Hangin' Tough

I remember it like it was yesterday...Saturday, September 1, 1990 the {New Kids On The Block Magic Summer Tour} rocked the Marriott Center in Provo. And I was not there. I had planned on going. My cousins had an extra ticket and had invited me to go! It was the most exciting prospect of my life thus far! Then, the day before the big event they reneged the invitation. Someones 'best friend' was able to go...they were in and I was out. I was devastated! Instead of singing at the top of my lungs with thousands of other shrieking pre-pubescent girls, I sat on my twin size bed gripping my pillow adorn with a New Kids pillow case, staring at the New Kids posters on my bedroom wall, and sobbing as their melodic voices floated from my boom-box. My 11-year-old heart was broken! Now, close to twenty years later, I have found vindication! On Saturday, November 15, 2008, I will be singing at the top of my lungs with thousands of other post-pubescent 30-something women at the {New Kids On The Block} concert! YES! I have still got the Right Stuff to be Hangin' Tough!

A Silver Lining

In every event, decision, experience of our lives there's a silver lining. While sometimes you have to really look for the sunny side of life, other times it jumps right out of you. Such was the case in todays events. I decided to start the day off right by getting up early and hitting the gym. Being so not a morning person, I stumbled into the bathroom and put contacts into my sleepy eyes...then, as I looked in the mirror, there it was. A silver lining staring back at me. Well, perhaps it would be more accurate to say a silver line...right on the crown of my head... my first gray hair!

When Do You Expire?

Have you ever noticed that everything has a expiration date...milk, eggs, cheese, bread...even my mascara. I, however, ignore them. I tend not to pay them any attention. Until it tastes funny, smells funny, grows mold, or makes my eyes itch it's fair game. There is a benefit to those little black letters they stamp on boxes and bags...I have some idea of when I will open the milk carton only to find cottage cheese. It is then true, the milk has in fact {Expired}. {Expired} ...the sterile medical term for kicking the bucket, going on to a better place, biting the dust, passing on... No matter how you say it, dying is still one of the only things certain in this life. Unfortunately for me, I have yet to find any of those small dark numbers any where on my body. No date indicating approximately when I might find myself waking up to only to discover I'm, well...dead. With the {when} and the {where} the uncertain in the certain, life must be found in the {what}.

I heard of a man who spoke at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on her tombstone, from the beginning--to the end. Noting first the date of her birth, and the following date with tears. But, then he said what mattered most was the dash between those years. A dash represents the time spent on this earth, and only those that love her know how much that line is worth. It matters not how much we own...the cars, the house, the cash. What matters is to live and love--and how we spend our dash.

{What} do we do with our dash. With the recent simplification of my life...school's out and only working part-time...I have more free time than ever in my life! It's amazing how quickly I went from utilizing my new found leisure time to letting it go to waste. Somehow, life's basic activities have had a weak grip on me since the thought of a tomorrow without a deadline or pressing obligation is ever in the forefront of my brain. There's always tomorrow... right? Alas, there is an expiration date somewhere. For whatever it's worth, until I find theat little black date stamped on my butt...Deathclock.com says I'll die on Saturday, June 21, 2053. Only 1,421,010,440 seconds to live. So, before my card is punched, it's time to live, laugh, love (passionately, I might add) and be the best me I can be.

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Planes, Trains, and Automobiles...

I Love to travel! Any little excuse to get out on the road and I'm there...So, when my friend Lisa asked if I would help her move to Oregon by following the moving van in her car, of course the answer was YES! As we hit the open road Friday after noon, I was excited for the sights and sounds of road trippin'! However, over the two days the view really didn't change. I found the large blue butt of a Budget Moving Truck always in sight. There is a benefit...I never lost her in a crowd!
After unloading the big blue beast and having some fun on the Oregon Coast, it was time to come home. Although that time always seems to come too soon, I was looking forward to the trip...I was taking the Train! I'd traveled by train from France to Italy, but I never considered it as a mode of travel in the United States, however, with gas prices rising planes are taking ticket prices into the sky with them...enter the train! The brochure makes some good points: plenty of leg room, large windows to see the scenery as you meander along the tracks, the ability to get up and walk around and use your cell phone while the train is in motion. There is one major draw back...IT TAKES SO DAMN LONG! It took 18 hours to get from Salem, OR to Sacramento CA. Perhaps if I'd been in the company of a good friend or a good book I may have found it quite enjoyable. Instead, as I tossed and turned alone in the dark with a dying ipod, I just kept thinking I could have flown across the country TWICE in the time it's taking me to get down the coast...and I still had another 18 hour train ride a head of me. I had almost convinced myself that the ride would be beneficial...uninterrupted pondering and planning time. As I walked into the train station to await this peaceful travel time, almost was not good enough. Unlike an airport, train stations are cold and unwelcoming...large cold rooms with hard wooden benches. As I looked around at the pigeons wandering the floor the thoughts of time for peaceful pondering were shattered by the reality of 5 hours in this cold brick room. I couldn't do it! I was going to gouge my eyes out with some sort of blunt object. Then I saw it....HERTZ rental car! After a few quick phone calls and forking over quadruple the cost of the train ticket I was free! Out on the open road in a 2008 Buick LaCrosse. I enjoyed the picturesque scenery with tunes that stand the test of time filling the climate controlled leather interior. Freedom! And a bonus...I made it to Provo by 7:30 that night--10 hours before the train.