Really Real 2

There are a few precious moments in my life that I feel like I'm really living and totally in the moment. There are a lot of other times, like standing in my bathroom looking down at a little stick with two lines instead of the one that I assumed there’d be, that I think I should be living fully but I'm working too hard to mentally catalog every little detail of what’s going that I miss out fully engrossing myself in the experience. Ironically when I do that, the mental cataloging for later reference, I don’t enjoy the memory as much as I do the ones below that I just let myself live. Here’s to not thinking as much.

Moments when I felt truly alive (watch out, my true dorkiness will come out in some of these)

1) Choreographing a dance to “My God” from Sister Act in Katie B.’s basement. We practiced half a dozen afternoons until it was perfect and ready for show to Sr. Elizabeth, our 8th grade teacher, over lunch break.

2) Sneaking out with Kim B. to the “salt mines” (the half football shaped building that holds the street salt). We knew we shouldn't be there which made climbing the three story high pile of salt even more fun. Sliding down and turning our socks blue was another added benefit of the adventure.

3) Watching my mom cry on Mother’s Day because she was disappointed that none of us made a big deal of the holiday

4) Exchanging dresses in the bathroom of Kolping during the dance

5) My first kiss, LaSalle Rock Jam 1995

6) Watching Niagara Falls fall- the sheer power of it was amazing

7) When Mike C. told me he loved me for the first time on my parent’s living room couch, January 11, 1997. That glow stayed with me the whole first year we dated

8) Sitting on Marycrest Hill with Lisa, sunning our legs, eating Rally’s fries

9) The awe in Kenny’s eyes when I almost got into a fist fight with another girl over him (this lead to another really real moment that I won’t go into on a public space!)

10) My Cleveland road trip with the girls (Skittle Bitches)

11) Watching Viki do a keg stand on her birthday, in a skirt. I stood in our kitchen and had the distinct thought “this is what college is all about”

12) UD Graduation weekend – starting with my parents coming up to go drinking with us, graduation ceremony, and the tent party afterwards

13) The entire night I met Jim. I remember seeing him play croquet on Geoff's lawn, flirting over euchre, leaning up against him watching pool, inviting him to dessert, calling my mom every other hour claiming I'd be home soon, his "getting hot" and "need" to take off his shirt during darts, and leaving at 10:00am never having gone to sleep

14) Eating hummus with Viki and Laura at some trendy Chicago joint for Viki’s bachelorette party. I loved that it was just the three of us and that good conversation flowed for hours

15) The doors opening up and seeing everyone watch me walk down the aisle at my wedding

16) The fear I felt when the doctor said they were going to induce me in 8 hours (Tuesday, July 10th). I cried for an hour- over the phone with my dad, at work, talking to Jim- because I was so scared of labor and of the reality of becoming a mom

17) Making Nicole laugh for the first time with Jim in our new kitchen