Coast to Coast

Hey y'all! I'm actually back in North Carolina :(  Holy moly is it a hot one (well, in comparison to what I'm used to!!) I got back a few days ago from my trip with Aaron. After a flight, 2000 miles, a left turn, another 600 miles, and a right turn we ended up in Seattle to move Aaron into his place for the summer. Then another flight backtracked me to my starting place at good old RDU.

I got to spend two days with the family before Aaron picked me up for our trip. A little brother/sister time, a haircut from the Auntie, breakfast with the grandparents, getting pampered by the other grandparents, and of course time with my Annie <3 That little pup never left my side. Even sleeping, we managed to both fit on the couch (a little squished with an 80 pound lap dog). So in a nutshell, it was a flurry of "Megan is home! We need to see her and ask her a thousand questions about climbing!" and some tail wags.

Look at this cutie pie.

Aaron picked me up, met the family, and then we headed to Byron, MN to spend the night with his family. By the way, his mom makes the best cookies and muffins so we had plenty to snack on during our long days of driving. Then it was hitting I-90 for 10 hours to get to Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Damn is South Dakota boring to drive through. Set the cruise at 84 and let's go. We camped for the night, had a nice fire, and had a few beers. Next morning we headed to the Tower. Luckily (and somehow miraculously) we were the first people to get to Durrance. We geared and racked up and went for it. Five pitches, a few hundred feet, a busted knuckle or two, scratched shins, screaming toes, and a bonk to the noggin we reached the top. I felt like I could see all of Wyoming! I also made a fool out of myself by talking about the "zen stones." Little did I know they were actually called "cairns" and they are actually directional markers. That is one way to impress your man. Then we rappelled down and hit the road again.

Durrance is on the left

yeah, i climbed that.

 Next day we finished the drive to Grand Teton National Park. We rented crampons and an ice axe for me - I'm a professional at mountaineering now (bahaha). We set up camp, hid our food from the wildlife, and went bouldering. It started raining so we went back and put on rain gear and took a little walk around Jenny Lake. We had an early night since we were getting up early to ascend the Middle Teton. The next morning he made breakfast and lunch as I disassembled the tent (teamwork at it's best). We shoved everything back into his car - which is rather impressive may I say - and headed for the trail. 

Let me pause and give a little disclaimer: The year before when Aaron and his friend did the exact same thing, they didn't hit snow until they were 4 miles into the 7.5 mile ascent. This year we hit snow right from the parking lot. Oh, and Aaron is Mr. Nature Man with the appropriate gear and I am Miss Trying-To-Keep-Up-To-Aaron-On-A-Mountain with inappropriate gear. And guess what, I would do it again (once I have the right stuff).

Middle Teton

Pretty pretty.

 So we hit snow right off the parking lot. But it wasn't even, flat snow; it was snow here and there, some melted, some icy. There was a lot postholes happening. Posthole is a word I quickly learned the meaning of when my foot randomly sunk through the snow. If there is one way I could travel the world, it would be by postholes (many other would agree). We got going for awhile, took a little break to take off layers and fuel up. After some slipping and sliding on my end, Aaron gave me my ice axe and a walking pole to me upright. Soon after it was crampon time for me. In Aaron's words they were supposed to make me feel like a spider. I felt like I was supposed to be in Monster's Inc with my claw feet. Anyways, we kept going for awhile, taking small breaks until we made it to Garnet Canyon. We decided that the rate we were going at wasn't going to be quick enough to make it to the summit by our turn around time (mainly because I was basically I clumsy small child that was slower than molasses in January). You would think going down is easier than going up right? Maybe if I was a polar bear sure. I learned many things that day
:
1- I still don't really enjoy snow.
2- I'm a wuss when it comes to the cold.
3- I don't have the right mountaineering equipment (especially the boots).
4- Crampons do make you feel like a spider.
5- I am very terrible at glacading.
6- I require more water than a normal human being
7- Aaron thinks it's hilarious watching me glacade (and probably got bored waiting for me).
8- I want to do it again (after better preparation of course).

If I was smarter, I would have taken my own picture of the Teton Range. But I didn't.

Chinese food after that was delicious. We ate in Jackson (Mom, this is where we went for our family vacation whatever year that was). We started our drive towards Castle Rocks in Idaho. Unfortunately, we didn't go climbing there :(  We were running short on time to get to Portland (we could have gotten to Portland a day later and gone climbing but we didn't). 

