I miss my old friend Ann

I miss you Ann Taylor! For as long as I remember this was my go to store. I could count on Ann for any occasion and would be sure to find a least one thing that I loved when ever I stopped by. But something happened, and although we have been together for over 15 years I finally had to part company. Not sure what the final straw was, but it just didn't feel like me any more. A couple of new friends have come into my life and I am now more inclined to White House Black Market and Anthropologie. Every once in a while I can find something at The Creek, but it is mostly when I am shopping with my mother. I somehow feel a little too young to make that my main source, but if I want comfort I am sure to find it there.

I'm Back!

Dear Blog,
It has been a while since I sat at this keyboard but I finally decided that I need to get back to some of the things that I love and have been missing in life. One of those is writing. Words are in me and they need to come out! What more can I say?

I will take a few moments and let you know where I am at....

Professionally, I still enjoy working, but some of the charm has gone. I find work a little routine and feel that I am working too much with paper and not enough with people. I am a people person and need to be doing something with people. I like the people that I work with and I like the balance that having a job provides, but there are times that I wish I could leave at three or start a 11. I guess there aways has to be something to wish for ... right? I will write more about work later, but that is a synopsis of that area of my life!

The light of my life is definitely my boys! Alex just recently turned 20! OMG ... he is no longer a teen, but has turned into a fine young man. Presently living in Los Angeles and working a an intern for an on line company, his future seems bright and full of promise. David now 16 is my companion! He is doing well in school and has turned into a fine athlete; water polo and swim are his sports. Currently he is pursuing his driver's licence. Both boys seem very happy and balanced and that makes me happy too!

Jose is at the peak of his career. It seems that all of the jobs in his life were preparing him for this one. I can't remember a time that he has felt more confident and happy in his professional life. The one trade of is that it keeps him away from us. We talk every day!

So that is a summary of where we are and where we are is all over the place, but we are held together by love and the hope that one day we will all be together again.

San Diego Summer Pops 2010

Another season of the San Diego Symphony Summer Pops begins. We were thrilled to have award winning composer Marvin Hamlisch conduct the season opener! Thanks to our dear friend Paul and Clara for the front row seats! It’s going to be a great season. Next week… Kool & The Gang!

Who knew!

I received this email from an old friend that I had not seen or heard from in years....

Hi, I finally write. Last night i was thinking of you. I was thinking about a time I went to vist you and asked you if you ever knew someone that you loved that had an alcohol problem and if you knew how to help them. You said yes. The next day you came by the casitas with your baby in a strooler and handed me a book. I think it was called Co-Dependant No More. It was abook that chnaged my life... and the way I looked at relationships....and two... it pointed me in the right direction that ... eventually, I myself quit drinking. I will be sober on April 3 of this year for 16 years. So, take some credit for that Miss Patricia.

I guess it is true that you never really know how you impact someone else's life. I did not remember doing this but it seems like something that I would have done. The baby in the stroller is Alex of course and he just turned 19!

I feel good about this! :)

I hate shopping!

I am a woman, but I do not shop! Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a shopper, but today I honored my husband and went shopping with him. After about half an hour in the Kenneth Cole store at the local outlet, I excused myself and headed off to see what interesting things I could find at the mall. I do love shoes so I soon found myself in a shoe store, but unfortunately the shoes I found were nothing that I would ever wear. Check them out:



After running as fast as I could out of the shoe store I wandered around the mall to see what I could find....interesting! I felt like the fashion police on the hunt! Although I do not pretend to be a fashionista even my unrefined eye could see that some of these people should have stayed home or at least invested in a mirror...



OK, maybe shopping can be fun! : )

Today is the first day of the hardest four years of your life. It will take a toll on you physically, mentally and emotionally. Your work will never be done. There will always be some crisis, some world-shaping issue that needs your attention. I can’t even begin to imagine what it will be like. I can’t put myself in your shoes but I can commit to surround you with prayer.

• I pray for wisdom to guide your decisions and the ability to discern right from wrong.
• I pray that you will be surrounded with the counsel of wise and godly men.
• I pray for your protection from the schemes and plans of evil men.
• I pray for the ability to make the tough and unpopular decisions.
• I pray that you would be able to see through the lies of those whose desire is only for their own gain.
• I pray for your heart to be filled with a love for peace but also the strength to stand against the forces of injustice in our world.

President Obama, thank you for being willing to lead our country in this time when a strong leader is needed. I celebrate with you and the rest of our country this monumental day in our nation’s history.

As luck would have it!

