been gone for miles but heart still driving

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Last night Ryan and I saw Needtobreathe at the Wiltern. This is one of the first concerts were I realized…we’re old…er. We stood in the back to see the whole band. We discussed how happy we were that the band hadn’t gotten so large that they outgrow great venues like the Wiltern. We hoped they’d play the older stuff, and were ecstatic when they did. We did show our true colors when they went on to their second encore and I scoffed at all those that had left before the first one, when they came out to play The Heart and The Outsiders.

I love seeing shows with Ryan because he loves the bands just as much as I do. When I moved to LA, I was worried that the bands I liked wouldn’t come to LA…that they’d stay up in Boston in places like the Roxy and I’d lose out on my mildly famous band loves that had one really big hits in the mid-2000s and still tour but no one knows that they still tour, and I prefer it that way.

But I moved to LA and found Ryan, and Paul, and then Traci moved here, and I got Corelyn and can con her into most shows, too. And there is the Wiltern, and El Rey Theatre, and the Fonda Theater. I am thankful the music scene in LA, because it’s one of those things that I really, really enjoying seeing live – and Needtobreathe is one of the best live shows, hands down.

Because you mostly weren’t there last night, I’ll leave you with one of the best live songs that Needtobreathe does…and I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

 

they can talk talk talk // but they’d better come correct

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15 years ago today, my family drove from Connecticut to Michigan (well, most of us, and a couple animals thrown in for good measure) to move to Camp Waterloo for good. Or, you know, so my twelve year old brain thought. It has been more days since then than all the days I had been on earth on that day. That was a really convoluted of saying I was young, I was dramatic, and oh by the way, have I said I’m sorry Mom and Dad, like a thousand times?

80bc9712c11d11e3bce10002c99a8830_8At the time, it was the worst thing ever. We had just moved three years earlier to Clinton, where I had found some really great friends who I’d never see again (which I now scoff at, as I am in contact with all the ones who mattered all these years later.) I was nearly 13. It was the middle of the school year. Did I mention we were headed to MICHIGAN?

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Lauren and I a few years back. We managed to stand the test of time by writing many, many letters to each other.

Looking back, I think moving to Michigan made me more of who I am than I really cared to admit for many years. I learned a lot about many things; what it was like to be different (when your parents are the ones with the weird accent); what it was like to maybe not know everything (like how actually, deer hunting isn’t the worst thing in the world); what it was like to stick to your guns (when you write columns for the town paper about how, wasn’t Michigan part of the north, so why are these confederate flags around?).

I got to live in Michigan, which is really one of the most beautiful states around – if not sometimes terrifyingly dark. I made some really excellently wonderful friends who I am still in contact with to this day, and who I can’t even imagine my life without – they are rocks to me, people who always get me, who always calm me, who are some of my truest true friends. I went from hating Michigan, to trying to explain how I grew up when people ask me where I am from (I say Chicago and it gives me away…but then ask me to say quarter.) I went from leaving Michigan off my history (a few years in college I was trying to play it as a cool Connecticut girl…) to being so proud to have lived there a short time – and defending Michigan, the midwest, and anything about country living to ANYONE who will listen.

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And you guys, I was thinking about it the other day. And this is super sappy and so I am sorry, but here goes: YOU GUYS, if we hadn’t moved to Michigan, we wouldn’t have Theo! I haven’t written about my little nephew yet as much as I have wanted to, but you guys. If we hadn’t moved to Michigan, Nikki would have never met Jon, we wouldn’t have ever gone to that Dairy Queen (they both know what I am referring to, a memory I will forever treasure as hilarious), they wouldn’t have dated/not dated/dated again/got married.

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And I wouldn’t have the perfect and wonderful nephew I have now. Among the many wonderful and great things about living in Michigan, I think that hindsight makes me so incredibly happy. I can see how living in Michigan has affected everything about who I am and who I am becoming and who I want to be. But that probably is the most tangible one I can see, one that will serve as a reminder of that great state for all my years to come. So, thanks Mom and Dad. Sorry again, we were losers and brats and the worst kind of kids for a patch there.

I love you, Michigan. (And, I love you, Theo.)

Missed Connections \\ Missed Opportunities

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Tonight, I listened to a live stream from Ami Dar, who is the founder of Idealist. It was a really inspiring lecture that resonates with me personally, and really excites me for the future. Let me tell you why.

When I first moved to LA, I really wanted to volunteer somewhere locally. When I lived in Michigan, I worked for the Parks and Recreation department teaching three year olds different sports, and refereeing soccer. I love working with kids, and I love sports, and I love teaching. So I thought that I should find something that combined all of these things out in California so I could meet people in my community.

But when I started Googling “youth soccer programs Los Angeles” I had a really hard time getting ahold of someone…I called Rec centers, I emailed them, I looked at leagues and schools, desperately searching for a volunteer opportunity that could fit into my schedule.

Enter Pasadena Yes. Almost five years ago, on March 18, 2009, I emailed Jeff Brown about his program, Pasadena Yes, asking if he needed volunteers for his organization.

