Life Hiccups

The Bunn family went down to Georgia this weekend (no fiddles were involved) to attend a dear friends going away party. She's moving to Mexico to teach drama at an American School. I'm very excited for her and the adventure that awaits. I'm also a little jealous.

I'm ready for a big adventure. And everytime I hear myself say that - I think of the little boy who has turned my world upside down. I'm already ON a big adventure...I sometimes forget what a wild crazy ride Motherhood is...everyday is like waking up in the jungle (sorta) - there's just nothing predictable about it...just when you think you have a routine (or the semblance of one) a snake falls out of the roof of your toilet (that really happened to me in Zambia) or something similar...one little change to your day can throw it all off and sometimes, even when everything else in your routine has remained the same, the jungle king, himself (my little prince of mischief), decides that it's just not working and restructures his entire schedule!

So maybe a big adventure isn't necessary at the moment - but I sure could use a BIG trip! There's still so much of the world that I haven't seen or experienced.

Maybe I should back up here a bit. Aside from my friend moving to Mexico - there is probably a deeper seed sprouting this little life lust plant. I think I'm suffering from life hiccups. At first, I thought that I'd only get ONE - a sudden feeling of extreme OVERWHELMEDNESS brought on by an amalgamation of little things piling up in my life (the daily care of a child,working three jobs and starting a business) - you know just the usual stuff - that can usually run relatively smoothly until a wrench gets thrown into the picture (the death of a loved one or a weird recurring illness) and suddenly I have a massive traffic jam. Nothing can get through and my world comes to grinding halt and I think, "Gee, is this what it's all about?" - "Is this what I'm supposed to be doing?" - "Why am I working so hard?"

And so my response to this hiccup was to hire a personal assistant. Which is sort of working out. She's only worked one day so far and we seem to work all right together but more on her later.

My next big hiccup happened yesterday as we were driving home from Georgia. Reva called. She told me she was in New York. I knew her brother lived there with his wife and she had been hoping to visit them soon, I just didn't realize that it would be this soon. But I was excited for her and asked her if she was having a nice time.

She sounded kind of weird and she told me that she wasn't there for a good reason. Apparently, her sister-in-law just passed (that doesn't even sound right - "passed" - that word is for older people - my grandpa passed - but our friends don't "pass" - in fact, they don't die at all because we're all in our late 20's - early 30's)!

I don't know if you guys ever met, Kristen. She was Reva's year at Stetson (a year below me). She was one of my residents in Nemec, my first year as an RA. She married Reva's brother Anthony, who I think was your year or a year below. She was always very sweet. I think she became an RA, too.

She and a friend of hers had decided to train to run a marathon. Well, this weekend they were going to run a road race - just a 4K (between 2 & 3 miles). Kristen wasn't feeling very well, but decided to run anyway. She fell behind but waved her friend on with a smile. When her friend got to the finish line and turned around to wait for Kristen, she wasn't there. So she decided to back track down the course a bit to help her finish the race. When she got to the spot where she left Kristen, the ambulances were pulling away.

She had had a heart condition that everyone thought had long since healed. Occasionally, when she would run, her chest would hurt and she would have to stop for a bit. I don't think anyone thought that it was as serious as this.

I know that death has happened alot in our little circle and it always reminds us of the brevity of life and to cherish EVERY little moment we have. There's never a time that it doesn't catch you off guard - but DAMN - she was 28! They were planning on having children soon.

I went to her Facebook page this morning. All of her little pictures are so perfect - she looks so happy. I kind of want to leave a message, but I don't know who would ever read it.

I didn't even really know her but now I sort of wish that I had. We were Facebook friends. Just Facebook friends...

And so again, I find myself wondering how best to enjoy this HUGE adventure called life. How do we make sure that we're making the most of it? Are we living it enough? Are we laughing enough? Is there enough "lemonade on the front porch time" in your life?

Just as my mind wanders away to that, I am suddenly struck by the fact that my taxes are a month overdue and none of it makes any sense and the comedy of it all becomes apparent and I want to be drunk on life and spend the rest of the day being very silly!