It's going to be 76 degrees today. I couldn't be more excited about that. My favorite time of year is autumn. I fell in love with North Carolina in the fall. I fell in love with a boy (or two, or....three?) in the fall. I made new friends and started a new job and have had all sorts of things in my life start in the fall. This year I even went back to school. It seems like more of a beginning to me than a new year or the first warm day in the spring.
There was a big football game yesterday and even though I don't care even the teeniest bit about it, I probably watched because, well, that's what you do in the fall. I count down the days until Canes camp starts (it started Friday!) because I love nothing more than to be in a big room with a huge sheet of ice. I'll get a glimpse today and then I have to wait and wait and wait until my first real game on November 1st. That's practically election day -- I'll have to adopt those election countdown tickers as my own.
This summer has brought back so many long lost friends. It's really been incredible how many people have come back into my life in such a short time. I have my girls in California, more contact with my cousins and their better halves, my college roommate and now another treasured friend just this week. Of course, none of them live here so it's easier and at the same time harder to maintain. When your whole friendship exists through emails and texting and this very blog, how easy it is to put off writing and then the person just slips away. That's really not good enough.
Now that the season is changing, people are going to start to leave too. J will go back to work somewhere else is the world and my standing companion for any and every movie will be gone. L needs to go be with M, they have a wedding and a new life to plan. My nights will go back to revolving around sticks and pucks. Things will calm down and go back to normal. Whatever that is.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
One Sweet World
Can you imagine a world where no one needs anything? There are 46 million people in the US who don't have health insurance. 17 million people need food in the Horn of Africa. People in Texas still can't go home. It's overwhelming to think of all the people in the world who need something. Sometimes it feels like it's just too much and that one person could never make a difference. Thank goodness that isn't true.
I've talked in this space about Kiva before, but it's been a while. In the "old days" you and several other people would each loan someone out in the world $25 and over several months they would pay it back in little bits. Once you had your $25 back you could lend it to someone else. For Americans, $25 is dinner and a movie. Recently they stopped waiting for full payment before you could loan the money out again. Almost every day I get a notice that I have $2.08 available or $3.47 -- once it adds up to $25 I can use to help another person.
Here's the thing, since they started turning over the money so much faster, they are funding their loans faster too. More and more people are lending money and more and more people are getting the help they need. In the last week more than $675k ($25 at a time!)was distributed around the world. It's just fabulous, except....they've run out of people to help. I logged in today and all of the loans have been funded. Very cool. I'm sure by Monday there will be more, but for one day it's nice to think everyone has what they need.
I've talked in this space about Kiva before, but it's been a while. In the "old days" you and several other people would each loan someone out in the world $25 and over several months they would pay it back in little bits. Once you had your $25 back you could lend it to someone else. For Americans, $25 is dinner and a movie. Recently they stopped waiting for full payment before you could loan the money out again. Almost every day I get a notice that I have $2.08 available or $3.47 -- once it adds up to $25 I can use to help another person.
Here's the thing, since they started turning over the money so much faster, they are funding their loans faster too. More and more people are lending money and more and more people are getting the help they need. In the last week more than $675k ($25 at a time!)was distributed around the world. It's just fabulous, except....they've run out of people to help. I logged in today and all of the loans have been funded. Very cool. I'm sure by Monday there will be more, but for one day it's nice to think everyone has what they need.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
You Get What You Give
I spent most of this evening at a charity fund-raising event here in Raleigh. I saw something so unusual and so heartwarming I just had to share it.
The event was to raise money for Crohn's disease and Colitis. After dinner (thankfully not during) a doctor got up and made a speech about the diseases and how they really take an emotional toll of people who are afflicted and their families. It can cause depression and impact so much more than just the person's health. This definitely brought mood of the room down. The doctor then introduced the "teenage ambassador" to the group. A very poised 13 year old girl got up and made a joke about the doctor stealing half of her speech and then went on to talk about her diagnosis, hospitalizations, and eventually surgery.
This summer she got to go to the Victory Junction Gang's camp (victoryjunction.org) where she got to ride horses, go to their water park, learn archery and go fishing. In her words, for a week "she didn't have to be a freak." She asked us all to give money so other kids could get to go there too.
As she walked back to her chair she waved at the crowd and looked downright giddy. I'm sure speaking in front of 200 people was scary and she was relieved to be done. So relieved that once she got to her chair she, her sister, her mother and her father all burst into tears. Sobbing, heart-wrenching tears. Tears so messy the girls eventually had to leave.