He emailed me back the next day, telling me to come to the school on April 4 to help out with the soccer program. I knew the kids would be 4 to 9. And I knew not much else. So on April 4, I showed up, and I met Jeff and Gabriel and other coaches in the program.

Five years later, I am still coaching (and now running) the soccer program at Pasadena Yes. I had Jeff (my Jeff) redesign the website for the organization. I have him come occasionally and take photos. I roped Rebecca into coaching for a few seasons, and Liz, and since 2012 I have somehow been lucky enough to have Brian as my co-coach. I’ve coached soccer, and basketball, and volleyball. I’ve made Ryan come for a Saturday and make himself available in the future, and had Jen and Corelyn and countless other people come to the final game of the season and cheer on my kids.

I love coaching soccer, I love making a difference, and I love my Saturday mornings outside under the sun. And I know that if I hadn’t been brave enough (which really isn’t all that brave) to email a stranger and show up at a random gym on a Saturday morning, I would not be 15 seasons in to a program that has changed my life.

So how does this have to do with Idealist? Well, if I was a little shyer, I would never have just emailed someone randomly and signed myself up for coaching alone. But, lucky for me, I am pretty outgoing. Idealist’s new plan to connect people to each other locally and world wide reminds me of the questions I normally get when people ask how I got involved: how, why, this is volunteer?!” 

You can get overwhelmed online with information; I know because I once looked into opening a community garden in my neighborhood and quickly got too overwhelmed figuring out what permits I’d need, etc. But it would have been really nice if I had a friend to split that work with. Enter Idealist. This new network of Connectors can start community gardens, and women’s groups, and soccer programs, and educate programs, and will help find experts who are looking to teach, for novices looking to learn, and for those in between who have a few hours to spare helping a cause they care deeply about.

Idealist can explain it better than I can, so I’ll lead you to their site for more information on what this network will mean. But I encourage you to join in, to take part in making our world a better place – whatever that may mean for you.

the longing of the soul

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Hey, all. I am doing this in a backwards manner because today is Ash Wednesday which means the beginning of Lent, so before I bore y’all with photos of my adorable nephew that I got to meet and spend time with this past weekend, I am going to tell you about my plans for Lent.

A few years back, I started using Lent as a focus point in my life, helping me get back on track to something that I believe is important to me. It may not be “religious” for me any more, but it is certainly a spiritual act. Last year, I used Lent to focus my exercise, vowing to move my body for 40 days.

This year, in keeping with my wants for myself this year, I am going to make time to read. I have reconnected to reading this year through my New  Year’s Resolution to read 52 books in 2014, and I think spending just 30 minutes a day will help me reach that goal.

When I was in college, I read all the time; I read on trains, on planes, on the way to and from work and class. When I moved to LA, my commute became king, and I now tend to drive everywhere. Although I sometimes listen to books on tape CD, I usually am focused on traffic after work so I listen to NPR or music.

But I’ve been trying to listen to spoken word more, by listening to podcasts (mostly RadioLab) when I run, and I have been trying to get to bed in time to read a book, not Facebook or Twitter or the millions of blogs I read.

I’ve really enjoyed reconnecting to my love of books, and I hope these 40 days, a mere 20 hours of my life, can really remind me to pick up where I left off in that novel rather than that TV show or that feed.

Do you guys do anything for Lent? Share it with me and we can help each other out these 40 days!

Happy (Ash) Wednesday, y’all.

some infinities are larger than others.

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I just finished reading “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green, and I have many feelings about it. I think it’s one of the best sad books I’ve read, and I am glad that we read it for Book Club. I won’t say much more about it because I want you to go read it because it’s a great easy read and because I think you’ll like it.

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I think one of my favorite things about reading a good book is how great it makes you feel, and how much it reminds you that you want to read more. After finishing this, I sat down for several hours yesterday reading Harry Potter (Number 6) because C and M and I are rereading the series. I am also reading Twelve Years a Slave (my lunch time nonfiction book) and The Goldfinch (my BFF-told-me-to-so-do-it book) and And the Mountains Echoed (the I really love this author and also my BFF said I’ll love it book.)

I have always been a person to read more than one book at a time, mainly because I like to be able to start and stop depending on my mood, weaving in and out of different worlds, times in history or the future, in different perspectives. I try to be reading the book club book, a novel, a nonfiction book, and sometimes throw in another novel (or two) for good measure.

This means I am never left thinking “Ugh I am tired and don’t want to read that sad book about slavery” because OH WAIT you’re also reading a young adult novel about wizards. When people ask me about it, how I read more than one book at a time, this is what I tell them: it’s like having your arsenal of unwatched TV shows queued up on your DVR. You watch multiple shows during the week, you don’t need to finish an entire season before you can move onto another show.

I assume the average person can keep straight the characters of a show (I don’t confuse Lady Grantham with Barney Stinson’s universe, and I don’t forget that Crosby is married to Jasmine in Northern California and that Leslie loves Pawnee, IN., and Ben’s butt, no matter what.) And so it goes. You read and you remember how much you love it, and pretty soon that’s all you want to do.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.