Run, Laugh, Eat, Repeat

For the 21st day of the Blogember challenge to blog each day, I am writing five unique facts about me. 1.  I once hiked the highest peak in the state of New York at a height of 5,344.  It was a first date about 15 years ago, that did not result in a second date.  It ended up being a disaster when we had to spend the night at the top due to poor planning, surviving a thunder and lightening storm.  My feet were a disaster upon return, hadn't packed enough food, water or warmth and although it was 90+ degrees when we began it was cold and wet at the top.  But I did it.  I returned and my closest friend, who was so upset with the 'date' gave me her Mt. Marcy #1 pin to commemorate the occasion and remind me never go unprepared again! 2.  I love sports.  Baseball, hockey, football to be specific.  And NCAA basketball.  When I was 12 my stepfather taught me to keep score for his little league baseball team, and once I learned a...

http://www.luthervandross.com/news/great-luther-vandross-deals-amazon-today-only photo credit:  luthervandross.com As today is the 20th of November, it is also Day 20 of Blogember challenge to blog each day during the month of November. When I think back to my teenage years I recall many concerts that I attended at the amphitheater in the hometown I grew up in - SPAC ( Saratoga Performing Arts Center).  As I recall the first one was likely Foreigner .. not particularly memorable.  And there were lots more in the late 70's and through the mid-80's…. The Cars, Asia, Brian Adams, Journey, Doobie Brothers, Jimmy Buffet …. And yet today the memories rattling round my brain are of a different kind.  Today would have been a dear, old friend's 50th birthday .. he died a few years ago at age 47 due to liver failure.  He and I were married nearly 9 years, and then apart 10 years before he died. The most memorable concerts I attended were with him.  We sa...

Memories of my childhood bakery with a cannoli …. As this roller coaster ride of emotions and outpouring continues on Day 19 challenge to blog each day in the month of November for Blogember I recall my first job. I often say that when we recall the past, things that appear to have gone on forever, are often relatively short in the grand scheme of things.  After my dad passed away when I was 8, my mom remarried a year later.  By the time I was 10 they went into business together opening a neighborhood Italian bakery on the west side of the town I grew up in. This was long before the days of Carlo's Bakery where cakes cost hundreds, even thousands of dollars. A bakery was a lot of hours and energy for very little profit back then.  To that end, I was cheap labor and was trained to bag rolls and make change at the cash register.  In retrospect it talk me a lot about customer service, the value of relationships in returning customers and how running a family b...

For Day 18 of the Blogember challenge to blog each day during the month of November, today's topic is the Happiest Moment of my Life.  Hmmm. … this could get interesting! I believe that life is an array of moments strung together creating who we are and what we stand for.  And during those moments we encounter joy, pain, disappointment, sorrow, glee and a miriad of emotions and experiences along the way. Certainly the ones that stand out for me are the moment my daughter was born.  She was truly a gift from God - a miracle - a blessing - and long-awaited at that!  She's the life that my husband and I created from the love that we share.  And along that same vane, when I married my husband was an incredibly happy moment as well.  We didn't marry until age 35, each bringing our histories and patterns into the life we chose to share together.  It was a long road up until then, and now it's a shared one! Other happiest moments: *  Climbing...

Today's post for Blogember - the commitment to blog each day during the month of November is about choosing my happiest year in Elementary school and why. Elementary school is much of a blur of school and teachers that largely run together, with the exception of a few moments that stand out with ringing clarity. The year I was in second grade was marked with another change to Division Street School and blessed with Mrs. Barbara Chubb as my teacher.  I'm not sure I'd call it idyllic, yet  by all other signs it appeared to be a quite normal school year.  Until my father 'got sick' in February and died in early June before the end of that school year. And then the world changed. Immediately. I recall an instant change in responsibility and how life as I knew it would never, ever be the same. I would not call that my happiest year.  I would call that my most life-changing.  Would first grade be my happiest because it was the last school year I had my ...

"Thought about stopping, then ran harder." Day 16 for the Blogember challenge is a 6-word memoir. I could substitute 'ran' for 'tried' almost every day.  Even if for just a brief moment I am paralyzed with fear, confusion, doubt - I press on.  And that is the very best time …. knowing that I still have the power within me to continue to 'fight'. This can be a physical challenge, emotional challenge or just what appears to be a mountain of work to overcome…. whatever it is, if I choose to find a way through it, rather than around it - I'm successful. Happened again this week at work - and my husband reminded me last night.  Why did you let it get you down for two days when you knew they best way to solve it was head-on, with a direct conversation?  He's right.  But I'm not successful with the conversation until I'm mentally prepared to have it.  And yesterday I did.   That's my mantra.  For running, and for l...

For the 15th day of the Blogember challenge to blog each day during the month of November, today's topic is my favorite halloween costume. Hmmmm ….. Halloween was not a beloved holiday in my childhood home.  I don't have many memories of costumes or parties.  I recall pictures of one of my first Halloweens, perhaps I was two, where I was Peter Potumus (the hippo).  But after that I don't find photos or recall memories. I recall the summer when I was 21, during college when I was in a figuring out my life phase.  And of course that what I should have been doing at that age.  Yet, I expected to have figured things out by then.  Boy, I wish I knew then what I know now, huh? I had spent the spring and summer dating a guy with a big family and a kind heart.  My family liked him, his circle of friends had accepted me and it seemed to be going well.  That was until it stopped going well.  At the end of the summer.  I don't really k...