From Arita: Mother of the Bride

I flew in a huge plane home from Philadelphia - sitting there relishing the fresh memories of my daughter's wedding. There were three seats on each side of the aisle and being a SWA flight, it was completely full. Guess what? Both the other women sitting with me were also MOB's - one also coming from her daughter's wedding Virginia (like mine) and the other going to her daughter's wedding in LA. The dates were consecutive weekends. What are the odds of that?

From Arita: WOW

Last week I was in the kitchen getting my first cup of coffee and I smiled to hear a familiar staccato sound on the floor above me – little shoes on hardwood floor. Ellie was awake and exploring. I headed for the stairs where I heard them stop as she proclaimed her latest favorite word, “WOW!”

Ellie doesn’t use a lot of words yet. She has discovered and rehearsed her “No” until I am certain that she knows exactly what it means and how well it works. And there have been times when she was distraught (or not) and I swear it sounded like she was saying “Why oh why oh why?” It’s hard not laughing at this one.

If I were a person of few words, what would the world hear from me the most? What word would they associate with me? What would be my most-used, default reaction in a one-word contribution to my world and my personal interactions? Today I choose my favorite word.

WOW!

Arita Trahan is the author of “The Santa Story Revisited – How to Give Your Children a Santa They Will Never Outgrow”

From Kim D: Play Tickets

my husband and i wanted to see a play on sunday.
we didn't have tickets and hoped that they would have them at the box office right before the show.
so we drove down to the mark taper and went to the box office, the lady said they are sold out for the evening.
without any attachment or disappointment, we walked away from the theatre when a nice young man, an usher, stopped us and told us
that some people left tickets because they couldn't make it to the show. he showed us where they were placed, which was
under a sign in front the the theater. amazed, we happily grabbed the tickets and thanked the kind man and went inside.
we were ushered into orchestra seats, the perfect good seats. the tickets were selling for $75 each and we got in for free! haha.
and the play was very good. this continues...during intermission we went down to the garage to the car to pay, we were parked
in a vip spot because we were rushing to make it to the play, when we got there no one was around. a brief moment later a nice man
who worked there came by and said, "don't worry about it, next time!"
we were ready to pay the $10 for the best parking spot in the garage, and yet he told us not to pay! free again! pretty amazing! but normal. ;)

so after all the money we saved, we bought an expensive bottle of champagne with dinner and celebrated!!

From Arita: Flat tire.

Mark and I went out on our bikes when he got home last night. As the sun gets low enough to cast a shadow across the road, and the temperature feels like it might be a little to cool for my sleeveless top, we set out. We appreciate that we can ride to the end of the block, cross into the Park & Ride, and then get on the bike path that takes us all the way around Balboa Park and back home. We pass the most amazing people – rolling, strolling, riding, gliding, playing – all different ages. These are my park peeps. No one is in a hurry and we meander around each other on the path, each in our own world and overlapping here and there. I notice that the temperature is perfect, so my body temp must have risen.

We were surprised to notice that the inclines here and there along the path didn’t seem challenging at all. We must have become stronger without noticing. We are conscious of how sweet it all is. We talk along the way about our separate days and what we are seeing. We pass playgrounds and wildlife sanctuaries and lake and river and golf course and other paths, and pets and athletes and kites and remote-control airplanes and strollers and picnics being packed up. The mountains stand quiet and blue in the distance. It’s calming. It’s easy.

Then, just as we’re rounding the last bend of the park across from the Japanese Gardens, Mark heard his front tire – flap, flap, flap. “Whoops, I think I’ve got a flat.” I slowed and looked at it – about half inflated. I said, “I don’t think it will hurt the rim to keep riding a while as it is. And if we need to walk our bikes home, that’s okay too.” He agreed. We picked up our speed just a little bit to cover some more ground while there was still some air in the tire, and then let our attention stray to the delights around us. Maybe five minutes later we were approaching the Park & Ride when Mark said, “Look at my tire!” He had forgotten about it and then realized that he wasn’t having to pump any harder than usual. It was full again.

I just came in from the garage, checking his tire so I could report accurately this morning. It’s still fully inflated. You can take the story from here.