The Beginning

Welcome, reader! Please feel free to make yourself at home. I hope you'll want to stick around a while!

Since this is my first blog, and my first blog post, I figured it'd be a good time to introduce myself. If you already know me well, feel free to skip ahead... although you never know when you might learn something new!

My name is Allison, and I'm a 29-year-old single gal living in a suburb of Atlanta. Life is comfortable here in many ways; I'm blessed to have my parents and sister living nearby, I have 2 sweet kitties that provide me a neverending supply of snuggles and soothing purrs, I have a network of friends and coworkers that I can always rely on for support and for fun, and best yet - I have a Creator that has big plans for me, and has never let me down yet! I work full-time as a 2nd grade teacher, and part-time as a certified Jazzercise instructor. Both jobs keep me very busy, but I love what I do!

So here I am, at the start of a new year. A year that, I am convinced, will be one for the record books. Or... at least worth blogging about! You see, dear reader, I have recently begun listening to the soundtrack from the Broadway musical, "Wicked," and have been greatly moved and inspired by one of its best-known songs - "Defying Gravity." (It doesn't hurt that I'm a HUGE Idina Menzel fan, either!) :-) I'll post the lyrics for you in a bit, perhaps. But I believe God has used this song to stir up in me a fresh desire to seek out the life He has planned for me. Changes are brewing, and a new confidence has been born. But I can't reveal everything in my first post, now, can I?

This is the start of something new and exciting. I can feel it! God has always worked things out for me in ways I would have never imagined, so I rest assured that as long as I keep Him in my sights, I'll be soaring higher than I ever dreamed. And who knows what shenanigans will happen along the way?

My first task for the new year is inspired by a post from a stranger on Facebook. She said she was going to create a list of 100 things she wanted to do this year. While this seems a bit daunting as a task, I am challenging myself to do the same. And guess what? You'll get to see what happens, because I'll be blogging about it as I go!

So that's me in a nutshell... if you stick around a while, I'm sure you'll learn a whole lot more. Welcome to the adventure!

"Defying Gravity" - Music & lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules
Of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes and leap!

It's time to try
Defying gravity
I think I'll try
Defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye
I'm defying gravity
And you won't bring me down

I'm through accepting limits
'Cuz someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change
But till I try, I'll never know!
Too long I've been afraid of
Losing love I guess I've lost
Well, if that's love
It comes at much too high a cost!

I'd sooner buy
Defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye
I'm defying gravity
I think I'll try
Defying gravity
And you won't bring me down

Unlimited
My future is unlimited
And I've just had a vision
Almost like a prophecy
I know - it sounds truly crazy
And true, the vision's hazy
But I swear, someday I'll be...

Flying so high!
Kiss me goodbye!

So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky!
As someone told me lately:
"Everyone deserves the chance to fly!"

I'm defying gravity!
And you won't bring me down!
Bring me down!
Bring me down!

~ Allison