We had just taken off and I was about to put my iPod on when the man next to me began the usual airline chit chat. He seemed pleasant enough so I obliged and continued the conversation. He quickly told me that he was flying to Portland as he is the assistant coach for the Portland LumberJax Professional Lacrosse team! Hmm! How interesting since both of my boys love lacrosse. In the course of our conversation I found out that not only does he coach lacrosse, but he also played lacrosse for the Victoria Shamrocks and for Team Canada (Canada's National Lacrosse team) for 10 years. Conversation flowed easily and he also told me that he teaches welding at Camosun College but I could tell that his real love was lacrosse.
He asked my name and I asked his...Kevin Alexander he said. Yes, the name rang a bell but I honestly couldn't say from where. It was until I got home and googled him that I found out why he sounded familiar. This is what I found:

"Kevin Alexander has been described as the "Gretzky of the lacrosse floor." His prowess with the stick was phenomenal and his astronomical scoring feats throughout his career were instrumental in leading teams that he played for to championships. In his last two years as a junior he led the Victoria McDonald's to the 1976 Minto Cup Junior Canadian championship. He amassed 204 points in 28 games in 1975 and 217 points in 28 games in 1976. His senior career in the Western Lacrosse Association ran from 1977 to 1986, eight of which he played with the Victoria Payless. In exactly 300 games his tally was 797 goals and 584 assists. It is clear that had he enjoyed a longer career his stats would be incomparable. Alexander was a skilled player with an instinctive understanding of the game. His combination of speed and insight made him nearly impossible to stop once he was close to the net. His greatest moments in lacrosse came with his Minto Cup championship as a junior and leading his team to win the Mann Cup in 1979 and 1983. In 1986 he was named the best midfielder at the world field lacrosse championships, which are held every four years, and he was named to the All World team.
Member of the Lacrosse Hall of Fame since 1991. Position - Attack/Midi"

After reading this I realized that I had been sitting next to a lacrosse legend. I remembered the name because he was a lacrosse hero whose name frequently appeared in the local newspaper when I was in high school. I thought it was strange that likely no one on that aircraft could have appreciated sitting next to him as much as I did. The trip went fast and I felt lucky to have met him.

Snow

Canada08

Homecoming ORHS 2008

I have to say that our oldest son is a source of great pride for us. We love both of our boys equally, but tonight we are especially proud of Alex. Of course, a Mother's love for her son is a special bond and we definitely share something special.

Last night was the Homecoming dance for his high school and he went with his girlfriend of 7 months. They make such a nice couple. I am happy that he has found someone that complements him and shares the same values as our family.

This last week was spirit week at ORHS and part of that was the election of the Big Man on Campus and the Queen of our high school. In the end it was another boy who won, but it was thrilling that Alex was nominated for this honor.

Not only is he in the top 6% of his class, a sportsman (Captain of both the varsity Lacrosse and Waterpolo teams) he is a Christ follower and leads both teams in prayer before every game.

We love you Alex...let your candle light the world.

One of the things that I love about living in SoCal is that in late October you can swim outdoors. We are blessed with having a beautiful pool in our yard and a perfect house for parties. Tonight we had about 30 boys over and I was thrilled to see them having so much fun in and out of the water. We had a team bonding party here at the house for the boys JV and Varsity water polo team. There was a fine variety of food; lumpia, hot dogs, chicken wings, pasta, chips, soda ... all of the good stuff that makes a party fun. Of course, pool side music was provided by the OutCast wireless speaker!

We have been heavily involved in water polo since Alex was a freshman and he is having a stellar season his senior year. In fact, he is team captain and has just broken the school record for most goals scored in a season and there are still three more games to play! Maybe we are just a little bit proud! Also, this last past weekend he played in a invitational regional tournament and won Most Valuable Player. He was presented with the medal shown here. We are so happy for our son. It seems that teenagers get such a bad rap, but I can honestly say that the teenagers we know through sports and our church are a great bunch of kids.

Random thoughts of a typical weekend

Last night we had some old friends over for dinner. It was nice to spend time with them and catch up with the details of their lives. We shared a delicious meal, if I do say so myself and drank some very nice wine. All in all it was a pleasant evening and reminded me of how important friends are in our lives.

Sunday we headed off to church early. There are lots of people that we have not seen at church lately so I thought that they may go to a different service than we do. Sure enough we ran into some friends that we had not seen for a while. During the service I began thinking that I need to get more involved with our church again. There was a time that I was busy with church things three times a week . I miss that and although I am not sure that I want to be quite so involved, perhaps I need to be more involved than I am now. I am seriously considering hosting a couples bible study at our house, so I have decided to pray about this and see what direction God wants me to move on this.

After lunch I felt the need to hit the road, so I donned the bike gear and headed out for a good long ride. I felt jubilant when I was able to make it home without stopping except when I got caught at a light near the end. I can see that I am improving and I like that. This week I am going to begin lifting again. Not sure where I am going to fit this into the schedule, but it has been a while and I am ready to push myself and take this to the next level.