Anyways, I'll leave it at this for now. I'll tell y'all about the second half of our trip a little later :) let's just say I would do anything to be back there right now again. 

So this is a cairn. Looks like zen stones to me!

One Step Closer

Good afternoon cutie pies! How is the world treating you today? I hope lovely as can be :)  I am sitting in a beautiful 86F with a gentle breeze in the shade near a bunch of plants - imagine that! So...I'm just enjoying the beautiful spring/summer time and forgetting about the last semester. Let's just say I will have much much much much much better classes this upcoming semester and they are ones I actually want to be in and not some bull-crap classes I've already taken at Madison but need to retake because the ones at State are "graduate level courses that will advance my knowledge of the topic." At least I'm not paying tuition!!

This is right up my alley. If I move to Portland, I am becoming a part of this!

 The last time I posted was the day before my final. I'm not sure what I got on it but all I know it was enough to raise my grade to an A. This semester I managed to crank out a 4.0 so I can't complain about that! Next semester I have 2 crop science courses which will ACTUALLY help me in the future. Hold on, I forget not all y'all know what my game plan is. Here is a quick overview of PlantPath Girl's life gameplan:

1 - get my M.S. of Plant Pathology

2 - get the heck out of Raleigh

3 - get a crop consulting job at a vineyard or orchard

4 - move to aforementioned job in Portland or Seattle (clarification of 2)

5 - please note that these are in no particular order besides the fact that I need to be in Raleigh to get my M.S. :)

6 - climb, climb, climb, run, kayak, climb, climb, climb

Rooftop gardens keep the building cooler in summer, warmer in winter, prevent runoff and water pollution, and are appealing to the eyes! GO BROOKLYN!

Basically, these crop science courses will be very valuable to me. For crop consulting, I need to know that plant just as well as the pathogen. Getting a second Master's in plant biology or argroecology would be very helpful for my future career. That is why I'm taking crop physiology and crop ecology next semester along with presenting my research at seminar and starting to write a thesis.

Okay, enough with the stupid school stuff. Let's chat about more fun things. Like climbing. A few of my dear climbing friends have moved away for summer internships or whatnot leaving me only with 2 or 3 climbing partners. We try to sneak out of Raleigh every weekend but the weather is just not cooperating with us! It stormed everywhere but Raleigh yesterday thus leaving us in Raleigh and itching to go climbing. But that's okay, we just went to TRC and cranked out 21 climbs in roughly 1.5 hours. So that's good. But now I want to go climbing sooooooo badly. Good thing Aaron and I have a nice long trip ahead of us :)

Urban farming can look beautiful as well as be productive. I highly recommend reading up on urban farming!

So yup, I will be in the Elkhart Lake and Plymouth vicinity very soon. On Thursday morning, I fly out of Raleigh and will land in Milwaukee around 2pm local time. Kiddo and Momma are picking me up and having an Easter egg hunt, birthday/mother's day celebration and have a splendid time because their dear, precious, darling Megan is home! Then I will go to Papa's and hang out with him and Little Annie on Friday/Saturday morning. Of course, I have to go surprise Gma and Granddad Meyers!! Rough-house with Tank some more, make sure I have all of my stuff packed, throw Annie's kong around, and soak in the nice hot Wisconsin air! Then Aaron and I are somehow meeting up and our trip begins! You know, my time at home wasn't planned out or anything. They didn't even know I was coming home ;)

Upcycling (recycling-ish) reuses materials for different purposes than their original purpose. Here 2L soda bottles are reused as planters in a vertical garden. Useful and not wasteful.

I will fill y'all in with more details when I get back from my trip with Aaron! I will be staying with Peter and Alissa in Portland for a day or two and I'm so excited to see them!! Anyways, I'm peacing out and will let y'all know about my trip!! Be safe my flowers!!

Use all your available space. That means growing up (vertical beds) as well as out!

Here We Go Again!

Well hello there you little cutie-pies! I hope y'all are having a wonderful spring day. I would love to say that it is a beautiful and sunny 75. I would love to say I will be out studying by the lake with a gentle breeze. I would love to say it is a wonderful spring day. It is quite the contrary. As much as I love rain, I don't like this pissy rain. If it's going to rain, then pour and give me some boomers!! Maybe I'm a little cranky because of finals and data analysis not really going as planned.

