Darn it....

You know, I do the dumbest things. Okay, I was at my little sister's swim lesson at the Y. There was a new lifeguard: a young, conscientuous looking guy with dark hair and a sort of furtive personality. But wait, let me explain something:
To be absolutely truthful, I get bored senseless when I watch my siblings swimming lessons. I watch them merely because the lifeguards as a rule crack me up. One, fondly known in my family by the nickname 'Crush', aka the turtle from 'Finding Nemo', because of the way he talks, (The nickname was my brilliant idea: I now live in terror that the younger kids will accidentally call him that to his face. Anyway.....) is especially funny, and seeing how his voice booms throughout the entire poolroom, you can't miss a joke he cracks. It's hysterical.
But this particular day, Crush had been, for the moment, forgotten. I had turned away from his class, and turned to the newer lifeguard's. (Crush has two of my siblings, the new lifeguard had one, in their classes) It was pretty dull, as those kids were younger and did less, and I soon became lost in my own silly daydreams. Deep, penetrating thought. Naturally, as my thoughts became deeper, I began to knit my eyebrows and my lips were pursed. To put it bluntly: I was glaring.
At this inopportune moment, the new lifeguard decided to teach my sister to float on her back. For half a moment, he let go of her....and instantly she sunk. Terrified, he grabbed her, held her up as she spluttered water out of her mouth and nose: his dark eyes darted towards me with a fearing expression......
And I was glaring at him. Poor guy, I'll never forget his face when I refocused. I hadn't realized I was looking straight at him...he blushed deep red, I am certain he thought I was going to get him fired for carelessness in his duties. I instantly tried to smile to make him feel better, but by that time he'd turned away.
The poor guy hasn't made eye contact with me to this very day.

Fingerprints

One of the most disturbing things in the world has to be these words. "You have to be fingerprinted."

Imagine you're me: sweet, innocent, happy go lucky little me, getting a job this summer that you are absolutely ecstatic about, and you cannot wait to begin.
Then, suddenly, from the place where you are a brand new employee, you get a short letter with these words, "Anyone working with children we ask to take this safety precaution, blab, blab, blab."
Suddenly, you find yourself plopped into a formal looking office, looking around at all this odd looking stuff, being passed by criminals.....and a state trooper has you by the arm and tells you to relax your hand so you don't smudge the ink. Everything's a blur...you start wondering how something as simple as getting a job at a summer camp can be this confusing...even disturbing.
With a sigh of relief, you shake yourself. The trooper is a family friend, and he's not glaring at you, merely at the ornery ink. There is an officer glaring your little sister out of countenance, and saying that she looks dangerous, but the sparkle in his eyes shows he's kidding. Your mom and the troopers are talking and laughing, and the fingerprinting is over. He pushes you towards a little bowl and says to put your inky fingers in there to get rid of the black mess.
You glance into the bowl with a happy nod, glad it's over....then pause. It's filled with a yellowish-orange goo, and there's a fuzzy, grayish cloud floating in the middle. you pause. "Ummm.....Mr. _______, i don't think I want to risk it." you call over your shoulder, half laughing, half sincere. He comes back in with a few paper towels, and grins. "Now look, if you can muck stalls you can at least do this." he replies. The officer glaring at your sister turns. "That's right, it's just like mucking stalls." he encourages.
With a sigh and another hesitation, you give in. What a yicky sensation. But it's soon over, you hand the inky paper towels back to your family's friend, and before you know it, you're back out in the sunny parkinglot, headed for the car. Your sister is still giggling nervously over the glaring officer, but you're feeling fun and fancy free. That had to be one of the wierdest experienc

Ummmm.....

Well, I've been waiting for several days to find something to post. And nothing came. Fancy that! Deep, profound thinker that I am, I can't think of single sensible, (or not so) thing to say. Wow. Impressive. I think we should all give me a round of appluase. For once in my life, I have been actually speechless. I deserve some type of award. Yep.
You know, at any other time, I'm always wanting to get my two cents in. I want everyone else to hush for a second so I can hear myself think, or at least to let me get a word in edgewise. then, when there is absolutely no one to stop me, and nothing to prevent my babblings....I can't think of anything to say! Does that defeat the purpose or what? *sigh* Oh, boy....Guess it's human nature. Never satisfied. :)

And in dreams, we will meet again.....