Before she left, our MC for the evening, the incomparable John Forsland of the Carolina Hurricanes (I'm a little biased) commended her for her opening line. He said the first words you say are the most important and the way you blasted the doctor had this room in the palm of your hand (he was right). He also invited her and her family to a hockey game as his guest. That was not yet the coolest thing.
After the speeches there was a live auction, hosted by John. A lot of the items were trips and there were a few Canes things (all immediately out of my price range). One of the items was a package to visit John in the press box during a game, 2 lower level tickets and a signed jersey. Two men got into a bidding war and the price got up to about $2000. John said that if they would each give $2500 (to raise $5000) they could BOTH have the same package. Sold. Still not the coolest thing.
One of the packages was a trip to DC. One of the doctors in the room bid $500. John looked at the other bidder and asked $600? The same doctor said yes. John looked again at the other man and said $700? The doctor again said yes. John realized the doctor was upping the bid on himself and tried to stop him. The doctor acknowledged this and raised his bid to $1000. The other guy (who had last bid $400) dropped out immediately. The doctor walked to the front of the room and took the microphone from John and said that he'd happily pay $1000 but that he didn't want the trip. He gifted it to the teenage ambassador so that she could have one more good day.
That was the coolest thing I saw all day. I love that there a such kind people in the world.
The event was to raise money for Crohn's disease and Colitis. After dinner (thankfully not during) a doctor got up and made a speech about the diseases and how they really take an emotional toll of people who are afflicted and their families. It can cause depression and impact so much more than just the person's health. This definitely brought mood of the room down. The doctor then introduced the "teenage ambassador" to the group. A very poised 13 year old girl got up and made a joke about the doctor stealing half of her speech and then went on to talk about her diagnosis, hospitalizations, and eventually surgery.
This summer she got to go to the Victory Junction Gang's camp (victoryjunction.org) where she got to ride horses, go to their water park, learn archery and go fishing. In her words, for a week "she didn't have to be a freak." She asked us all to give money so other kids could get to go there too.
As she walked back to her chair she waved at the crowd and looked downright giddy. I'm sure speaking in front of 200 people was scary and she was relieved to be done. So relieved that once she got to her chair she, her sister, her mother and her father all burst into tears. Sobbing, heart-wrenching tears. Tears so messy the girls eventually had to leave.
Before she left, our MC for the evening, the incomparable John Forsland of the Carolina Hurricanes (I'm a little biased) commended her for her opening line. He said the first words you say are the most important and the way you blasted the doctor had this room in the palm of your hand (he was right). He also invited her and her family to a hockey game as his guest. That was not yet the coolest thing.
After the speeches there was a live auction, hosted by John. A lot of the items were trips and there were a few Canes things (all immediately out of my price range). One of the items was a package to visit John in the press box during a game, 2 lower level tickets and a signed jersey. Two men got into a bidding war and the price got up to about $2000. John said that if they would each give $2500 (to raise $5000) they could BOTH have the same package. Sold. Still not the coolest thing.
One of the packages was a trip to DC. One of the doctors in the room bid $500. John looked at the other bidder and asked $600? The same doctor said yes. John looked again at the other man and said $700? The doctor again said yes. John realized the doctor was upping the bid on himself and tried to stop him. The doctor acknowledged this and raised his bid to $1000. The other guy (who had last bid $400) dropped out immediately. The doctor walked to the front of the room and took the microphone from John and said that he'd happily pay $1000 but that he didn't want the trip. He gifted it to the teenage ambassador so that she could have one more good day.
That was the coolest thing I saw all day. I love that there a such kind people in the world.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Goodbye Earl
Late last night I heard the clickety-clickety-clickety of tiny feet on my wood floor. When my dog Zoey walks across the floor her claws make a similar sound, but this definitely was not her. I looked across the room and saw the biggest, ickiest bug I've seen in a very long time. It disappeared under the TV cabinet.
I thought to myself, "That was the scariest bug I've seen in a while. I hope he stays under there."
He did not.
I did what any rational woman would do and I ran upstairs and grabbed all of my big clunky shoes. To squish the bug? No. To throw them at him. This bug was so big I thought for sure I would lose a finger if I got within arm's length of him.
A few minutes later I saw him scurrying towards the couch, a trail of shoes in his wake. Now, if he had stayed hidden under the TV I would have left him alone, but there was no way I was going to go anywhere near my couch with that monster hiding within it.
I did what every bug hunter would do. I tipped the couch over on it's back and chased the bugger into the kitchen.
We were now on my turf. Better lighting. Fewer places to hide. He went under the table. I moved the chairs. He went behind the trash can. I lifted it up and put it on the counter. The cat and mouse game (or girl and bug game) moved into the foyer and eventually, the coat closet.
