the fam damily

back on schedule...sort of.  i arrived in virginia in the early evening and dad picked me up from the rental car place.  on our way home, we made a little detour and stopped at kendyl's daycare, which also happens to be a tae kwan do studio.

needless to say, i had been aching to hold this little girl in my arms again, and when she saw me she yelled my name and jumped into them.  i know one day, maybe when she's 12 or 13 or 14, it won't seem as exciting to have aunt tara come for a visit, so i relish every moment of that excitement and happiness.

we said our temporary goodbyes and headed home.  i hopped in the shower, and then it was time for dinner. the bonus for the evening was that not only would my sister and kendyl be coming over, but my cousin jamie recently moved to the area, so dinner, and the rest of the evening, was just one hilarity after the next.

kendyl has always been a good 'poser',  but she decided that she wanted to be behind the camera this time and just kept snapping away.  turns out, she has a pretty good eye! to check out the complete series, click here.

eventually it was time to call it a night.  i'm always sad to have to say goodbye to kendyl, especially since i won't get to see her again until christmas, but i was grateful to have even a little bit of time with her and the rest of the fam.

the beauty of unplanned plans

the beauty of the unexpected is that the possibility exists for wonderful things to happen.

on wednesday, before i knew that three days later i would be in south carolina, a random itunes clean out made me think of some extended cousins i hadn't seen in over a decade.  we had spent a couple of summer vacations with them in thousand islands, ny at their idyllic cottages on the idyllic island where cars were quickly traded in for bicycles and golf carts and afternoons at the ice cream parlor, picnics on the beach, and sunset boat rides.  you can perhaps imagine why this particular group of people make me think warm happy thoughts.

it all started when i came across a band that, long ago, my second cousin (i had to look that up) jamin, and i had both shared a love for. so i did what anybody would do;  i headed to facebook to see if i could turn up anything. pretty quickly i was able to find jamin and his mother judy (my first cousin once removed).  i added them as friends, thinking i would silently cyber-stalk them to begin the reacquainting process, and was reminded that judy had left new york and was now running a bed and breakfast in south carolina.  my internal dialogue, quite literally, went like this:

"one day, i'm going to have to go check that out!"

i could not have possibly foreseen that in just twelve hours, i would be making travel arrangements that would allow me to do just that!

i sent off an email on thursday and waited to hear. and when sunday morning came without a response, i simply assumed that there were other commitments, being so last minute and all. until i checked my email, and learned that she had been simply trying to coordinate the arrivals of my second cousin, gretchen, and my great aunt, who had flown in the night before for their annual vacation. score!

my two hour drive to charleston was mildly eventful. see...i got pulled over. for going twenty miles an hour over the limit. doh!  guess my california lead foot got the best of me.

BUT, he gave me a warning.  a WARNING!  i truly don't even know why. i was pretty resigned to my fate, and simply told him that i was sorry, and i obviously hadn't been paying attention.  and after he ran my license and car rental agreement, he came back to the car saying 'twenty miles an hour. twenty miles. i NEVER do this, but this is a warning. SLOW DOWN,' shaking his head the whole time.  i'm not sure which of us was more surprised, but not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, i thanked him profusely and got the heck out of dodge before he could change his mind!

the rest of the two hour drive to charleston passed smoothly at nine miles over the speed limit. i have never been to charleston before (i still can't quite believe it, and it kind of hurts to say) and the drive in was full of oohs and awes, and aaahhs. and when i pulled up to lavender and lace, i discovered that  it was everything you want a charleston b&b to be:  a delightfully old antebellum house with wrap-around porches on multiple levels that make you want to drink mint juleps and sit on porch swings. it was absolutely lovely! as was my reunion.

i still, in hindsight, cannot believe my good fortune.  i have expressed on many occasions how grateful i have been that my family is  so amazing, and that feeling extends beyond far beyond the first branch of the tree.  to be able to reconnect with my cousins and great-aunt was such a blessing!

after catching up on the last fifteen years, it was time for me to head out

i couldn't leave without making a couple of stops at the national park sites in the area, so the first on the list was fort sumter.  fort sumter is most notable for being the place at which the first shots of the civil war were fired.

due to time, i wasn't able to take the boat over to the fort, but i enjoyed the displays and the information at the visitor's center.