On a much happier note, David and I left Raleigh in the dust this past weekend. We decided that Asheville, NC would be a much better place to hang out for the weekend. And guys, Asheville stole my heart. Holy moly. Asheville reminded me of Madison sooooooo much :) :(  It felt so good to find my slice of paradise in North Carolina!! Except that Asheville is about 4 hours away. Way to rain on my parade - good thing I have an umbrella :D

It's okay Mr. Boulder, I didn't like that layer of skin anyways. 

When we first got to the Asheville area, we went to Rumbling Bald to do some bouldering. And by some bouldering, I mean 1.5 hours worth before the state park closed. Then we cruised on up to Asheville and ate at the Laughing Seed where it was all vegetarian which I greatly appreciated! Then we took a quick peek at the climbing gym across the street. As for sleeping arrangements, we laid out the crash pads in the back of David's car and did some car camping.

The next day we wandered around Asheville awhile, discovered I left my credit card somewhere, retrieved it, did some more bouldering and Rumbling Bald, and started the drive toward Pilot. More car camping. Drove to Pilot Mountain, did a decent 5.9 lead, got irritated because it was super packed and hot, hiked back to the car, drove home, showered, got groceries, and started the task of studying for finals. Please note how little I will talk about studying for finals and focus on the fun aspects of ditching Raleigh.

Anyways, my final is tomorrow morning and I should probably get back to studying for that for a bit before I hang out a TRC for a few hours. Because that is what the cool kids do. So yup; enjoy some climbing pictures!

Must. Escape. Now...

Hey y'all. So, as you may have guessed I've been a little on the busy side. Between research, family visiting, awesome field trips for permaculture, going climbing at RRG again with Aaron, working on group projects, building stuff with bamboo, and drinking vast amounts of coffee. And by vast amounts, I mean a cup a day :)

First off, field trips in grad school are the bomb-diggity. I'm taking a class called Permaculture: Sustainable Living. Basically, this course is one of my passions in life and I really looked forward to that class! The first field trip was to Larry's Beans. It is a small coffee bean processing plant near downtown Raleigh. I was really excited to learn about this side of coffee; when I was in Guatemala I learned all about the growing and plant pathogen side. But besides learning about the processing and distribution, I discovered how sustainable and off-the-grid a company could actually be.

Larry's Beans is a Fair-Trade organization  (http://fairtradeusa.org/). Basically, the growers get more money because the middle man/"coyotes" are eliminated. It is also a social benefit. Just go to the website and read it. Fair Trade is a really cool thing! Also, check out Larry's Beans (https://www.larrysbeans.com/) because they are awesome and have delicious coffee to drink.

So Larry's Beans is mostly run on solar power and only is "on-the-grid" because of some weird law about businesses needing to be on the power grid. LAME. The vast majority of their water comes from rain. They have an underground 8,000 gallon storage container that fills up in about 10 minutes during a thunderstorm. All of this water lasts them like 7 months! They also had a vermicompost bin! I am getting too excited to type. This place blew my mind. Everything about the building design (maximum natural light, rain water gathering, big windows and doors to minimize air/heating, and layout) flowed so well together and felt comfortable. If y'all are in Raleigh, you need to check this place out. You won't regret it I promise!!!

The other field trip was to Piedmont Biofuels. I've been to a few biofuel companies but this place was so different from the rest! They had experimental gardens surrounding the operation, had an aquaculture experiment thing, and an aquaponics system. Again, they made the buildings more sustainable with big windows for light, barely needed electricity, had their own solar panels, and cool funky building designs. I'll post some pictures.

Then Dad and Kiddo came to visit!! It was soooo good to see them again. It kind of sucked that I had class and couldn't hang out with them as much as I wanted to. Dad played around on my car (Kati), I showed them what I do in lab when there is no field work to do, enjoyed the beautiful weather, and ate a lot of food. I have never had a gourmet breakfast for that many days in a row thanks to my wonderful little brother :)  I took Dad and Kiddo climbing at TRC and they totally rocked it (get it?). I really love showing my family members my slice of paradise and my escape from the city. Plus, climbing is such a good workout and is super addicting! Try it once or twice. I dare you.

