Daily Defining Moments, Part II: The Hit

Okay, so we discussed the woman and the popcorn, so let’s go for another personal experience from this past weekend.

My eleven-year-old son has decided to try his hand at Little League. Saturday was his first game of the season. Now, being that he hasn’t played much baseball in the past (though he did play machine pitch last year) he ended up sitting the bench for a good portion of the game. It’s okay. We knew it was coming. It happens. But the good thing about Little League is that everyone gets to bat at least once, and for my son, he got up to the plate three times throughout the game.

Two strike-outs later, during the last inning, last ups, a tied score, and one runner on third, my boy steps up to the plate. Strikes once, strikes twice, then hits the ball and—surprised—runs and ends up on first. Then stands, shocked, as everyone in the stands screams and cheers, then the team swarms him with high fives and hugs and happiness.

His hit sent the other runner home, scoring the winning point. The game was officially over. Half an hour later, his FB status update told the world about his amazing hit, and he truly felt like the king of the world.

So. In this instance, are our experiences what make us who we are? Or does who we are define how we experience the important moments?

Daily Defining Moments, Part I: Popcorn

In general, fiction stories start with a turning point, the day everything changes for the main character. The reason this works is because readers can identify with these defining moments in things that happen to them as often as every day. This week, I want to explore some of the daily defining moments I’ve witnessed in real life. Just because, well, your thoughts on the matter will interest me.

Subject number one:

Over the weekend, I took two of my kids to a movie. As the closing credits rolled and the theater emptied out, we followed the crowd toward the exit. Near the door, a woman dropped her half-full bag of popcorn on the floor. She paused, looked around, then back at the mess, and bent to pick up her bag (the easy part) leaving the corn to be scattered by those walking out behind her.

Now, maybe I was extra irritated because of the fact that my son works there, and I knew he would likely be the one stuck cleaning up that particular mess. But as I watched her leave, I couldn’t help but wonder what the woman was thinking. Or if she was thinking at all. She consciously made the decision to leave the mess for someone else, rather than scooping even some of it back into the bag and throwing it in the trash.

So. In this instance, do you think it’s true that we are the decisions we make? Or do our decisions make us who we are?

In the Name of Research

We are often willing to try things we wouldn’t otherwise do or try.

We pay closer attention to what’s going on around us.

We let go of our inhibitions in order to fully experience life.

We listen harder, talk less, think more, contemplate—and then relate to others with everything and in every way we can.

I know people who would scuba dive, para-sail, jump out of a plane, bungee jump, climb a mountain, visit another country, and shoot five different types of guns—all in the name of research.

But we don’t need research as an excuse to live life all the way, to give ourselves color and culture and depth. Regardless of if you have a reason, do it anyway.

Next week, I won’t be here to blog, because I’ll be out of the country doing some of the above mentioned things. For fun. And also in the name of research.

Come on, I’ll use it all somewhere.

Viva Mexico! Have a great week.

Things I'm Adding to My Bucket List

After Wednesday’s post, I decided to give you a heads-up of some of the stuff I’d like to do before I die. In no particular order, of course.

1. Parasail over the ocean. Any ocean will do.

2. Check out Niagra Falls, maybe take a boat tour.

3. Get a tattoo (yeah, I know. So sue me!)

4. Scuba dive to a sunken ship. (This requires me learning how to scuba dive.)

5. Visit a pirate island, the Eifel Tower, the Lovre.

6. Eat Swiss chocolate in Switzerland, Danish in Denmark, and pizza in Italy.

7. Run a feather under the nose of one of the royal guards in London to see if I can make him sneeze.

8. Tour the White house, the Smithsonian(s), all the cool DC memorials, see the Declaration of Independence and the Liberty Bell.

9. Own a recreational boat. Like a ski boat or a sail boat. (I’d also have to learn how to drive said watercraft.)

10. Live in a house on a beach somewhere beautiful.

11. Send my children to college armed with the knowledge that I taught them to be independent. (Gulp.)

12. Learn how to make bread that actually rises.

13.???

What else? (I've already climbed a lighthouse and a volcano, met Elvis, and sang on Broadway, so no need to suggest those things.)

**UPDATE:

I just found this exchange on Facebook between my 12 year old daughter, Happy, and one of her friends. (And FYI, I did not instigate this--pretty sure she doesn't read my blog, at least not regularly.) I think I'm going to let them make my bucket list, because this one is awesome. (Also, I'm not going to edit at all--so you can see it exactly as they wrote it.)

Things we need to do before we die: 1. Fly to Hawaii 2.Go sky diving 3.Go outside singing Teenage dream at 5:00 a.m. 4. jump in a HUGE pool of jello 5. Smell a gangsta 6. meet eminem 7. THROW OUR HANDS UP IN THE AIR SOMETIMES AND SING AAAAYYYY OOHHH TASTE THE RAINBOW in the middle of a crowded store 8. Have a sleepover. ON THE MOON! 9.Eat Nolans cheese and 10. Live like its the end of the world, but DON'T get pushed off a roof. Even if the people say that the foam pit at the bottom will save you and it wont hurt at all.. yea.. I learned that the hard way.... 