Today we received the official invitation to Christmas dinner with the Tait's. We will need to made some decisions fairly soon on this otherwise we may not get the best flights. I have never spent a Christmas at home and although we had intended to head south, I am now thinking that north may be the best option. In a perfect world we would go north for Christmas and south for New Year's....hmmm if only we were really, really rich!

This is a photo of David with some friends at Church today. He will be 14 on Tuesday. Where has the time gone? Notice the hair! About a month ago these three kids had long hair now they all have short hair. At least David has hair since the other dudes look like they got the prison cut.

Happy Birthday Paul!

It's not every day that someone you know has an 83rd birthday and it just so happens the this weekend our friend Paul did just that. It is so wonderful to have a friends of all ages as it makes life more interesting and gives one a different perspective on life.

I have known Paul for about 20 years. It was my husband who introduced us as they had a working relationship, but it turned out to be Paul and I who really ended up making a connection. Until recently we worked together, if you can call it that. For me it was more fun than work, but it was work just the same. Bottom line is that for four months of every year I run his company for him so that he can take off and do what he loves to do...travel to Mexico!

During our time I have had the good fortune of helping Paul out of some terrible medical situations. When he talks about this he says that twice I have saved his life and that might be true. Although what I did for Paul is not anything that I wouldn't have done for another friend. Isn't that what friends are for!

One of the things that I love about Paul is his great sense of humor and the fact that he laughs at my jokes makes me like him even more.

Happy Birthday my dear friend! I hope you are with us for many more.

Dear Dad!

Today is the anniversary of your last day with us on this earth. I remember well that you so desperately wanted to leave and that I felt happy for you when your time finally came. I miss you so much, but I know you are with me always.

The perfect thing about today was I was actually able to feel happiness. You know it is not in my nature to be sad. It took me a while to get here, but I know you would want me to be happy and I am.

One of the special things that happened today was it rained. It has not rained here for a long time and today it did. Of course it made me think of you. Please stay close to me Dad, I still need you!

Island Girls Forever!

The strange thing about being an Island Girl is that the island never really lets you go. It has some magical, mystical pull that draws you back. When I look at all of the people who have left, yes moved away, it is amazing to me how many return. Right now I feel the pull and I am being drawn back. The Island is callling me and I am resisting the urge.

Normally I like to get back at least once a year. I have my routine of what I like to do, who I like to see and of course what I like to eat. Yes, I feel that irristible desire to return and I am not sure why. Sometimes I wonder if I will end up calling it home again some day. It seems like my friends are all waiting for me. They look at me knowingly as if to say, ya your coming back and maybe one day that will happen.

In the meantime, I am excited as I will spend Saturday with one of the other Island Girls. We will be getting together to tell our stories and share our secrets. We have known each other since before I was 20 and never lost touch. I am sure we will laugh, cry and laugh some more, but it will all be good after all we are more that just friends we are Island Girls. Yes, Island Girls forever!

First Day of Fall

Today is the first day of fall. Throughout my life I have always enjoyed this time of year, but for the last few years; well two to be exact it has become a melancholy time for me. Although on the outside I like to maintain a "happy" facade inside I feel quite differently. It was only two years ago that we realized Dad would not see Christmas. It was in September that I brought the boys home to see their Grandfather for the last time. We all knew it was the last time, which made the trip bittersweet.

Dad was so excited to see the boys. He had a list of all of the things he wanted to do with them none of which he would fulfill. To this day I still have the list! Time was of the essence now, especially since he was on a time line. He still felt reasonably well so an outing was planned to Starbucks the morning after we arrived. We jumped out of the car and began walking toward the coffee shop and suddenly his legs collapsed and he had to steady himself on Alex and I. It took a moment, but he regained his strength and we continued the short distance to a chair. Once seated we all sat stunned by what had just happened. What did just happen? When we talked to the hospice nurse she said that the body begins to die in the limbs and usually the legs go first. We had just witnessed the first signs that he would not live forever nor even for long. It was a sad time; a time of many prayers, tears and difficult choices.

We each assumed our role. My mother was the caregiver, sister support and I the leader. I spent countless hours with my dad. In fact, I spent more time with him than anyone else. We planned the details of who should be called when the inevitable happened, what bills had to be paid and what documents had to signed, etc. I took him for his last car ride, hair cut and shopping at London Drugs. He had been there for all of my "firsts" and I was there for all of his "lasts". Every night I prayed until I fell asleep. Yes, it is possible to pray and weep at the same time.

I will be writing more about this over the next few weeks as we approach the anniversary of his passing.

Shaken not stirred please

I would not consider myself as a drinker, however every once in a while I do enjoy a good drink. If there is a drink that I would consider mine it is a Cosmo. I love the look; a deep pink liquid, almost red, very seductive. I love to hold the chilled martini glass in my hand, twirl the stem and then bring it to my lips and sip. Almost immediately I can feel the effect. It starts in my head and works through my entire body. I think it heightens my senses and makes me feel . . . well, let's just say, it makes me feel tingly all over. Mmmmm! I can never drink two; just one chilly Cosmo does it for me. Shaken not stirred please.

