If writers wrote stories as serendipitous as real life it is doubtful they would ever get published.

Our lives never follow a neat plot line. Unexpected, unplanned events, decisions and choices often derail our best laid plans and send us in new directions.

The one type of story that does imitate life and can find and audience is an adventure. Unlike mysteries, thrillers or tales of love or revenge, adventures don't need a plot. There is no cause and effect relationship.

An adventure keeps us in suspense with a series of unpredictable events. Every ending is a beginning.

Over the years I've found it easiest to experience life as an adventure and resist the temptation to explain everything. Certainly I could never have predicted that I would be living my life as I am now.

I haven't lived my life by any plan I had originally dreamed. Each time circumstances, sometimes of my making - sometimes not, have taken me on a detour. It has been both frightening and exciting.

I no longer expect events in my life to fit a ready-for-prime-time script. I try to embrace each new day as an adventure.

I am trying to resist the temptation to explain everything. Why doing my best isn't always good enough. Why the line in which I stand is usually the slow one. Why some people have to assign causes and blame to everything including the common cold. Why some things frighten me and others don't. Etc., Etc.

When things have gone wrong in my life I have prodded on out of curiosity, wondering what the next moment will bring. I am intrigued by the possibilities of tomorrow.

Life is full of surprises. Some of my most challenging experiences, some of the lowest periods of my life have set in motion twists and turns that have led to extraordinary opportunities and happiness.

Discovering what might happen next is for me compelling and exciting.

Life is an adventure. Treat yourself to something that makes you happy today that fills you with joy. Curl up on the couch and take a nap, putter in the garden, eat an ice cream cone, go to a movie matinee, watch cartoons, eat cotton candy, take a bubble bath, ride your horse, play outside with your children, go window shopping for cars, call your mom, sit under a tree with a good book, build something, take something apart, play with the dog, go to the beach, make cookies, call a friend, go for a walk. Do something relaxing,fun...something just for you.

Trust your intuition. Don't let your reason get the upper hand, as it usually does and silence your premonitions. They are a secret envoy trying to tell you something. Don't discard the priviledged information that is yours and yours alone.

What's unique about this particular form of self-knowledge is the immediacy. No soul-searching is involved. No session on a couch. No twelve step program. You get just-the-facts-ma'am the plain unvarnished truth delivered directly to you by the express messenger of your unconsciousness.

Even though most intuitive signals are designed to keep us out of harm's way, others simply record our involuntary reactions to the world around us.

Whether it be intuition or a hunch it may be worth giving it some attention.

Welcome unexpected interruptions. They are often the prologue to happy accidents.

Make the most of everything, one moment at a time.

'The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping old ones.' - John Maynard Keynes.

We are currently changing computer systems at work. Everyone is working hard to learn the new formats and how to enter information so the data will give the desired results. I found myself with a distinct advantage over some of the others.

Why? Because I had never worked on the old system. I didn't have any preconcieved ideas of how something was supposed to work.

I find that some of the incredible people I work with are giving me undeserved credit. It is as though they think I have some special grasp of the new system. The truth is they are they ones that are extraordinary because they are learning the new system while trying to extrapolate old thoughts and to stop anticipating old responses.

No       Opportunity      Wasted

Yes, you can be a dreamer and a doer too, if you will remove one word from your vocabulary: impossible.     H. Robert Schuller

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend by the name of Common Sense who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such value lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm and that life isn't always fair.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not kids, are in charge). His health began to rapidly deteriorate when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.

Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. 

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Finally, Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten commandments became contraband, churches became businesses, and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense finally gave up the ghost after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot; she spilled a bit in her lap and was awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by two stepbrothers; My Rights and Ima Whiner. 

 

I was asked...
 
Is it possible for a lady to be gleefully "as hard to catch as the wind," and still have someone to watch over them?
 
I hope so.
 
My whole life I have been an oximoran wanting to fit in and be accepted but finding it uncomfortable when I try to conform.   I've wanted to be wild and free and not care what other's think and yet I live my life trying not to upset anyone and seeking approval.
 
Can someone who has been described as being as hard to catch as the wind still have someone to watch over them?   I hope so.   

'When opportunity comes, it's too late to prepare.' John Wooden

Usually I am happy from the inside out and if I'm not I am able to camoflauge my feelings.

