
**Evidence**
1. You find them at 98% of the exits off major Interstate highways
2. You find yourself using Waffle House maps instead of Rand McNally to navigate trips
3. When eating at a Waffle House, you find yourself never wanting to eat eggs again
4. You start to hallucinate Waffle Houses into existence.

I have to say that I'm scared to get in the car. I'm scared to drive on the highway. I'm just plain scared.

Everything I Need to Know I learned at Friday's?

Honestly, I did learn a whole lot about myself and others by working at Friday's. It was the first time where I was surrounded by people who needed to hear the TRUTH. I was the polar opposite of most people I encountered there. Knowing me, I was very stand-offish and nervous to talk to anyone because I was afraid they'd make fun of me. What is this, Junior High? Most people blew me off for the first couple of months....except one.

We couldn't be more different. Religion, upbringing, hobbies (or addictions), philosophies, friends, education, life experience... no one would have ever matched us as friends. It was not anything I pursued, but this became one of the most honest friendships I have ever experienced.

There are two enormous things I have learned lately while considering this random, raw, and real friendship. Here is one:

This last week, my nameless friend has been in Alabama using his spring break to help with hurricane relief. This is not in his nature; he's more of a 'if it benefits me, then I'll do it' kind of guy. I got so excited about how this trip might affect him. Would he come home more humble? Servant-hearted? Thankful? Would this affect his religious thoughts? He's such a dynamic person; if he were a Christ-follower I have confidence that he would change his world for Christ (and I don't mean that in the cliche way we're all used to hearing it). Multiple times this week I've thought how amazing it would be to watch him be passionate about the truth. And then I realized that this must be the way God looks at and thinks about me.

"If only Stephanie were as passionate about ME as she is about singing/acting/etc... there are so many things I want to show her and parts of Myself I want to reveal to her." Why did I think I have arrived at some spiritual plateau, as if there are not HUGE areas in need of improvement?

I'm trying to find words that conclude these thoughts, but maybe they need to be left open...

Where in the World is Carman Sandiego?

Do you remember that kid game show on PBS? It was on after school. Three kids would use clues to search for Carman around the world. Also there was an a capella quartet (only the music nerds enjoyed that part...myself probably being the ringleader) that would interject random songs, turning the game show into a musical! Anyway, Carman would be in some new, exotic and exciting city that changed EVERY DAY!

In a very small way, I am following her fictitious footsteps. Since I have decided to change jobs, I have felt so much freedom. During a road trip this weekend, I asked my step-mom why I was limiting myself to staying around the city where I grew up. We started to brainstorm about where I might want to live. Everything became so fresh and exciting, as if my life was opening up in front of me for the first time. I could barely sleep that night; an adventure was starting.

I was nervous to move to a new city by myself, especially since I'm thinking CITIES here, as in a bustling metropolis. A friend's name kept appearing in my mind. I didn't know what was going on in her life, but I had a drive to do this adventure thing with her. I saw her on Monday, dying to ask her what was going on in her life. She beat me to it; I only shared the bare minimum. She then told me about HER recent musings about moving away to a big city. She was nervous to do it alone........ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?

As a sidenote I must stop and ask this: why am I surprised by God? Of course He orchestrates things like this...HE'S GOD!

Right now we have no set destination. I can't wait to figure out where God will help us go. I'm not sure He's going to lead to a specific place; I have a thought that He gives many options in this kind of situation. It's not as if He is one place and we are moving to another...again, HE'S GOD!

If you have any input as to where I should spend the next season of life geographically or otherwise, I'm receiving all opinions!