Jason is belayed certified at my gym :)

When Dad and Kiddo started the journey from the 919 to the 920, I left for Kentucky. Y'all will never guess where I was headed! Yup, I was going back to The Red to meet up with Aaron to crush some rocks. I got on a bunch of the climbs I wanted to, practiced some trad climbing - Aaron even let me place a cam or two, and found a few projects to conquer!! Aaron also finished some of his projects as well - that feeling is incredible. Climber's high?

Climbs I did:

Mercy Miss Percy - 5.9 lead
Sunshine? - 5.9+ lead
Tissue Tiger - 5.12b (more like attempted with assistance)
Face Up to That Crack - 5.8- lead (and placed two cams...well kind of)
Mr. Bungle - 5.8+ lead
Brother Stair - 5.9 lead
Environmental Impact - 5.7 trad (I cleaned)
Central Scrutinizer - 5.9 trad (I cleaned)
Pogue Ethics - 5.9+ lead
Cindarella [is a b*tch] - 5.9 lead
Boltergeist - 5.10b lead
Preemptive Strike - 5.10c toprope
International Route of Pancakes - 5.8 lead (not worth your time)
The Bee's Business - 5.7 lead
Trundling Kentucky? - 5.7 lead
Send Me on My Way - 5.9- lead (SUPER AWESOME!!)
Return of the Manimal - 5.10d toprope (ALSO SWEET TO CLIMB!)

Projects:
Cindarella - get it clean!
Boltergeist - get through the crux without falling!
Preemptive Strike - try on lead :)
Return on the Manimal - try on lead as well!
Critters on the Cliff (5.10d) - never attempted but looked cool

The arboretum had beautiful flowers!

As always, climbing was a success. It was pretty great to climb with Aaron again. But reality got kicked in the face when I got back to Raleigh and had to spend my days, afternoons, and nights in the lab. Talk about making me cranky! At least that part of lab work is done so I can finally get onto the next step and add some variety to my days. I get bored way too easily to work in a lab. Give me a field where nothing is the same two days in a row!!!

Now, the semester is officially over so I must start studying for the final exam for PP 707. I finished my other final projects for various classes. But right now, I need to sleep and not wake up for a long few hours!

Back to Reality

Hey y'all! This bipolar weather is starting to get rather irritating. Don't go from 80 degrees to snowing a day and a half later. PICK A TEMPERATURE!! Anyways,  spring break was last week and a few of us decided to get back to reality. If y'all know me at all, you know that reality does not involve sky scrapers, lab/work, or seeing people who aren't nature geeks.

First things first. The first weekend in March, Aaron came to visit! I think he appreciated the weather (which was a beautiful mid 60s most of the time)! After getting him from the airport, we went to TRC to get a solid climbing session in and he could meet my climbing friends and they could meet him. He also met one of the kids on Team who loves to attach herself to my hip. Dear Kelly needed to show off how strong she was by carrying me around (which worked well for me). She's a darling.

I took him to my favorite places around Raleigh, took a hike around Lake Johnson in the sunshine, asked each other philosophical questions, found another wine to enjoy, introduced him to my beloved friend Emma and her boyfriend, and just enjoyed his company. This is when we weren't talking about our climbing trips or my trip to Seattle and Portland this summer.

Then he left. I ran into lab for a few hours, packed my car full of climbing gear, and tried not to get too excited. The next day, David, Patrick, and I got in the car and drove to Red River Gorge. We did a night climb the first night we got there. We also managed to get lost a few times trying to get to the crags. Maybe we are just bad at reading the guide book? 

Chica Bonita Wall?

Anyways, we were all over the place - which was fantastic. I finally got to do my first lead climb outside :D  We did a lot of wandering around trying to find the crag, climbed a bunch of routes, usually ended up climbing in the dark, last ones to leave the crag, had lots of pizza from Miguel's, and had a few chilly nights in the tents. It was one of the best spring breaks I've had. Mainly because I got to see Aaron, went climbing at The Red, and didn't have to go to lab for a week. Coming back to civilization was difficult. My lights seemed too bright, not everyone was a climber, and there wasn't rocks to climb everywhere. I slept on my floor for a night or two to slowly transition back to society. So when I say "Back to Reality" y'all know I'm not talking about skyscrapers, work, people, and cars - I'm talking about crags and mountains.

My favorite place and drink while at RRG

I have to be artsy sometimes. Also, I learned if I want hundreds of photos per climb taken, just hand your camera to David. He will get every shot from every angle. Therefore, I decided a picture of climbing shoes would be sweet.

