Chicago - Not So Ordinary Sites

I love to travel and will take any opportunity for a road trip. This past week, Dwight had to go to Chicago for work so Alex and I went along (Mackenzie is on the mission trip). It was fun and tiring. I could recount the usual tourist sights to see but here are the "everyday magic" not so ordinary sites along the way:

* On the way up we saw three tractor trailers hauling the biggest propellors I've ever seen. Each truck had one blade that seemed as long as half a football field. They looked like the kind of blad you'd see on one of those "windmills" that generates power from the wind.

* On the road side in Indiana is a candle outlet with the biggest candle I've ever seen outside of it. I think it could sit alongside the giant Longaberger basket in Dresden and make a nice table display for the Jolly Green Giant!

* While crossing the street in Chicago we got delayed while waiting for a semi truck loaded down with more port a potties than I've ever seen! Definitely not something you see everyday!

* While Alex and I were looking in the Apple Store several guys from a soccer team came in. We really didn't know who they were until people started asking for their autographs. Turns out they were the Everton Club, a British Premier League team in town to play the Chicago Fire. I really didn't care who they were - I just thought they were enjoyable to look at :)

* Alex and I went to the Hancock building observatory (95th) floor. In one of the windows on the outside was a spider building a beautiful web. How did he get up there and wasn't he afraid of heights? What a view, though. Most expensive spider web real estate ever!

It's Summer! Don't Miss It!

My boss has a quote she likes to share, "Some people light up the room by coming in, others light up the room by going out." My friend Becca K is one of those people that lights up the room by coming in, so I was pleasantly surprised to have her show up at my desk for an impromptu lunch invitation out of the office. Many days I don't leave my desk for lunch so actually leaving the building is magic! I was even more pleasantly surprised to have her buy my lunch with a gift card she had. We ate outside and had the opportunity to actually enjoy a pleasant, cooler summer day. Beautiful day, good food, a good friend - it doesn't get much more everyday magic than that! It's also a good reminder to take time from a busy day to do these things. Summer is flying by. Don't miss it!

Uncomfortably Numb

Someone is trying to tell me not to get my tooth crowned! Last fall, I had a tooth that needed crowned. I went to my appointment but was not feeling well. Before he could get started I told the Dentist I was sorry but I was feeling worse and could not go through with a 2 hour dental procedure that night. Work got really busy and I put off the crown until I couldn't stand it anymore and went back this past May. The dentist got me all numbed up (Numbing #1) and then determined that the tooth needed a root canal. He stopped the crown process and sent me off to an Endodontist to do the root canal. I went to the root canal appointment, got all numbed up (numbing #2) and as soon as he started I jumped out of my chair in pain. Couldn't get me numb enough. He gave me some medication to take to try to reduce the inflammation and had me come back the next week. Deja Vu (numbing #3). Couldn't get me numb enough again. Went back a week later, same deal (numbing #4). I finally had to get put out to get the root canal done. Last night I went back to the Dentist for the crown finally. He got me all numbed up (numbing #5). While I was waiting for him to come back and get started there was a loud explosion and the lights went out. A transformer had blown and wouldn't be fixed for hours. Appointment cancelled. No crown. I wonder if the sixth time will be the charm?! Sometimes, you just have to laugh!

Hurts So Good

Today I rediscovered the "joy" of exercise! A group of WCHS "soccer moms" are working out with the coach's wife who is a personal trainer. She had us meet at the lower end of Hoover Dam. We spent an hour walking up hills, doing lunges, and going up and down the steps on the side of the dam! Damn, it hurt (pun intended) but damn it also felt so good to use my body and move! At first I thought I was going to die but as time went on the endorphins kicked in and I actually felt really good! When I got to the top of the dam after climbing all those steps, I felt like Rocky!

6330 Buckingham Dr. , Allen Park MI - 1969

For me, I find magic in revisiting the past -reconnecting. Last week I was in Detroit for work. On the way home I drove through Allen Park where we lived in the late 60s for about 4 years. Our old neighbors that were good friends of our family still live there in the same house where they raised 5 children. I dropped in on them and they remembered me and were glad to see me! They are in their 70s now and have several great-grandchildren!

Since I was no older than 5 when I lived there, most of my memories are just vague snapshots in my mind. But I saw a lot of the things I remembered - the place where our swingset was, the bookcase under the stairs in the neighbor's house, the place where their in-ground trampoline used to be that I loved to play on, the railroad tracks behind the house, the old Farmer Jack grocery store, Telegraph Rd., . . . I was surprised at how much I remembered. Our old house was so small. It didn't seem like it at the time!

Back in the car on the way to Columbus, a DJ on the radio was talking about a song Gonzo sang in the Muppet Movie . . ."I'm Going to Go Back There Someday." It seemed a coincidence to hear this when I did - just leaving a place where I lived so long ago. The first line is, "This looks familiar, vaguely familiar, Almost unreal, yet, it's too soon to feel yet."

Another line in the Muppet song that doesn't have anything to do with this subject really caught my attention. The line is, "There's not a word yet for old friends who've just met." Have you ever met someone for the first time but felt like you've known them forever? I have and it's one of the most magical things I have ever experienced. But that's another topic . . .

Doo Dah, Doo Dah, Blah

Fourth of July week - here is how is was supposed to be - three days off, both kids gone, Dwight and I going on a trip somewhere. Here's how it was - three days off, a bad cold, slept most of two of the days, no trip, a brief outing to the Doo Dah parade (in the rain) and then home and back to the couch. Blah! Kind of disappointing. But, the magic is, I guess, that sometimes your body takes over and says, "You have been working too much you need to rest." At first I felt like I wasted SO much time sleeping and laying on the couch when there were SO many things to do. But, maybe there is some magic in just slowing down and doing nothing.

Music - The Great Time Machine

If you want some instant magic - do this. Think of a year that you want to go back to. Go to iTunes and type in that year in the Search field. You will probably see a collection of songs from that year. Then, sit back and relive the year in 30 second snippets. I just took a tour of the early 1980s - back to high school and first years of college. It's amazing how music can take you right back to moments you had buried deep in your mind.

• Summer concerts at Blossom - Pat Benatar, Loverboy, Michael Stanley Band . . .
• Dancing to "Rock Lobster" and "What I Like About You"
• Feeling "alternative" - Adam Ant, Yaz, Oingo Boingo, The Clash, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Modern English,
• Nursing a broken heart - Total Eclipe of the Heart, Waiting for a Girl Like You, Open Arms
• Crushes - Rick Springfield - Jessie's Girl
• Cruisin around Medina in Shelly or Jana's car rocking to "The Cars," AC/DC (Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap!), My Sharona
• Depression Songs
• Freshman year of college - Rock the Casbah, Beat It, Billy Jean (or anything by white-gloved Michael Jackson), anything by the Police - Synchronicity . . .
• Going to see Footloose with Amy and Mary and playing the songs over and over and over again
• Anything from 1984 reminds me of Spain - Wham!- Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, Careless Whisper, Carribean Queen, I Just Called to Say I Love You . . .

It's amazing the happy and not-so-happy memories just 30 seconds of music can evoke. It seems like every sense of the moment comes flooding back. Music is the ultimate time machine! Where do you want to go?