Sweetest Thing

From July...

I can only try to explain where my head has been lately.  I spent a good part of the summer imagining a different life for myself.  That's the way it is with me; I get an idea and next thing you know I'm off and running with little room left for reality.  I've invented a different life complete with a new supporting cast of characters.  It's silly, really.  Aren't you supposed to actually live your life, and not just imagine it?  It's like I think I can will things to happen, completely without outside participation.  Things just don't work that way.

 

I think I've always been a glass-half-full kind of person.  I'd much rather focus on the things I do have than the things I don't.  These things will happen or they won't, right?  I'm always open to the possibilities out there.  No matter how hard I wish for the elusive time machine so I can jump into the future and see how it all turns out, no amount of imagining will make that so.

 

Here's what I do have: a lot of friends, new and old that make my life fun to live.  A history with some of them that goes back over two decades, that is completely immune to the lapses of time that go by while my regular life unwinds.  A normal email and accompanying response can result in merciless teasing across a continent.  I love that.  There are new people in my life too, who are slowly becoming a part of my day-to-day plans.  It's really nice.  Sometimes it's hard to blend the old and the new and the near and the far, but I like thinking no matter where I go, I'll always find a friend.

Magnificent

Saturday was the Komen Race for the Cure here in Raleigh. My mom and I walked in the early, women-only race that preceeded the "big" race.

The picture above was our vantage point as we got underway -- the balloon arch in the distace is the starting line.

We had over 20k people involved and raised almost $2 million. This is the largest race of any kind in NC and ranks #25 out of 120 RFTC events held annually. I love being a part of something so big -- it makes me feel a little less small.

City of Blinding Lights

Washington DC is my favorite city to visit. I could silently walk among the monuments for days and think about the path of our history. My favorite is the Jefferson Memorial. I would love to sit under that dome and read his words for hours, but for some reason it is always rushed. People I take to Washington want to see Washington and Lincoln; old Jefferson is out of the way and an afterthought. When I was studying political science in college I had to take a lot of theory and philosophy classes. Just about every paper I wrote was based on either Jefferson or Martin Luther King Jr. I just love their words.

We all have such hopes for the world. We all have ideas about how we think things could be better, or different, or things we want to keep exactly the same. It's something we are taught as young Americans, that we are free, that we can make a difference, that what we think matters. Today mattered.

I hope we are finally going to past the fear and uncertainty of the past seven years (because it really all started on 9/11), take a breath, and move on. After long years of war, a million voices gathered together on the mall to declare peace. It won't happen in a day, or a month, or a year. Coming together and renouncing, so visibly, the path we've been on was hopefully a sign of good times to come.

Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad

The A's and Cards have advanced and the Dodgers are done. (Sorry Warren!)

 

The first major sport I loved was baseball.  It was one boy's fault, and then a whole bunch of others.  I loved go to games and hang out with my friends, and somehow my brain can retain stats and scores and batting averages.  We used to play a game where Warren or his dad would name a state and I would name all the pro teams in all the major sports. For example, the Dodgers, Padres, Angels, As, Giants, Raiders, 49ers, Chargers, Warriors, Clippers, Lakers, Sharks, Kings and the no longer "Mighty" Ducks.  Or how about the Thrashers, Hawks, Falcons and Braves?  The Caps, Redskins, Wizards and Nationals.  I could do this all night long.  These little games got me into the bigger one.

 

So, years go by and I moved away from the ballparks.  Years go by and I am lucky to get to one baseball game a year (this year it wasn't even a whole game).  Years go by and my head has been turned by hockey and a hundred other things have my heart.  It's easy to love a game that involves a large, empty sheet of ice.  It's easy to love a game that requires every single player to get their turn, to have a chance, to take a shot.  It's easy to love a game where people fight actually for each other.  The superstar egos have no place (not on my team, anyway).  It's easy to love a game that, on any given night, anyone can be the hero. 

 

Plus, hockey players are tough, strong men.  How many baseball players are scratched because they have blisters and can't pitch? 

 

Even at that, each October, just as the year before, I come back to where I started.  I'm hoping to see the A's and the Card's get to the World Series.  I'll never tell who I want to win from there -- I'll be disowned either way.

Beautiful Day

What a wonderful weekend! Our traveling party was made up of my step-grandmother, Lola, our family friend, Nelda, my mother and myself. We arrived in Providence on Thursday and crashed at an airport hotel then drove out to Sandwich (Mass) on Friday morning. We caught up with the family at lunch and had the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner (lobster, anyone?). At the rehearsal we all got to see the proposal slideshow Seth made for Beverly -- it was about 45 minutes long, terribly romantic, and after watching it I really got to know them both a lot better.

Saturday, we woke up to a perfect day. The ladies and I decided to take a short trip up to Plymouth to do a little sight-seeing. As soon as we got there, we got a call that we had moved up the gathering time for family pictures before the ceremony. We had a quick lunch (more lobster) and hustled back to Sandwich. Oh yes, and we saw the actual Plymouth Rock. Did you know it is actually just a rock in a hole in the ground with spotlights?

The ceremony was held at a large garden in front of an enormous windmill. I have never really wanted to get married outside myself, but if I did, it would be there. It was just so pretty. My part (the reading) was right after their vows -- so I had the extra benefit of being a bit choked up before I ever tried to speak. I made it through ok and a lot of people after said they could tell "that was hard for me." I read a letter written by my grandfather who wasn't able to travel and he has been the guiding light in my life. Hard doesn't even begin to describe it.

Seth and Beverly are currently on their first trip overseas, driving around Ireland and I'm sure, taking thousands of pictures. I'm so jealous -- I offered to go with and be their personal driver -- oddly enough, they didn't take me up on it.

This is my Uncle Don and Aunt Gail, Beverly and Seth, and my younger cousin, Aaron.