I was sitting in my room today, playing the Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack softly, mechanically skipping around to all my favorite tracks. I ended up at my favorite, “The Breaking of the Fellowship.” You know, it’s funny how, the older you get, the more meaning that track can hold for you. At fifteen, I thought nothing of it. Pretty, sad, yes, but not particularly meaningful. It’s when you start to really hit that age, that age known as adulthood, that you really start to think about it. It all comes home, when a beloved sister leaves you for college. That’s bad enough…..until you realize that she will soon be in Europe, where visits and phone calls are not just lessened, but completely cut off. The music continues, diving in and over and through all your thoughts….it’s funny, how each strain coming from the c.d. player can suddenly relate to your life. I could see the different times the Fellowship had been broken in my life. Not destroyed: Some things will never die, no matter how many years creep by. But they’ve been chipped, cracked, shredded at times. It’s funny, the emotions the music reveals. The greatest is that of sorrow. A knowledge that life will go on, change is inevitable. But there are other feelings too……one of triumph. It won’t always be broken, because someday a life, different naturally, but just as fulfilling as the one you are living now, will fall into place. The few years of strangeness will be taken over by the peace of a life all your own. But there’s another too: The belief in everlasting friendship. Something that, no matter what, will support and protect you over the years; fight, and even die for you. Even if it’s far away…..or if it’s so close you feel it’s presence every single day. It doesn’t really matter. It’s going to be there for you forever. It's that encouragement that helps you face the loneliness of seperation....you know that even though you're still wandering around, blindly searching for the missing piece.....that piece that can't come back.The piece the merciless hand of time is always dragging away......you know, at that beautiful crash of music at the end of the track, that even though it won't be the same, and it's scary and sad, that you'll live through it. Life is beautiful, full of promise. Living each day as it comes, and not worrying about tomorrow until it comes.....and always holding onto hope, courage, friendship, and love. It's incredible, really incredible, just to be....alive.

The lovers, the dreamers, and a frog.

So. You're sitting on your couch, watching a movie. To be exact, The Muppet Movie. Thoroughly enjoying it, and then the inevitable happens. You become inspired.

How?

by a little frog, sitting on a log in the middle of a swamp, playing a banjo. Does this strike you as odd? Being a firm lover of the Muppets, no. But it isn't the scene that is making you think, it's the words floating softly from out the swamp and into your living room.

"Why are there so many songs about rainbows,
And what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions
And rainbows have nothing to hide.

So we've been told and some choose to believe it
I know they're wrong, wait and see
Someday we'll find it, the Rainbow Connection
The lovers, the dreamers, and me."

The song ends, but it makes an impact. The feeling that Kermit had just been voicing all your hopes and fears for the future persists, making you somehow excited, and ridiculously giddy.

Then, the movie comes towards it's end, and once more, you see the simple little frog. But now, he is surrounded by a studio, sitting in a director's chair, and looking about in awe as his dreams explode before him into a wonderful rainbow of fulfilled hopes. Once more, his words hit you.

"It starts when we're kids. I show off at school. Making faces at friends. you're a clown and a fool! .......... ignoring you're homework it's that dedication, you look in the mirror: You're getting standing ovations!"

You feel silly, getting so excited and realizing that, wow, a frog has the same dreams as you! And he succeeded in making those dreams come true! He beat the odds! And you think, what a brilliant idea, I need to share it with everyone! so you go to your blog, and begin to type....erase it.....retype it...erase it....and type it again. You want to share it. Share the feeling that nothing is impossible, that you can be anything, so long as you hope and pray and try your darndest. "But what a stupid way to present it!" you protest. "A frog inspired you??"

"But...."

"They'll all laugh at you, stupid!"

"Maybe so," stubbornly. "But this was too cool to keep all to myself."

So you march through your task. No longer feeling silly, sideways, backwards, or ridiculous. you feel free, light, easy. You can be anything, accomplish anything. And so can everyone else. Faith hope, and a li'le bi' o' luck. Add this to lots o' prayer, and you've got the world by the collar. What promise the future holds! Isn't it beautiful to be alive??

Enter Me

Why did I create this little corner?

Well, to put it in the words of a beloved character from a favorite old Western: "Well, everybody else was doing it. I have the right to join in the fun....according to the fourteenth amendment." And so it remains. :)

I've made this purely for the fun of it. What shall end up here, I have no clue. Expect the unexpected. It won't be totally original, since there isn't any such thing. Be ready for all, and for nothing. In short, be prepared for me. This is going to be completely and totally a world of my own: you may take that as a warning or a welcome, whichever you prefer. All who enter my little domain, warmest of welcomes!!