Do you remember the Seinfeld episode where FDR makes a birthday wish and kooky Kramer who is a b-day wish believer, does everything he can to reverse it? It got me thinking…
July 23rd, 2010
My Birthday Wish
June 17th, 2010
A Father's Day Post
Father’s Day is a mere moments away. While I can’t be physically near my father since he’s in another state, I thought I’d post an old article I wrote for him years ago. I hope you’ll enjoy it and have a Happy Father’s Day yourself!
Perhaps the greatest evidence of age comes in comparison to those around you. When I was big enough to walk, but small enough to need daddy’s hand to hold, the world was still young and so was he and I. Big hands to cover tiny fingers were what security embodied looked like. I needed him for support and he willingly obliged. As I got older, my father would run past me calling me “slowpoke” because I would always fall behind. I remember our weekly walks to the neighborhood park where I would stare at his feet gigantic in comparison to mine. To walk beside him I needed to take double steps to his one and I thought to myself that I would never be grown up enough to catch up to him. No matter how fast I walked beside him, he would always be faster. That’s how fathers should be I thought, forever.
As our pace began to mirror each other, the distance between us also disappeared. The park that I once built my childhood on had also changed. When I became an adult, the same park didn’t feel as safe. It had become the home for the homeless and filled with addicts and graffiti. Funny how so much can change within one’s lifetime.
As I left my twenties, I began to notice a difference in our walks together. I was starting to know more about life, through my education, our unshared experiences, by living in other states. Where once we raced ahead into an unknown future, now our pace grew slower to catch up for him. His knees hurt he said. His back was too sore to go on. And I was the one who said, “We’re almost home” instead of him who used to coach me on. I could tell that he was frustrated. Our bodies fail us with age it’s true. It makes me sad that life goes that way though it is inevitable.
I still walk with my father, side by side. And I am grateful for all the moments captured in the paces we’ve walked, one step at a time. I’ve realized, as I got older that it’s not how fast or how far you go, but all the pleasures of the precious moments in between.
March 2nd, 2010
An Inspiring Letter
I got a surprise in my inbox yesterday. No it wasn’t, “You’ve won a million dollars” letter. Although I do get those too. Instead it was information on an upcoming movie based on a true story called, “Letters to God.”
Not one to watch trailers, curiosity took hold and I sat and watched. Here’s a short synopsis of the movie and if you’re curious like me, check out the trailer down below.
A heartfelt tale of inspiration, hope and redemption, Letters to God is the story of what happens when one boy’s walk of faith crosses paths with one man’s search for meaning—the resulting transformational journey touches the lives of everyone around them.
Inspired by a true story, Letters to God is an intimate, moving and often funny story about the galvanizing effect one child’s belief can have on his family, friends and community.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bYaYvcqFk8&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
May 11th, 2009
Riding the Roller Coaster of Life
I was off on another mini adventure this weekend, and this time it was with my favorite mouse. Yes me and the hubs headed to one of our favorite destinations, Disneyland, for the upteenth time. Though we had tons of fun riding my all time faves like Pirates and Big Thunder, it was a different kind of magic that befell me and that inspires me to write this entry.
It all starts with my love of roller coasters. Let’s just say though I can’t get enough of them, they scare me to death. Even though I’ve ridden Matterhorn and Big Thunder Mountain a hundred times, I always get stricken with fear right before I get on. My husband thinks it’s funny that, for example, I always look down when approaching the gigantic mechanical snake in Indiana Jones because I’m too scared to look at it, or that I get so nervous before any ride even though I’ve been on it a thousand times. But here’s what’s so magical about it. I realized that these “rides” were symbolic of CHANGE in my life. Right before I get on, there’s a lot of waiting which leaves time for anticipation. And questions such as, “Can I handle this? What if I don’t like it?” make my palms sweat and my heart beat faster. I start to question whether or not I’m prepared for it. Then, I began to doubt myself. Wouldn’t it be easier, for example, if I just stuck with something safe like, “It’s a Small World”? Sure, it may be a big bore, but at least I know what I’m in for. Yet, though there are enough excuses not to try, there’s only one reason why you should. Because life isn’t supposed to be about predictability and safety. Life is about living. It is hard and it is challenging but it is meant to be fully lived.
And so in the end, I always take the plunge. Although I’m afraid of the challenge, I can’t risk what I’d be missing. And the result? Well it’s a lot like life. You feel the fear and adrenaline as you climb, but when you let go and move with the flow, it produces the most awesome kind of ride. The kind where you feel alive. While I was racing through the dark in sharp turns and unexpected dips, I screamed until my voice was hoarse but I was laughing at the same time, and I realized that this joy I was experiencing was not just the magic of Disney’s Magic Kingdom but that it was also about that magical little gift that we call life.
Facing Fears, Following your dreams, Inspirational Stories | 
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