In my Next 30 Years

Yesterday Michael and I were out and about and I had managed to make myself depressed over my upcoming trip around the sun when he looked at me and said something that got me to thinking. He told me I should be grateful for the life that I have led because I have done more in my (gulp) 30 years than most people have done in a life time, himself included. So, I decided, in an attempt to drag myself out of this funk, that I will comprise a list of things that I have done that I am proud of... hopefully it will inspire me to continue on with my life list... or it might just depress me even more, who knows, but it's worth a shot.
1 - Slept in almost all 50 states (except Alaska, Hawaii, both Dakotas, and New Hampshire)
2 - drove a boat through the canals of France
3 - rode an elephant
4 - rode a camel
5 - walked on a military base in Qatar
6 - helped perform a trachiotamy at 36,000 feet
7 - seen the pyramids
8 - backpacked through Europe
9 - lived and survived in NYC
10 - been accepted to and maintained an A average at an Ivy League school
11 - hiked to the base of the Grand Canyon
12 - rode a raft past a dead moose in the Snake River
13 - found and married the man of my dreams
14 - rock climbed
15 - kayaked (so it was on a sit-on-top, it was still kayaking)
16 - snorkled in the Caribbean
17 - swam with stingrays
18 - helped to bring US troops home from war
19 - quit the best job in the world to better myself and my place in life
20 - had photos published in a Slovenian newspaper
21 - worked as a magician's assistant (and got paid for it)
22 - celebrated New Years Eve in Amsterdam
23 - got hit by a falling coconut in Puerto Rico (in a car)
24 - rode in a gypsy cab in Moscow
25 - visited A LOT of National Parks (our parks passport is really full)
26 - had a Russian Visa, French Visa, and Turkish Visa (allowing me to work in all those countries)
27 - did my Christmas shopping in Istanbul
28 - worked as a gardener/horticulturalist in NYC
29 - lost 35 lbs (found it again) and then lost 25 lbs
30 - made it to 30 without killing myself or anyone else

This list may be continued......

Sometimes you just need to go sledding

This last weekend I learned an important lesson about life and nature and how the two can actually help save a marriage.
See, Michael and I have this weekly tradition of having one screaming match per weekend. It always starts out the same way, Michael makes some harmless, yet still sarcastic, remark that sets my blood to boiling. I repress my burning desire to murder him on the spot in an attempt to avoid our weekly brawl and then I notice a piece of paper that I have asked him to put away a dozen times or I open the cabinet to see an overflowing trash can or I trip on one of his three pairs of shoes sprawled on the living room floor and it pushes me right over the edge.... Then we yell and scream and I cry... It usually ends with an hour or so of silence, me apologizing, then I cook dinner and we end the day in a sort of awkward, fake coziness. The next morning all is forgotten and we start a new week.
This week things went a little differently.
See, New York was hit with a major snow storm on Friday and we ended up getting 6 inches of perfect sledding snow. And Michael loves to sled. He turns into a little kid, laughing and smiling... it's really quite wonderful. So, on Saturday we went sledding and I had a little reminder of the man I originally fell in love with almost 10 years ago.
But then Sunday came. We almost made it, but chores and school and dogs finally got the better of us and the weekly fight ensued. I snapped, he lectured, I cried, he left. He left to go sledding. He took his little blue saucer sled and left me crying in the bathroom. I was devastated.
But then, my husband did something even more unexpected than leaving. He called me and asked me to join him. And when I refused him he came home and got me and forced me to join him in his joy. It wasn't an apology, but it made me feel better. It made me smile. And at the end of the day we were cozy, not just awkward. And I had yet another reminder of why I fell in love with him to begin with.

Little Green Men and my own little snow angel

Happy St Patrick's Day

The Monster at the End of the Calender

When I was little one of my favorite books was a Grover book called, "The Monster at the End of the Book." For those not in the know, it featured the ever cute, blue, furry Grover of Sesame Street fame and he tries, unsuccessfully of course, to get the reader to stop turning the pages of the book because there is a monster lurking at the end.
Well, if I had only known as a child how true this book would ring to me...
In 24 days I will officially lose my youth... unless...
If only the calender would stop turning....
I must find a way to stop time.
I've stopped wearing a watch. I figured if I don't track the daily passage of hours then maybe that would stop the days from rolling by.
It's not working.
The sun keeps setting and rising and then setting again... Damn sun.
I've stopped flipping the calender. Still, that stupid sun keeps rolling across the sky.
The next step is going to involve a rocket... the sun must be stopped.
Because, unfortunately it's not Grover lurking at the end of my book.

Hand holding

So, I will be the first to admit that I have a fairly thin skin and that I tend to get my feelings hurt very easily. I was raised to behave properly and taught that when I acted up it was my duty to do the right thing and own up to my mistake and ask for retribution in the form of an apology. To this day I follow this rule. And I expect everyone in my life to follow this rule as well. And I am actually quite shocked when people don't do this. Apologizing is such a simple and humble thing to do, yet, the words 'I'm sorry,' might as well be Mandarin Chinese to most. See, I belive that a person can be sorry for an act even if they don't believe that act to be wrong. Wrongness and rightness are all figurative, what matters is whether someone took offense by the action. And if it was perceived as offensive, well then, an apology is in order. Right? I think so.
But apparently there are people in my life, who will go unmentioned, that do not believe in my simple rule for a happier life. Apparently some people just don't care. And, well, I'm tired of holding their hand and leading them ever so gently through this life. So, I'm mean. Well, if that's the case then I guess I can be mean.