All Along

Staring at the stars
Craving something I couldn't see
Wanting to be anywhere but here
Feeling incomplete
Yet being loved all along

Thinking happiness was around the corner
Wishing for things that would never come
Seeking a truth right in front of me
Feeling discontent
Yet being loved all along

Patience

"Give it time."

"Yeah, but how much time?"

"I don't know, just time. Have some patience."

"I've never been good at patience."

"I know, but everything happens eventually."

"Everything?"

"Yeah, everything. Especially the good stuff. And just when you think it never happens, it happens. You've just got to be ready for it."

"And be patient?"

"And be patient."

Softer than a lullaby

The other night I couldn't sleep very well. I'm not sure why, but after laying in bed for about an hour, I decided to get up. It was 4am. There was a full moon lighting up the early sky and it was so peaceful and quiet. I stepped out on my balcony to gaze at the stars above and the mountains ahead. And I couldn't stop thinking of this song.

He was born in the summer of his 27th year
Comin’ home to a place he’d never been before
He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again
You might say he found a key for every door

When he first came to the mountains his life was far away
On the road and hangin’ by a song
But the string’s already broken and he doesn’t really care
It keeps changin’ fast and it don’t last for long

But the Colorado Rocky Mountain high
I’ve seen it rainin’ fire in the sky
The shadow from the starlight is softer than a lullaby
Rocky Mountain high (high Colorado) Rocky Mountain high (high Colorado)...

He climbed cathedral mountains, he saw silver clouds below
He saw everything as far as you can see
And they say he got crazy once, and he tried to touch the sun
And he lost a friend but kept his memory

Now he walks in quiet solitude the forests and the streams
Seeking grace in every step he takes
His sight has turned inside himself to try and understand
The serenity of a clear blue mountain lake

And the Colorado Rocky Mountain high
I’ve seen it rainin’ fire in the sky
You can talk to God and listen to the casual reply
Rocky Mountain high (high Colorado) Rocky Mountain high (high Colorado)

Now his life is full of wonder but his heart still knows some fear
Of a simple thing he cannot comprehend
Why they try to tear the mountains down to bring in a couple more
More people, more scars upon the land

And the Colorado Rocky Mountain high
I’ve seen it rainin’ fire in the sky
I know he’d be a poorer man if he never saw an eagle fly
Rocky Mountain high...

Rocky Mountain high (high Colorado) Rocky Mountain high (high Colorado)

"Rocky Mountain High," John Denver

The song is autobiographical for John Denver and his experience of finally finding a place he belonged...and I realized I felt the same, "comin' home to a place he'd never been..." I couldn't have said it better.

What's that you say?

I'm sorry...what was that? KU lost on Saturday afternoon? They're not going to Atlanta for the Championship game? The hell you say!!

It's not denial...I'm just very selective about the reality I accept.

KU 61, SIU 58

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn that was a close one! Talk about a nailbiter! I gnawed my thumbnail down to nothing...but it doesn't matter how ugly the win, it's still a win.

Atlanta bound, baby!!!! I can feel it...

Showin' August some love

Why is there no holiday in August? While sitting in the Wynkoop Brewery waiting for the St. Patrick's Day Parade to begin, Dawn and I pondered this horrific oversight, and decided that August must feel like the red-headed step child of the calendar. Think about it:

January/New Year's

February/Valentine's Day

March/St. Patrick's Day

April/Easter

May/Mother's Day, Memorial Day

June/Father's Day

July/Independence Day

September/Labor Day

October/Halloween

November/Thanksgiving

December/Christmas

Poor left out August. All the other months have gifts, cards, costumes, apple pie, fireworks, but poor forgotten August gets nada, not even Arbor Day. Zilch. Much discussion went into how we could make August feel better, and we've decided to create our own holiday. It'll be the Non-Holiday Holiday. No gifts, no cards, no costumes, no fireworks (apple pie optional); just bring beer. The date is set, so mark your calendar for the second Saturday in August for the inaugural Show August Some Love Day; be a part of history!!

I blame 'Poltergeist'

Clowns creep me out. Clowns and ventriloquist dummies. I'm such a pansy that I can't even watch the commercials for that new horror flick 'Dead Silence.' I mean, ventriloquist dummies creep me out anyway, let alone killer ventriloquist dummies. What are they trying to do, make me stay awake for the next decade?!

*Sigh* I just know that Dawn and Mark are going to make me watch it when it comes out on video. Oh well, I'll just watch it like I do most other horror flicks: with my fingers over my eyes so I can just see the upper left hand corner of the screen. That's usually safe, not much happens up there...

St. Patrick's Day

The stamp that started it all...Wynkoop Brewery at 9 am.


My dream place to live in the heart of LoDo, Coors field to your left and mountains to your right. C'mon, help a sister out, anybody got a spare 700K?


Dawn and Mark at Fido's Irish Pub downtown, where we learned that adding food coloring to your beer does not make it Irish (or so said our cups of Harp's)


On our way back to the car, we found a firehose laying in the street. If we'd been parked closer, we totally would've taken it with us...hey, our tax dollars paid for it. Besides, it would teach the DFD to take better care of their stuff!