I created a border -- just high enough so that if my foe escaped the coat closet he would never make it back to the kitchen or living room. I opened the door and held my breath.
He wasn't behind the vacuum. He wasn't behind the steam cleaner. He wasn't behind the windshield wiper fluid or hiding under the ladder. I know this because I removed them all.
He wasn't under the folding chair. Or behind the box of painting supplies. He was running out of places to hide.
There were only 2 boxes left. I lifted the first; still no bug. I turned around to place it on the table and when I turned back he was sitting in the middle of the floor, taunting me with his bugginess. He quickly scampered back behind the final box. I slid it out of the way -- I had him cornered.
Somewhere during my chase I had picked up the 2x2 plank I use to bolt my glass doors shut. It was now my weapon and I knew how to use it.
Once the bug was on to the next world and his body had been returned to nature I surveyed the damage: the contents of the closet dragged out into the kitchen, the overturned couch, the scattered shoes. To the victor goes the reconstruction. Isn't that how it always works?
I thought to myself, "That was the scariest bug I've seen in a while. I hope he stays under there."
He did not.
I did what any rational woman would do and I ran upstairs and grabbed all of my big clunky shoes. To squish the bug? No. To throw them at him. This bug was so big I thought for sure I would lose a finger if I got within arm's length of him.
A few minutes later I saw him scurrying towards the couch, a trail of shoes in his wake. Now, if he had stayed hidden under the TV I would have left him alone, but there was no way I was going to go anywhere near my couch with that monster hiding within it.
I did what every bug hunter would do. I tipped the couch over on it's back and chased the bugger into the kitchen.
We were now on my turf. Better lighting. Fewer places to hide. He went under the table. I moved the chairs. He went behind the trash can. I lifted it up and put it on the counter. The cat and mouse game (or girl and bug game) moved into the foyer and eventually, the coat closet.
I created a border -- just high enough so that if my foe escaped the coat closet he would never make it back to the kitchen or living room. I opened the door and held my breath.
He wasn't behind the vacuum. He wasn't behind the steam cleaner. He wasn't behind the windshield wiper fluid or hiding under the ladder. I know this because I removed them all.
He wasn't under the folding chair. Or behind the box of painting supplies. He was running out of places to hide.
There were only 2 boxes left. I lifted the first; still no bug. I turned around to place it on the table and when I turned back he was sitting in the middle of the floor, taunting me with his bugginess. He quickly scampered back behind the final box. I slid it out of the way -- I had him cornered.
Somewhere during my chase I had picked up the 2x2 plank I use to bolt my glass doors shut. It was now my weapon and I knew how to use it.
Once the bug was on to the next world and his body had been returned to nature I surveyed the damage: the contents of the closet dragged out into the kitchen, the overturned couch, the scattered shoes. To the victor goes the reconstruction. Isn't that how it always works?
Monday, September 01, 2008
Heartbreak Town
Today I am watching it rain a thousand miles away. All weekend long I've been, well, worried. One eye on my studying and one eye on the TV. Sleeping with the TV on. Glued to the computer. I have been remembering places that I know are three years gone.
I remember wearing the absolutely wrong, hot, bulky sweater to go dancing on Bourbon Street after a long day of traveling in a van with a bunch of people I didn't know (long story). Brown Eyed Girl was playing in almost every club that we went to and Hurricanes were in every blender at every bar. One of the girls we were with lived my nightmare and sang a karaoke song that got booed. I always thought that if put on the spot I'd sing the exact same song.
I am missing a man who decided one morning he wanted to have lunch in New Orleans, so we piled in the car and drove over for the day from Diamondhead, Mississippi. After we ate we turned around and drove straight back. He's been gone for six months already. That hardly seems possible.
I know people who live there now and I'm praying they are all safe today. I guess I'm feeling sad for a place that has given me some very nice memories.
I remember wearing the absolutely wrong, hot, bulky sweater to go dancing on Bourbon Street after a long day of traveling in a van with a bunch of people I didn't know (long story). Brown Eyed Girl was playing in almost every club that we went to and Hurricanes were in every blender at every bar. One of the girls we were with lived my nightmare and sang a karaoke song that got booed. I always thought that if put on the spot I'd sing the exact same song.
I am missing a man who decided one morning he wanted to have lunch in New Orleans, so we piled in the car and drove over for the day from Diamondhead, Mississippi. After we ate we turned around and drove straight back. He's been gone for six months already. That hardly seems possible.
I know people who live there now and I'm praying they are all safe today. I guess I'm feeling sad for a place that has given me some very nice memories.
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