For the first 50 years of my life, my perfectionist self mistakenly believed it was all about knowing more, getting it right, planning, attempting to prevent bad things from happening, and keeping all of my chicks in a row. It took me this long to discover that the JOURNEY is all that matters. This quote from Gilda Radner sums it all up:

"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.
"


Saturday, February 15, 2014

Elvis Was a Smart Man

"I believe the key to happiness is: 

someone to love, 

something to do, 

and 

something to look forward to."  

Elvis Presley



Yesterday was Valentine's Day.
It has been our tradition to go out for a romantic dinner at a restaurant.

It started before we had kids -
when we didn't have a lot of money and dressing up for a romantic dinner at a restaurant was not something we did much.
It was special.

We continued the tradition when we had children because,
well,
it was nice to get away and be alone for a few hours.

This year, Vance made a dinner reservation
but I told him to cancel it.
We were going to stay home this year.

After all, we eat out all the time, probably more than we should.
And there are no kids in the house.

So I planned a different Valentine's dinner this year.


I made Vance's favorite dessert
in the shape of a heart.


Whoopie pies!


Continuing with the theme,


I sliced up some potatoes (with my happy polka dot knife)



and cut out some hearts with a cookie cutter.




And finally, 


I made heart-shaped hamburgers.


A simple menu.


yet something you can't get in a restaurant.


and something we haven't done in, well, at least 23 years!


What Elvis said is true.

I had something to do.
I had something to look forward to.
 I had someone to love.

Hence,  I was happy.
WE were happy.



Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Love Double-Take

It amuses me when I look at young couples on Facebook and see all of the pictures they take of each other.  I remember being the same way with my husband in the early days of our relationship.  We each had a Canon AE-1 camera when we met and we took a lot of pictures. When there were no children in the picture yet,  and being the hot young things that we were (lol), we naturally enjoyed taking pictures of each other!

With Valentine's Day just a few days away, what better way is there to celebrate than to reflect on the days when our love was blossoming?


Here we were decorating the Christmas tree in my apartment when we were dating!




These pictures were taken at Virginia Beach back in 1983.




The moped pictures were from Block Island on the weekend we got engaged!



 And this is when I was introducing Vance to one of my favorite places - Cliffside Park in Burlington.



Some serious shots at a restaurant in Cape Cod...



Snorkeling in Aruba on our first Caribbean vacation...



And having some fun with an underwater camera!





I think these shots were from our trip to Antigua...








Gatorland in Florida was fun!



And so was Disney...



This was on our balcony in Bermuda before going to dinner...




We had some fun trips to NYC too ( in Central Park)...



In these pictures, we had moved into our current house.  It would be a few years until Adam came along!



Beginning on April 22, 1991,  we still took pictures of each other.
We were just never alone anymore!




Happy Valentine's Day!



Monday, February 3, 2014

May the Odds Be Forever in Our Favor!

Much of my time recently has been devoted to listening to TED talks online. TED (Techonology, Entertainment, Design) is a nonprofit devoted to "ideas worth spreading".  You can find over 1500 talks online about sooo many topics that are extremely interesting and informative.

Last week I listened to a TED talk about time perception.  Why does time sometimes go by fast and other times go by very slowly?

To summarize,  scientists believe we perceive time more slowly when we are doing new, unusual, or dynamic things.  The theory is that our perception of time slows when our brain is recording new memories and data.  That is why a year in our childhood seemed to last forever whereas a year in adulthood goes by really fast.  To a child, just about everything is a new experience.  As adults,  many of our experiences are repeats, things we've done many times before.

This all made sense to me initially, but now I think theory has a flaw.

After listening to this talk on time perception,  I took a trip to Rochester to pick up my daughter, Annie,  for a weekend at home for her birthday.  On my way there, I was alone.  I sang to songs on the radio, ate snacks, stopped multiple times for bathroom breaks.  The 5 hour trip seemed like 10 hours!  The monotany of that long, straight, flat road through New York state can put anyone to sleep!

On the way home, however, my daughter was with me.  We started talking as we pulled onto the highway.  We hadn't talked much in 3 weeks and it seemed like a lot had happened.  We went from one topic to another, talking about the present, past and future.  It was quite entertaining!

Time passed so fast! (This is in opposition to the theory that new things made time pass more slowly!)

I even said to Annie how fast the trip goes by when you have someone to talk to!  
And she replied that we hadn't even stopped to go to the bathroom!

This made me realize something else.  WE HADN'T STOPPED FOR GAS EITHER!
I quickly noticed the gas warning light was on, but how long had it been on for?

Luckily (I think), our car provides us with information on gas mileage and the distance to empty.



I looked at the dashboard and saw the distance until empty was 10 miles.
Then I looked below and saw the distance to the next rest area was 9.9 miles.
Shit!

I tried to conserve gas by coasting on downhills and kept driving, hoping the gas information was wrong.


Even though we were a little nervous, I have to admit living on the edge was exciting!
We cheered when the display showed 
the distance to empty was 9 miles and the rest area was only 7.7 miles.


When the gap widened to  3.1 miles,  I began to feel the odds were in our favor!


Finally, the sign for the rest area affirmed that it was only a mile away.
Even if we did run out of gas now,  we could easily walk a gallon
of gas back to the car.


 We were never so happy to see a gas station!  
As I was filling the gas tank, my adrenaline was pumping too.


This little adventure really made our trip home so much fun!
It's something we didn't plan
and it's something we'll never forget!
 And hopefully never repeat!

But I have to dispute the time perception theory.
My perception of time slowed with a boring, monotonous drive
and sped up tremendously with a dynamic conversation with my daughter.