from there, it was on to fort moultrie, which is fascinating for other reasons.  

it was built in 1776, and is unique for having been built with palmetto logs. because the palmettos are softer than woods normally used, the walls would absorb the shock of the cannons without exploding, and it is even said that cannon balls would BOUNCE off the walls. uh-mazing!

and with seven new stamps in the parks passport, it was time to keep on keeping on.  afterall, i had a date with some very special people!

my stop for the night was in raleigh, nc with colby and julie. and while cost was a factor in opting to drive, rather than fly to va, colby and julie were the primary motivator.

i would have liked much much more time with them, but since just three days before, there was no inkling of a possibility that i would be sitting in their kitchen laughing, and learning of the death of osama bin laden together, it was all icing.

the unexpected

the thing about being a planner, by nature, and by profession, is that things are planned.  the unexpected always exists, but you plan for that too.

last month our parent company (who 'is on your side') asked us to be involved in an event they were participating in.  i was originally scheduled to attend, but it was then determined that it wouldn't make economic sense for me to do so, since the event was on the east coast and i, am on the west.  they did not know that i was already planning on heading east for another event only a couple of days later, but no matter, we would send one of our reps living in closer geographic proximity.

unfortunately, though, the reps father passed away, and with less than twenty four hours notice, i was making travel arrangements to leave for hilton head, sc.  the arrangements were a bit crazy. one hotel one night, a different the next night.  and because of the last minute nature and its associated costs, i opted to drive from hilton head to virginia where i would be spending a day with my fam before a drop off in maryland for the next event.

and the trip in was equally as wild.   after taking off forty-five minutes late from dallas, we were informed that there had been a mechanical issue and we would have to land back at dfw.  the catch was that the fuel tank was too full to land, so we'd have to fly around for 'awhile'.

every fifteen or so minutes, the pilot would come on and tell us that we would be landing in 15-20 minutes. that meant electronics off and no getting up from the seats.  and i believed him the first time.  and the second time.  but by the third and fourth time, i had had it.  instead of making the two hour flight to savannah, we flew in circles for an hour and a half.

now, i'm pretty patient about travel glitches, but this one was so far off the 'logic radar' that i was as close as i've ever been to truly losing it. when we landed in savannah, it took nearly thirty minutes for someone to come out and bring our plane into the gate.  then thirty minutes for the bags. then the hour drive to the hotel. and by the time i got to the hotel, it was 3am.  3 hours later the alarm was going off, and i was heading out to the event.

fortunately, things started looking up from there. i got to the event with no obstacles, and since it was quite literally on the beach, i was instantly relaxed and happy.  everything went smoothly, and i was really pleased with the exposure we got. the organization was so thrilled to have us there, and they all had such a good energy about them that it was truly a pleasure to be there.  and of course, it didn't hurt that i got to pet dogs all morning!

after the event i headed to my new hotel, the hilton head marriott resort & spa (yes, it was as good as it sounds) and slept for several hours.  when i woke up in the early evening, i decided that i needed to go enjoy the beach, so i headed out to do some exploring.  since the only thing between the hotel and the beach was the pool, i didn't expect to make a rest stop, but just behind the pool was a copse of carolina grass and several hammocks.

i just couldn't resist, so i crawled onto one and did some reading while lenjoying the sounds and smells of the ocean..

there is just something different about carolina beaches.   from a purely aesthetic perspective, california beaches are far superior, but  i truly think the overall EXPERIENCE of a carolina beach wins out hands down.  it feels more relaxed, and less like a social 'scene', and there are hammocks, and you can swim in a swimsuit in april, and don't need a wet suit in august!

after i'd sufficiently 'rested', i headed thirty yards east, where i was reminded again how wonderfully warm the atlantic ocean is!  i was nearly knee deep before i remembered that i was wearing a skirt.  and i spent the next hour enjoying the warm water and the sunset, before calling it a night.

marriage

i'm not awol, just can't keep track of where i'm at or in what time zone.  while i continue to question that, i wanted to pause for a moment and share.  if you had the opportunity and interest to watch the royal wedding, it may sound familiar, if not, it's an absolute must read.

i watched the wedding by accident, and for a few reasons ended up being glad i had done so, this speech by the bishop of london being the greatest among them.  it is a wonderful explanation of and tribute to marriage.

Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” So said St Catherine of Siena whose festival day it is today. Marriage is intended to be a way in which man and woman help each other to become what God meant each one to be, their deepest and truest selves.

Many are full of fear for the future of the prospects of our world but the message of the celebrations in this country and far beyond its shores is the right one – this is a joyful day! It is good that people in every continent are able to share in these celebrations because this is, as every wedding day should be, a day of hope.  

In a sense every wedding is a royal wedding with the bride and the groom as king and queen of creation, making a new life together so that life can flow through them into the future.

William and Catherine, you have chosen to be married in the sight of a generous God who so loved the world that he gave himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

And in the Spirit of this generous God, husband and wife are to give themselves to each another.

A spiritual life grows as love finds its centre beyond ourselves. Faithful and committed relationships offer a door into the mystery of spiritual life in which we discover this; the more we give of self, the richer we become in soul; the more we go beyond ourselves in love, the more we become our true selves and our spiritual beauty is more fully revealed. In marriage we are seeking to bring one another into fuller life.

It is of course very hard to wean ourselves away from self-centredness. And people can dream of doing such a thing but the hope should be fulfilled it is necessary a solemn decision that, whatever the difficulties, we are committed to the way of generous love.

You have both made your decision today – “I will” – and by making this new relationship, you have aligned yourselves with what we believe is the way in which life is spiritually evolving, and which will lead to a creative future for the human race.

We stand looking forward to a century which is full of promise and full of peril. Human beings are confronting the question of how to use wisely a power that has been given to us through the discoveries of the last century. We shall not be converted to the promise of the future by more knowledge, but rather by an increase of loving wisdom and reverence, for life, for the earth and for one another.

Marriage should transform, as husband and wife make one another their work of art. It is possible to transform as long as we do not harbour ambitions to reform our partner. There must be no coercion if the Spirit is to flow; each must give the other space and freedom. Chaucer, the London poet, sums it up in a pithy phrase:

“Whan maistrie [mastery] comth, the God of Love anon,

Beteth his wynges, and farewell, he is gon.”

As the reality of God has faded from so many lives in the West, there has been a corresponding inflation of expectations that personal relations alone will supply meaning and happiness in life. This is to load our partner with too great a burden. We are all incomplete: we all need the love which is secure, rather than oppressive, we need mutual forgiveness, to thrive.

As we move towards our partner in love, following the example of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is quickened within us and can increasingly fill our lives with light. This leads to a family life which offers the best conditions in which the next generation can practise and exchange those gifts which can overcome fear and division and incubate the coming world of the Spirit, whose fruits are love and joy and peace.

I pray that all of us present and the many millions watching this ceremony and sharing in your joy today, will do everything in our power to support and uphold you in your new life. And I pray that God will bless you in the way of life that you have chosen, that way which is expressed in the prayer that you have composed together in preparation for this day:

God our Father, we thank you for our families; for the love that we share and for the joy of our marriage.

In the busyness of each day keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important in life and help us to be generous with our time and love and energy.

Strengthened by our union help us to serve and comfort those who suffer. We ask this in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Amen.

vegas

finally, a vegas trip MY way.

the one and only conference that i just get to attend, and my co-worker diana and i had booked rooms at one of the new city center properties: vdara.

vdara is a non-smoking, non-casino, all suite hotel, and though it's on the strip, the complex of sister hotels and residences is so large that you can't see or hear the strip unless you are on a high floor.  definitely my favorite hotel to date.

workshops went well, but after we were finished, diana and i decided to have some fun.  we went shopping!
i was on the hunt for sunglasses and she was on the hunt for tiffany's. i am happy to report that we were both successful.

not ready to call it a night yet, we headed next door to bellagio where we were amazed to find it in 'full bloom'.  we had no idea we would be walking into spring, and we just couldn't get enough.  between the tulip fields (my favorite!) and the butterfly house, and the merry-go-round, we were giggling little children!

we made a stop for dinner before heading outside to watch the water show out front, and ended up staying for three shows, talking and enjoying the aquatic performance before calling it a night.

the next morning, we finished up our workshops, and spent our last couple of hours in vegas getting hot stone pedicures, thanks to a groupon we bought last month.  after almost two weeks on the road, it was the perfect way to finish off the trip before heading home.