End of the day, hanging out at The Spot in Golden, enjoying the sunshine and catching some basketball scores... a good time had by all.

In Phog's name we pray

JAYHAWK PRAYER
Our Father, who art in Lawrence,
Hallowed be thy Game.
Thy bracket come,
Thy upset done, in Syracuse as it is in Allen Field House.
Give us this day our deserved game,
And forgive us our turnovers,
As we forgive Roy who double-crossed against us.
And lead us not into defeat,
But deliver us from East Coast bias,
For Kansas is the basketball kingdom,
And the tradition,
And the glory,
Forever and ever.
Amen.

March Madness, baby!

It's NCAA Tourney time...and that means it's time for my Annual Ode to March Madness. Won't you sing along?

(to the tune of 'Old MacDonald had a Farm')

Terri Lynn had a bracket
N C double A
And on this bracket she picked her teams
N C double A
With a Tar Heel here and a Tar Heel there
Here a Heel, there a Heel
Durant's gonna own you Heel

Terri Lynn had a bracket
N C double A
And on this bracket she picked her teams
N C double A
With a Florida Gator here and a Florida Gator there
Here a Gator, there a Gator
Ain't gonna be a repeat Gator

Terri Lynn had a bracket
N C double A
And on this bracket she picked her teams
N C double A
With a Jayhawk here and Jayhawk there
Here a 'Hawk, there a 'Hawk
Headin' to Atlanta 'Hawk

Terri Lynn had a bracket
N C double A

Frozen Dead Guy Days

What's Frozen Dead Guy Days without a parade?


Team Frozen Elvises (Elivs'? Elvi?)


Crowd gathering for coffin races. 8500 feet up the mountain, snowing; at home in Denver, 50 and sunny. Go figure.


Coffin Race. Kind of hard to see, but teams of seven (6 pallbearers and 1 dead person in the coffin) go under a barricade, around the see-saws, stop at the slide where the dead person climbs to the top and slides down while the pallbearers do a Chinese Fire Drill around the coffin, then around the swings, up and over the rock pile (covered in mud and snow) to the finish line. Hilarious. Next year we're totally signing up!



Don't mind the big dead tree...the photographer had had a few Fat Tires by then...


Ack! Frozen Dead Guy! Oh, wait, that's just Mark...


We're not freezing our asses off...really!!

Hippo birdy to me...

There is a goal and a plan this birthday weekend.

Goal: get drunk

Plan: to drink

Simple enough.

Getting old sucks. And blows.

In honor of my birthday this Friday, I received the following email:

George Carlin's view on aging:

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions. "How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five!

That's the key. You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. "How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . . . you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony: YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He turned; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed? You become 21, you turn 30, then you're pushing 40.

Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you reach 50 and your dreams are gone. But wait!!! You make it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you become 21, turn 30, push 40, reach 50 and make it to 60. You've built up so much speed that you hit 70!

After that it's a day-by-day thing; you hit Wednesday! You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you hit lunch; you turn 4:30; you reach bedtime. But it doesn't end there, into your 90's, you start going backwards: "I was just 92."

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half."

Now, I'm nowhere near 100 and a half, but I am turning 37 and I'll be spending my birthday with a frozen dead guy (yes, a real frozen dead guy...details and pics to be posted on Monday), so obviously, things could be worse.

Free

I won't waste my time
wondering what other people say
more and more it seems
they just change their minds anyway

I won't ever become
what this world expects of me
Why do I have so much to prove
I'll never meet their every need

I won't live my life
in shadows of what I should be
spending my whole life through
waiting for someone to approve of me

Booger Butt, Esquire

Hello?

Hi Aunt Terri.

Hey Booger Butt! How're things in KC? How's school?

School's okay. Guess what I want to be when I grow up?

Um, I don't know...a burden on society?

Silence.

Sorry, honey, I was just kidding. Give me a hint.

It starts with the letter 'L.'

Hmm, let me think. A lion tamer?

Noooooo!

Okay, ummmm, a llama breeder?

C'mon...really guess!!

I am really guessing!! How about a lima bean farmer?

Aunt Terrrriiiii!! A real guess!

Librarian? Lumberjack? Linebacker? Lemon grower? Lighthouse operator?

Sigh.

Okay, I'll guess seriously now, I promise. Lawyer?

Yes!! I want to be a Prosecuter.

That's great, kiddo! I can see it now, 'Booger Butt, Attorney at Law.'

Aunt Terri, you can't call me Booger Butt when I'm a lawyer!

Oh yeah? Says who?

Says me!

What are you gonna do, sue me?

Maybe.

Whoa, hold up there kid! Okay, make you a deal...when you graduate law school, I'll stop calling you Booger Butt.

Promise?

Promise. You'll be an adult by then and I guess 'Booger Butt' would be too childish. How about something more grown up, like Mr. Booger Butt? Sir Booger Butt? Wait, I've got it: Booger Butt, Esquire.

Sigh. You're weird, Aunt Terri.

You don't know the half of it, sweetheart. But you love me anyway.

Yeah, but you're still weird.