Here's a list of the climbs that I did. Patrick and David did more (I got really sick one day and couldn't be bothered to move). David got on Pure Imagination (5.14c) and clipped the second bolt and was on his was to the third. AND I MISSED IT! Guess that means I'll just have to drag him to RRG again with me someday soon :)

David on Pogue Ethics - by the way, Aaron knows one of the guys who did the First Ascent on this route!

Panda Bear (5.8) Animal Crackers Wall
Sam (5.10b) Animal Crackers Wall
Riki Tiki Tavi (5.8) Animal Crackers Wall
One Armed Bandit (5.9) Boneyard
Dance of the Druids (5.9) The Hideout
Pogue Ethics (5.9+) Phantasia Wall
Creature Feature (5.9) Phantasia Wall
Lord of the Flies (5.8) Phantasia Wall
Overlord (5.10b) Phantasia Wall
Mary Pop-Parazzi (5.5) Chica Bonita Wall

Patrick on Pogue Ethics

ONES I WILL DO THE NEXT TIME I GO:
*Cindarella
*Boltergeist
*Brown Eyed Girl
*Baby Blue Eyes
*To Defy the Laws of Tradition
*Sugar Rush
*Oompa

Me on Pogue Ethics - I highly recommend this climb:)

Elephant in the Room

It's been uneventful - well, for the most part. Actually, that's a lie. I've been bouncing around lately and I love it. In case if you forgot, I have problems sitting still for very long. I'm an active sleeper - ask anybody who has spent a night in the same bed as me.

This is why I need Annie to come visit me :(

First things first. Last Wednesday through Saturday was my department's recruitment weekend. We had 7 recruits come and visit - one of which was a classmate from Madison!! We can never have too many Badgers in the Triangle! I picked up a recruit from the airport (after sitting there waiting for 2 hours because of delays) Wednesday night. Me and a few other grad students had breakfast with them on Thursday and Friday morning (free food? I'm there). Then Friday night, we all had dinner at the Mellow Mushroom :)

The other exciting news is that I ended up in the hospital Thursday night. I had been battling a fever and other symptoms all week and my body finally had enough and decided it would be fun to faint. Y'all know me. I almost never take medicine so me deciding it was time to go visit the doctors...you know it was bad. Thankfully, I have some of the sweetest friends in the universe. David took me into the hospital and stayed with me the whole time. Emma, bless her heart, still is offering to help me out in any way I need it. No worries, it was just the flu. THE FLU. I haven't gotten the flu since I like a toddler or something. Apparently my body didn't know what to do so it freaked out. No worries, I'm back into running and climbing. The only thing that isn't up to par is my laughing. I laugh which then turns into a terrible coughing up a lung fit. Hopefully that disappears soon!

Pushing that aside, let's talk about the meaning of "Om mani padme hum." It is sometimes called the compassion or Chenrezig's mantra. Most of y'all have heard of it and have probably said it once or twice without knowing what it really means. Om mani padme hum is a 6 syllable mantra: om ma-ni pad-me hum. Each syllable has a very deep meaning and purification.

OM: think of giving love/time. Purifies ignorance of true mind nature which is the root of samsara.

MA: think of morality & ethics. Purifies anger - the worst negative mind state.

NI: think of patience. Purifies stinginess.

PAD: joyful mind/joyful effort. Purifies attachment.

ME: concentration. Purifies jealousy.

HUM: wisdom. Purifies pride/arrogance.

Oh dear. I found the cute puppy links....

D'awww!!! Daddy please please please bring Annie!!

 "People in America have funny way of saying things. You say 'There's an elephant in the room' when something important needs to be talked about but isn't. In Tibet, we don't say that. Of course there is an elephant in the room! Your mind is an elephant and you must tame it and have it walk calmly next to you. Silly Americans!" -Geshela Gelek Chodha

"The environment is our body. The air is our breath. The water is our blood. The trees are our limbs. The environment is very sacred." -Geshela Gelek

Love will draw an elephant through a keyhole. -Samuel Richardson

Snow Snow Go Away

What's crack-a-lackin' folks? I am going crazy with being locked up indoors. I need to go climbing like right now. The last time I went climbing was a pathetic attempt Monday night after I flew back into Raleigh after visiting Aaron for his birthday. Being sick and tired isn't really the best combination for a rocking work out at the gym. Then on Wednesday, I was going to climb after my work but that just didn't happen...why you ask? Snow.

