"Is that Sufjan Stevens?"

This Sunday ranks among the best Sundays ever. For me at least. Here's a rundown.

• 11:00 wake up with Monk sprawled out on a good 3/4 of the bed. Winter is approaching, which means he starts feeling entitled to share the bed. This is not good.
  
• 11:30 Toast, coffee and a protein shake, read various papers online.
• 1:00 Met a group of friends at You Say Tomato. This could easily be my new favorite Kansas City restaurant. YST is one of those businesses you just know will make it. They haven't advertised, but have filled the chairs from extremely positive word of mouth and some well-earned press.
• 3:00 Sat outside and played guitar, then read The History of Love. One of the most well-written books I've ever read. My friend Sara sent this my way on Friday and I've been reading it since.
  
• 5:30 Went to church, which is always great. Tonight I served communion - one of my favorite things to do - and as I found my place up front, our band started playing what I thought was Sufjan Stevens' "To Be Alone With You." I looked up on the screen and yes, it was Sufjan. This is a pretty artsy, musical church, but Sufjan during communion? Then I listened to the words - of a song I'd played numerous times - and realized it was a very non-secular song. It was one of those experiences that seemed perfect.
  
• 8:00 I joined four friends to run a very cold and wet 11 miles. We're getting ready for the Gobbler Grind and this was our peak in preparation for next weekend's half. I love these people and we knocked out a quick 11, filled with a ton of hills, in no time, laughing the entire way.

Excuse the self-absorbed lack-of-a-point post. I guess I'm allotted one every once in a while. It's my blog and all.

Oh - Blogger has a new Beta version up...I'm using it now. Allows for some better templates and labels. It's alright...forces you to log out of Gmail when you're in Blogger though. That's a not-so-well-thought-out process.

Here are the lyrics I spoke of. You really need to hear the song to appreciate the meaning.

Artist: Sufjan Stevens
Album: Seven Swans
Year: 2004
Title: To Be Alone With You


I'd swim across lake Michigan
I'd sell my shoes
I'd give my body to be back again
In the rest of the room

To be alone with you
To be alone with you
To be alone with you
To be alone with you

You gave your body to the lonely
They took your clothes
You gave up a wife and a family
You gave your goals

To be alone with me
To be alone with me
To be alone with me
You went up on a tree

To be alone with me you went up on the tree

I'll never know the man who loved me