So as I mentioned in my first post, a friend of ours, Maureen Allaben, was murdered by her husband earlier this month. Her memorial was this week. It was beautiful. Many stories, but all with the same underlying theme: the light in her eyes.
One person's tribute especially spoke to me. She talked about how everyone had mentioned that Maureen was not only a light, but radiated light to encourage the light in others. I want to take that to heart.
I know it's cliched, but tragic events like Maureen's death should serve as a wake-up call. I do want to be a better person, live more fully, appreciate my family and friends more, and experience more. Just squeeze the most out of life.
If you want to see Maureen's talent, visit her website: http://www.creativeavenuesinc.com/ (the fruit car makes me smile)
A special shout out goes to BET who hosted the memorial service.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Thawing the Frozen Turtle
My 1997 Ford Taurus was one of the victims of the recent very cold snap. We probably weren’t as good at checking the anti-freeze as we could have been. In our defense, it wasn’t freaking freezing when Grier left it at the airport for a five-day business trip.
I can’t say we haven’t been planning for the Turtle’s final roll. It is a 13-year old car with 203K miles. We’ve been auto-depositing part of my check into a car savings account for a while. Turns out, the Turtle might get thawed out and brought back to life. My brother is going to help us replace the motor and radiator, plus fix the AC for a much lower price than we could replace it. Props to handy brothers!
So it looks like the Turtle is going to get a second life. Yes, we’ve planned, but I had no idea how much it would affect me to crush the Turtle and move on to a new car. I guess there’s something to those astrological signs. Capricorns are very loyal. Instead of being excited about picking out a new-to-me car, I was very sad. I didn’t want to move on. I’m going to say it’s because it’s a salvaged car. Back when the Turtle was new, it was “totaled” at the car lot. My other brother put the totaled car I bought together with another totaled car that was destroyed at the other end. Some creative cutting, piecing back together, a little metallic red paint, and voila!
While I’m coming up with excuses to keep a 13-year old car with absolutely next-to-no-value, I’m going with Earth-friendliness. It seems wrong to crush a car that, except for the motor, is fine. On another green front, we have money saved for this, but it’s great to not have to use all of it.
Fingers crossed for Turtle’s Renaissance.
I can’t say we haven’t been planning for the Turtle’s final roll. It is a 13-year old car with 203K miles. We’ve been auto-depositing part of my check into a car savings account for a while. Turns out, the Turtle might get thawed out and brought back to life. My brother is going to help us replace the motor and radiator, plus fix the AC for a much lower price than we could replace it. Props to handy brothers!
So it looks like the Turtle is going to get a second life. Yes, we’ve planned, but I had no idea how much it would affect me to crush the Turtle and move on to a new car. I guess there’s something to those astrological signs. Capricorns are very loyal. Instead of being excited about picking out a new-to-me car, I was very sad. I didn’t want to move on. I’m going to say it’s because it’s a salvaged car. Back when the Turtle was new, it was “totaled” at the car lot. My other brother put the totaled car I bought together with another totaled car that was destroyed at the other end. Some creative cutting, piecing back together, a little metallic red paint, and voila!
While I’m coming up with excuses to keep a 13-year old car with absolutely next-to-no-value, I’m going with Earth-friendliness. It seems wrong to crush a car that, except for the motor, is fine. On another green front, we have money saved for this, but it’s great to not have to use all of it.
Fingers crossed for Turtle’s Renaissance.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
My First Post
Woo hoo! I'm online. If you know me, you know I am not a New Year's Resolution type of person, but I do feel the need to write more. It just happens to be around the start of the new year. The combination of a new wireless router and Grier (the hub) watching bad TV is enough encouragement to get me going. It's not a resolution as much as a goal.
My first topic, and the reason for me taking action today, is a very sad reminder about not wasting time and living each moment. A nice lady I know was murdered yesterday and it might have been her husband who killed her. He is in jail tonight. Her kids were friends with the stepkids. I'm sure there will be more thoughts as what happened comes to light. For tonight, I hurt for the family and am very sad their relationship came down to that moment.
I also turned 40 this weekend. It turns out, the 30s rocked for me. What a great decade. The best for me. I'm looking forward to the 40s. Besides doing more, my other goal is to beat my 30s. I'll keep you posted, of course!
So back to the bad TV, I believe Scrubs has jumped the shark. It's a shame really.
Later - gotta go.
My first topic, and the reason for me taking action today, is a very sad reminder about not wasting time and living each moment. A nice lady I know was murdered yesterday and it might have been her husband who killed her. He is in jail tonight. Her kids were friends with the stepkids. I'm sure there will be more thoughts as what happened comes to light. For tonight, I hurt for the family and am very sad their relationship came down to that moment.
I also turned 40 this weekend. It turns out, the 30s rocked for me. What a great decade. The best for me. I'm looking forward to the 40s. Besides doing more, my other goal is to beat my 30s. I'll keep you posted, of course!
So back to the bad TV, I believe Scrubs has jumped the shark. It's a shame really.
Later - gotta go.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