I have no idea where this is but I will find out where and go climb it.

Well, we took a look outside and all the highways and main roads were completely gridlocked. I google mapped a new route home and started on my journey. It was slow moving but there wasn't much traffic until I hit Crabtree Mall. It was utter chaos. Cars were spun out in every direction, parked haphazardly everywhere, sliding across 4 lanes of traffic and the median into my lane, one car was on fire at some point, and many people flipping out. Since I was born and raised in Wisconsin, 3 inches of snow isn't a big deal and manageable to drive in. But when all 1.2 million citizens of the Raleigh area leave work at the same time...all hell is going to break loose. Nury told me one of her aunts usually has a 20 minute drive from work. Well, it took her 5 HOURS to get home. Maybe that will show you a little perspective of what it was like.

See what I mean? We have a panic attack because we don't get snow often enough down here to learn how to deal with it appropriately. Buy your bread and milk beforehand!!

Anyways, so I finally ran into the gridlock and managed to find a backroad that would kind of get me home. My friend David offered to let me stay at his place since it is miles closer to where I was than my own house. So I started on my way to his place. The roads weren't too bad yet but they weren't all that nice off of main roads. Now Northerners - please understand my dilemma here. I was following a car (nobody was ahead of her) when she stopped on an UPHILL to let another car in. I know us Southerners are really sweet and where just being ourselves. Please don't take offense when I shout this: YOU DON'T STOP YOUR CAR ON AN UPHILL WHEN IT'S ICY AND SNOWING. You will get your car stuck because your tires can't get traction on ice. Putting two and two together, you can tell she got stuck. Therefore, I got stuck behind her. I tried everything to get around her - backed up and took a running start and tried going around her but oncoming traffic wouldn't allow for that. I managed to get two guys to help me get my car out of the middle of the street and park it on the curb/somebody's yard. Then, I grabbed the essentials from my car and started trekking to David's. Mind you, I didn't have a hat, scarf, gloves, or boots because I wasn't really planning on having to trek 5 miles anywhere in that crap.

This is a view of Fayetteville Street in downtown outside the Wells Fargo Tower. **Kiddo you might like this**

I made it about halfway when the sweetest, kindest lady told me to come inside her house. She dried my shoes and coat for me and bundled me up in blankets and warm clothes until my stuff was dry. She charged my phone for me, gave me better directions to my friend's house, and kept fretting over me like she would her own daughters. She was really worried about me making it to my friend's house so she invited me to stay for dinner and the night until the storm stopped and I could go get my car. I kept saying, "No, it's okay. My friend doesn't live too far from here. He knows I'm on my way and where I'm at. I don't mind walking to his pace." When my clothes were dry, she bundled me up in more warm clothes, gave me a wool hat and scarf, some clothes, waterproof boots and long socks, AND an umbrella to keep me dry. She gave me her phone number and address if I ever needed anything along the way and to tell her when I got to David's. BLESS HER HEART. 

Now I know why the roads weren't plowed :)

I continued on my journey to David's. I was on a road that felt like it was never going to end. Then I saw the light. My refuge camp was in sight! His friend Alicia was also taking refuge for the night. No worries Mom, Dad, and Brett - I was fed and kept warm! In the morning, we took Alicia back to her car and got her out (her poor dog, Bella, was home by herself all night) and then we got me to my car, back on the road, and home. My dear friend Tristan asked if I needed help getting my car out (he heard I had to abandon my car but not that I made it home safely). He had been pulling people out the previous day as well. 

So moral of the story. I haven't been climbing for way too long and my palms are sweating just thinking about it. Solution: climbing tonight after work. 

Second moral of the story. Southerners are the absolute kindest sweethearts to ever walk Earth. I have the best friends I could ask for and I love them to the Sun and back. I cannot thank all y'all enough for helping me out.

Most of us have found comfort in the hugs of good friends or family members in times of stress or trouble. Athletes celebrate victories by hugging their teammates. We use hugs to wish someone good luck, show support, or to say hello, goodbye and goodnight. Sometimes we hug each other for no reason at all. 

KEEP LOVE IN YOUR HEART. A LIFE WITHOUT IT IS LIKE A SUNLESS GARDEN WHERE THE FLOWERS ARE DEAD. -Oscar Wilde