This weekend is different. Strangely, I feel like I just want to be taken care of. Not a feeling I have often or give myself the luxury to indulge. This weekend though the words to this old song seem to apply.

There’s a somebody I’m longing to see
I hope that he turns out to be
Someone who’ll watch over me
I’m a little lamb who’s lost in the wood
I know I could always be good
Someone who’ll watch over me

Although he may not be the man some
Girls think of as handsome
To my heart he carries the key
Won’t you tell him please to put on some speed
Follow my lead, oh, how I need
Someone to watch over me

May you have someone to watch over you today.

A friend of mine was sharing how special his wife Joy is to his life. They are celebrating their 34th anniversary this weekend. He shared that he gives her a rose for each year they have been married.

A poem for them to share:

How Wonderful To Have You In My Life

How wonderful to have you in my life!
All my feelings whirl about my heart!
Perhaps I can't contain that I'm your wife;
Perhaps I don't know how or where to start.
You have me always, no matter what you do:
A gift I give my gift, joyously.
Nothing means as much to me as you;
Nothing else so fully makes me, me.
If I had everything that God could grant,
Very little there would bring me peace.
Enwrapped in you is everything I want:
Rapture, warmth, affection, sweet release.
So strong my love! So happy, sure, and strong!
A thousand thousand years would not seem long!
Reason tells me everything must end,
Yet you will always be my lover-friend.

He said I was in my early forties
with a lot of life before me
when a moment came that stopped me on a dime
and I spent most of the next days
looking at the x-rays
Talking bout the options
and talking bout sweet time
I asked him when it sank in
that this might really be the real end
how'd it hit you when you get that kinda news
man what'd you do

and he said
I went sky diving
I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named BluManchu
and I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter
and I gave forgiveness I'd been denying
and he said someday I hope you get the chance
to live like you were dying.

He said I was finally the husband
that most the time I wasn't
and I became a friend a friend would like to have
and all the sudden going fishin
wasn't such an imposition
and I went three times that year I lost my dad
well I finally read the good book
and I took a good long hard look
at what I?d do if I could do it all again

and then
I went sky diving
I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named BluManchu
and I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter
and I gave forgiveness I'd been denying
and he said someday I hope you get the chance
to live like you were dying.

Like tomorrow was a gift and you got eternity to think about
what'd you do with it what did you do with it
what did I do with it
what would I do with it?

Sky diving
I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named BluManchu
and then I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter
and I watched an eagle as it was flying
and he said someday I hope you get the chance
to live like you were dying.
To live like you were dying
To live like you were dying
To live like you were dying
To live like you were dying

Reminds me of what my dad told me once after he came to terms that he had cancer. He said we are all going to die someday, in some way. He was given a special gift because he was given a reminder to live each day as though it was going to be his last. My dad always cherished his life and those who loved him.

A precious lesson. One that helps to explain the way I live.

Enjoy your day. Squeeze in some fun, a hug and notice something that may have escaped your observation before.

My question to all of you is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.

After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question.

"When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. "I believe, that when a child like Shay comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes, in the way other people treat that child."

Then he told the following story: Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball.

Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?"

Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging. Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay could play.

The boy looked around for guidance and, getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.

In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the outfield.

Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible 'cause Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able to make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.

As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher took the ball and turned and threw the ball on a high arc to right field, far beyond the reach of the first baseman.

Everyone started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!"

Never in his life had Shay ever made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"

By the time Shay rounded first base, the right fielder had the ball.

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions and intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.

Shay ran toward second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases toward home.

Shay reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third!"

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams were screaming, "Shay, run home!"

Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the "grand slam" and won the game for his team.

"That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world."

She wanted to follow her curiosity. When she came to a fork in the road she wanted to create a path down the middle.

There are so many different ways to have fun. I love that I have been blessed with an over active enthusiasm gland and can find real joy in everything from eating a popsicle, walking on the beach, going to movies, enjoying an adventure, riding my bike, watching the clouds and imagining pictures in their shapes, to dining in a fine restaurant and seeing a Broadway play.

There are a kaleidoscope of different views. A Baskin Robbin's of assorted flavored choices to make.

Our lives are all fast paced and hectic it is more important than ever to take time to have fun.

Treat yourself to a little fun today. You deserve it. Give yourself the gift of this moment.

Hmmm, maybe that is why it is called the "present"?!?