Do you know the way to San Die - go?

On my way... thanks for your dependability and prompt delivery, Mr. UPS!




waiting...

Panic is not my friend, but there is something about the rush of adrenaline that reminds me that I am human (not a soul like Wanderer--that's for all of you who are insane like me and read The Host in three days).

So, when I got home from work and shopping for the post-graduation BBQ last night to find that my cap/gown/hood had not been delivered, panic slipped in the door behind me. After business hours, there was nothing I could do but wait...and watch David Cook, the hottest rocker, take the title of American Idol. David, if you can hear me, I'm waiting for you in Orange County.

The plan was to drive to San Diego to meet my family, who is flying in this morning, for a relaxing, pre-graduation day at the beach or the Wild Animal Park or Sea World or another joyous land of adventure.

Plans change and now I am waiting for the beloved brown truck to deliver. I called Jostens, the super power that controls this thing called graduation across the nation, and retrieved my tracking number...

To my relief, the package left Aliso Viejo at 6:08 am today. Now, all I have to do is wait and pray that brown truck doesn't get detained or overturned or captured by Seekers.

If you sing to me like Michael Bublè...

you just might land yourself one classy dame! His voice makes me melt like a popsicle on the Fourth of July!!



Another favorite tradition...a car or two full of hot chicks on the 405 to the 101 to Santa Barbara and the enveloping voice of MB at the Santa Barbara Bowl. Fast becoming a favorite venue, it's only a couple hours and another world away. Before the concert, we ran across the street from our quaint motel for some zenful pizza and a photo shoot.

The next day, we cruised State, did some shopping and grabbed yummy grub at The Natural Cafe (I ordered the Buddha Burrito).

Then, April, Laura and I adventured north to Solvang for some aebleskiver and ice cream.

I just finished another book. I must say, I am on a roll. For the first time in a long while, I have rediscovered a love for reading. I might recommend "Love Walked In" by Maria de Los Santos, but only with the disclaimer that there are some poor choices of expletives.

If and when I fall in love, I mean really fall in love, I may quote this line...

A real life doesn't mean getting what you want: the achievement, the privilege, too, is knowing what you love. But getting what you love? Having what you love love you back? Oh, my friend, it's a miracle: your one tiny life's head-on collision with divinity. Page 299


I guess I could quote it now. Being on this side of eternal bliss--the "pre" side, or Prebliss. It still fits. The divine head-on collision that is the miracle of true love, really is a miracle.

When I am a writer (notice there is no IF), I will love this line even more than I did when I read it the first time...

Getting the words right mattered, but so did describing his voice when he talked and capturing the feeling that filled her as he spoke and after he spoke. She thought about the word "capture," how it put a writer on par with a fur trapper or big-game hunter, and how it implied that stories were whole and roaming around loose in the world, and a writer's job was to catch them. Except of course that a writer didn't kill what she caught, didn't stuff it and hang it on a wall; the point was to keep the stories alive. She felt skeptical about this way of thinking about writing, she decided, but was glad to have considered it. Page 203

Because I am a therapist (even in training), I love this line now. The job of a good writer, rather a good therapist (ah...does it fit?), is to keep stories alive.
Stories are whole and roaming loose and free. Helping others capture their stories, to tell them and re-tell them and look for the shining moments of joy and gratitude and imagination and creativity, that is what puts me on par with the big guns. hm? Do I sound very strange? This is just where my mind went--on a safari where people's stories are the game, but not just their stories, their hopes and dreams and intentions. The ones that so often are ignored when they enter a therapist's office.

Happy Birthday, Liz!!

I hope you had a great birthday! I wish I could've been there to tell you in person (on the actual day!!) You're such an amazingly talented creative person, a great mommy and a fun sister-in-law!!! I'm so glad you picked my brother!!

this is for you pretty pretty princess...

Do you think her first name could be Becky???