Home Sweet Home

On Saturday, I decided to fly back to AZ from the adult spring break to catch a good friend's 26th birthday dinner. In typical fashion, I made it to the airport just in time to get through security and literally walk onto the plan for departure. I, with sweat beads slowly forming on my forehead, make the call to Dr. Dashing..."I can't believe it; I made it!" The woman walking on the plane in front of me turns around and replies, "I just cooled down from my sprint through the airport too. Great work!" Ha, guess running late to the airport is more common than I imagined.

I have trained myself (geez, I sound like I'm a dog) to fall asleep on the plane before it even takes off. It's the weirdest thing. I actually can walk on the plane feeling so energetic and awake, and in 2 minutes after boarding feel sleepy and am knocked out. The other passengers on the plane must think I got sloshed at the airport bar!

I sleep through the entire 1.5 hour flight back home and awoke just in time to see us flying over the downtown Phoenix area ready for landing. Darn it, I missed the peanuts and drinks again! It was just about that time that I realized....Shit, my house AND car keys are still in San Diego. So thinking there may be a chance that Dr. Dashing forgot to lock our screen door, I head home on the city's newly build light rail system (a total of 1 hour travel time...I only live 10 minutes from the airport. Maybe that wasn't a good idea).

I get home and... nope, all doors locked. Why did Dr. Dashing have to be responsible when he left home this trip? All my lockout keys are with Dr. Dashing 's family...who are all in San Diego. I try to keep calm, but my quick emotions got the best of me and I call Dr. Dashing with tears welling up in my eyes. I call a 24 hour locksmith and sit on my suitcase outside my loft's door. I'm sure I just looked pitiful. To make the story shorter, the locksmith says"Good news and bad news...you have great locks on your door that make your place 100% safe. That means that it's bad news for you right now. I can't pick these locks - only drill them which will cost hundreds in the end." What! Are you kidding me! HE even said..."Don't cry!" No, I want to cry. I'm supposed to be at a birthday dinner in 2 hours and all I have is a clean plain t-shirt.

The most import part of the story isn't really how I got to the birthday or how the dinner went, it was my experience the next day...Sunday. I had to find a place to sleep, car to borrow, and something to do keep myself busy as Dr. Dashing wouldn't been home until late Sunday night with a key. I had the day all to myself with nowhere to go. I found myself at Starbucks reading a magazine for 3 hours then migrating to see my first solo movie in the theater (highly recommend seeing I Love You, Man!). It was so exhausting emotionally because all I wanted to do was head home and collapse on my bed.

In the end, I learned something so much more meaningful. I learned that spending time with yourself is probably one of the most important things you can do for yourself. Seeing a movie, a comedy, alone was invigorating to say the least. I think I actually paid more attention to the movie because I wasn't having a side conversation with my date. I learned that you can make the best of bad situations and rise above the emotional drain to actually enjoy being with yourself. I actually now would recommend for everyone to "lock" themselves out of the house for 24 hours with no vehicle and see how you make due. It's amazing what you'll come up with. Enjoy the homelessness!

The Adult Spring Break Revisited

Throughout college, I embraced the word "spring break." The mere thought of a week out of school and sunshine brought that happy/tingling feeling to me. I'm sure that a smile drew across my face every March to look forward to a week of friends, fun, beach, drinks, photos, and road trips....a mere delight. In March of 2006, I went through a mourning period saying a fond farewell to the days of spring break as college came to a close. I buried the idea and wrote 'good times' on the tombstone. However, spring break has risen from the dead!

Last week, I, with my spring break cane as I'm now an old spring breaker, headed out to San Diego to enjoy 7 whole days of break. This adult spring break actually not all that different in a few ways....let me paint you a picture.

College spring break: Crammed 5, 6, 7 or more people into a small beach hotel room with one bedroom and one bathroom - we had to get the most bang for our buck - we were cheap college students!

Adult spring break: Crammed 7 adults ranging from ages 24-85 in a one bedroom one bath condo on the beach (Me, Dashing, and his family)

College spring break: Drinking games and late nights.

Adult spring break: Euchre (card game) that lasted all night.

Are you seeing the parallels here? Well it was a great break from work and school, but in a weird way, the adult spring break revisited has proven to be just as much fun!

Milestones

At some point in life, you realize that you are at a different point in life than everyone else. Different experiences in jobs, relationships, school, and family all prepare us differently in how we approach life and what perspectives we take.

This week has been one of those milestones for me that recognizing your difference can actually help build better relationships. Understanding one another for each person's individual experiences can help you better predict or better accept one's words and actions. In a conversation with Dashing's sister, Miss E (read her blog at http://missesmisadventures.blogspot.com/), on Wednesday, we both have discovered that being in a committed relationship seems to calm to hunger for drama (ok, so in most cases). How is it that one piece of your life, a significant other, can change what kind of interactions you have with others? It's a unique puzzle to put together - trying to build a support system of friends that is - as we're all in different places, despite our ages being the same or not. As we further engage in conversations, experience new situations, and meet new people, our perspectives on life change. We come to expect more in some areas, demand less of other things, crave new things, and become in a hurry to dismiss others.

So the challenge presents when you are headed down the path of change to the north, while good friends are heading south. As peoples' interests and values change, can you accept them for who they are, or do break the bonds of friendship knowing that one day, your new experiences may return you to the same direction. I must believe that it is a harmony of the two - understanding each others' friendship needs and discovering who fulfills what and who doesn't. This goes hand in hand with understanding and accepting when your friends are in their own lives (their experiences and perspectives). In other words, don't expect a Ms. Dramamaniac to spend evenings watching old movies and talking about the meaning of life, and don't expect a Ms. Lifemeaning to want to listen to your 4 week old gossip. Know your friends by listening - hear where they are, and fulfill your friendship needs with what they can offer, while on the flip side knowing what they can't.

What the heck is Twitter?

No, no. That's it. That's my post. What is Twitter? I don't get it.

Sick days are not like snow days

I've come down with a cold. So, yesterday, I worked from home - laptop on lap propped up in bed. The box of tissues within a quick reach, TV news on. It sounds like a glorious day to spend all day in bed - but sick days are no snow days. The headache, the runny nose, coughing, sneezing all while trying to work. However, it actually all worked out quite nicely. I was able to not only be work productive, but also caught up on worldly events, rest, and got some laundry done. As 5 o'clock passed, I put away the computer and focused the remainder of the evening on rest and relaxation. I spent some quality phone time with Miss. B and then with an old friend, Miss. L. As I get older, I realize that is can be even more difficult to keep in touch with friends as we spread ourselves thin with work schedules, school schedules, and significant others. It's easy to put off that 30 minute phone call until the next day, or the next day. But, in the end - if it's important to you, that 30 minutes is a lifetime of good friendships. So, despite the snot dripping from my nose, I stayed on the phone for quite some time last night, putting in my time into my friendships.