Life is like a great novel !

Today I did something that I never thought I would do. What it is doesn't matter for now, but I have always lived life a little differently than most. I feel that life has taken me to places I never would have believed possible if I wasn't able to take a chance and push myself out of my comfort zone. I don't think that I randomly take uncalculated risks, but rather I am not afraid to live life to the fullest. I have friends that are still living in the small town that I grew up in and that is OK, but I am so glad that I am not still there. If I had stayed surely I would have shriveled and died.

Actually, when I lived in that small town, I had a pretty decent life including a great job and a lot of stability, but I knew in my heart that I had to fly. And fly I did. I really wanted to take six months off and go somewhere and do something, but I didn't really know what. At first I thought that I might like to travel the world, but I discarded that idea because I couldn't find anyone to travel with who could get away for an extended period of time. I got the idea that I might like to work abroad, so I made a list of what I was looking for in a job and it was really quite simple. I wanted to be somewhere warm and have no stress. Immediately I was hired as a destination representative for a charter travel company in Venezuela! That is another story.

Before I left for my new life I had dinner with my friends and each of them told me how proud they were of me. In their own way, they told me how they wished they had the confidence to break free and do what I was doing. But I was the one who actually did it and I was on the way to a life of adventure. My friends still live in that small town and they have had wonderful full lives, but I am happy that I took the unbeaten path. I have a lot of living left to do, but I never could have imagined what a full and wonderful life this would be.

Today I took a chance and only time will tell where this will lead. In fact, life is like a great novel and I hope mine is a great read.

Today I feel very happy! Actually, I am usually a happy person, but today I feel even more happy. I think that part of the reason that I feel so good is that I really like my job. I had been away from work for the last few days at the trade show and going back today was almost as fun as seeing my family again. I guess the people at work are my family; my work family that is. People that may never have come together otherwise can form signifigant relationships in the work place; relationships that can last a lifetime !

Another reason that I am happy today is that I am now the proud owner of an iPod. My iPod is "pink"! I am not so fond of the color as I would have preferred black or silver, but I am happy with it just the same. I have been compiling a play list for a long time in hope that one day I would have an iPod, so tonight I began to load it with the music I love! I think that this will likely be a long process, but eventually I will have it loaded up with all of my tunes.

I am also aware that we are now in September and that has always signified a high energy time for me. The reason for this I believe is rooted in the many years of being in school and September is the month that school starts back. It is the month for a fresh start, a new beginning and that is always welcome. I wish I had signed up for some classes at the community college this semester. There is so much I want to learn and somehow time got away from me and I missed registration.

It is time to think ahead to Christmas, which seems so far away, but in reality is just around the corner. Maybe this year we will go south and celebrate there. I still need to spread my Dad's ashes in the surf of Mazatlan and finally set him free. He loved the beach so it is appropriate that part of him should live there forever. I think he always loved the sea. He was a fabulous sailor and spent a lot of his life living on an island. Mazatlan brought a particular joy to him and I know that he would be happy if we gathered there and let him go. It is time!

Yes, today I am very happy!

Working hard or hardly working?

For the last few days I worked at a trade show and I must admit that I really enjoy doing this. I like people, especially talking to people and there is a variety of them here at the show. The routine is that they approach the booth and we give them information about our product. At first, I did not really know that much and there was no training per se, but after listening to my co-workers I have managed to pick up quite a bit of information and feel quite confident! I want to be the best at what I am doing so I am really trying to get people excited and make them remember our product. With such a great product it is not hard to do.

The fun thing about being away from home was it was not all work! The first night Lisa and I went to see the movie "Mama Mia" and that was a fun and memorable event. It is definitely a "chick flick" so I am glad that I saw it with her . The next night we had a fabulous dinner with some of our reps from Florida! We not only enjoyed a great meal, but had a chance to tell a few "customer" stories and have have a few laughs. The story that I told was about a lady who called to tell me she had just received her new product and when she opened the box there was an overwhelming smell. When I asked her what the smell was she told me that it smelled like "electronics"...! (It was electronics). She wanted to know if that was normal, so I told her that I would open a box, walk around the office and take a poll to see if anyone else thought that it smelled like "electronics". We all had a good laugh over that one!

It was fun to spend so much time with my co-workers as we had a chance to get to know more about each other and form a strong team bond. I was the "newbie" among us and I am grateful that they were so helpful. On another note I will always remember the pb&j sandwiches; the comfort food that got us through the show.

Next year the show will be in Atlanta. It will be interesting to see what changes will happen in the company between now and then. Who will go to the show? What new products will we have?
I will surely raise my hand to go!