 

More things we need to do before we die.... (Let's try to get to 100!)
11. Go swimming in the ocean(:
12. Eat pie with our face... and only our face.
13. Go on a road trip. :D
14. Try out for American Idol. (HAHAH! Because we are such grrrrreat singers!)
15. Jump in snow at 12 AM on New Years in our underwear(:
16. Duct tape each other to the sidewalk. ;)
17. Go sledding off a roof.
18. Sleep on the tramp.
19. Meet Taylor Lautner. ♥
20. Kiss a llama.

 

 21. make a HUUUGEEE pizza 22. paint our faces black 23. throw pumpkins off of a building 24. read a book(JK) 25. pretend like we are spies 26. decorate a christmas tree 27. Run around the streets pushing a rolley computer chair 28. jump on the tramp in the rain 29. Climb up Mount Everest 30. Ride on a camel in Africa.

 

 31. Go to Dr. Suess' grave. 32. Go on a bike ride to Las Vegas. 33. Live like a hobo for a week. 34. Eat every box of cereal in your pantry. 35. Get trapped in a grocery store. 36. Dress up as Lady Gaga and go to a tire store and ask for glitter. 37. Shoot a squirrel. 38. Lay in the middle of the road and look at the stars. 38. Go to MEXICO! 39. Meet the cast of Jersey Shore. 40. Kiss a pig.

 

41. Eat a hippo 42. be in a Oscar Mier Wiener comercial 43. Lick a goat 44. Learn how to do the jerk 45. Go rock climbing.... In the winter. 46. Sing out HEARTS OUT! 47. Say I love you to 50 million random people 48. Go shopping. In Paris. 49. walk into the hot chocolate place called "Worlds greatest Hot chocolate" and congradulate all of the workers. 1 by 1. 50. Go scubadiving in the middle of Cuba.

~This is why I write for kids.~

**End of update**

**Don’t forget, you have until Midnight tonight (Mountain Time) to enter the contest to win a signed copy of LEVIATHAN.

Authentically Happy

Every week, I write a minimum of five blogs (3 here, Thursdays here, sometimes here and book reviews here). Often more. I read and critique pages and chapters for other people. I moderate a large group of authors and try to keep hot topics and discussions under control. I attend weekly critique sessions that last for several hours at a time. I read and review books written by authors who aren’t necessarily within my genre, because publicists or blog tour organizers ask. I organize writing activities and get-togethers to help foster a feeling of belonging within the writing community.

On top of all that, I somehow manage to take care of my family, taxi my kids around between a wide variety of sports and activities, spend time with my husband, and I almost never miss my monthly (or sometimes more often) night out with the girls.

And I write. Whenever I can, for as long as I’m able. Because I want to. Because even though I didn’t know it for a while, it’s what I was born to do. A hidden love I didn’t discover until my kids were all in school.

Someone once asked why I try to do so much. It made me think. Made me wonder, and ponder, and question.

Sometimes you do things because they make you happy, or because you love it. And maybe you don’t know how to not help others after a while.

Sometimes you do something because you know you should, even if you think you’ll never get anything out of it.

Sometimes you go out of your way to do something because it’s the right thing, even if it hurts.

Sometimes it’s about your contribution to the world. To the universe. To the higher power in which you put so much faith and belief.

And sometimes it just comes down to being who you are and living an authentic life that makes you happy.

Seriously? Happiness is the BESTEST! That’s why.

Jody the Waiter

You know on Monday how I mentioned eating at Mazza, the Middle Eastern restaurant next to TKE? So, we had this fantastic waiter named Jody. Not only was he totally cool when we told him we were, essentially, ditching out on our food to go listen to an author read, but he set it up so we could come back and have our food hot and ready when we came back an hour later. (Actually, we were an hour and a half.)

When we got back, the place was busy, but he still found us a new table, a bigger one that would accommodate four extra people. He even remembered what drinks we ordered, and brought us new ones as soon as we got there. The guy was awesome.

He had one of those memorable charismatic personalities that makes authors stand up and take notice. And there were six (possibly seven) authors at that table. Dude, Jody. I hope you know you’re totally going to end up as a character in at least one book. Maybe more.

Have you ever met someone like that? Someone so authentic and real that you just had to model a character after them? Or—if you’re not a writer—someone you remember for years, even though you only knew them for like an hour? What is it about that person that makes them so memorable? Is it the way they make you feel while you’re in their presence? Is it the way they look you in the eye when you talk? Or maybe it’s dependent on the situation itself?

If the circumstances were reversed, I wonder how Jody the waiter would remember me? Or us as a group. If you were going to end up in someone’s book, would you be the hero or the villain?

Food for thought. Happy Wednesday!