Caterwauling

I’ve been paying Weight Watchers forever.  With a lot of success. When I’m committed to it. 

Anyway I am still a member. And there was a members-only call with Oprah tonight. Which was awesome and I could pontificate over many experiences we share. 

But the most interesting part was when Oprah spoke fondly of her right-hand gal. 

I know her. We went to high school together. She was a year behind me and I also adored her younger sister. 

For fun I sent her a short, heartfelt message to tell her I always knew she would go far. She thanked me almost immediately. 

She said she was sitting across from Oprah when my message came through. 

What a fun little connection to rekindle in a very sweet way!

  
We’ve been under tornado watch since this morning. My stairwell was flooded by 9 a.m. 

The turnpike is closed due to an overturned truck and the Intracoastal town where I love the cake-batter ice cream is totally underwater. 

I type all of this to say that if you think staying home is a luxury, it’s just a nice alternative to death. 

Construction upstairs all day. And I think those fools with jackhammers hit something vital. Because 32 minutes of fire alarms. 

Holy friggin’ hell. And I have to stay here and have my ears shredded since mom won’t do stairs. Or rain. 

Thunder just cracked. Bye bye Dish Network. Which blows out when a dog farts, so why should the apocalypse be any different?

  
I was talking with a friend who’s about to leave for Aspen. I mentioned that I’d spent a weekend there once, and gave him a fun fact or two since this is his first visit. 

He was relieved because he didn’t want to come off as bragging about this nice thing he’s able to do for his family.

If anything, it makes me happy to see someone being able to enjoy themselves after all the hard work. 

What I didn’t say was all my prior jobs sent me cool places. My Flickr account is a reminder that I have had a pretty cool life so far. 

Aspen was made possible by a ski-loving boss who gave up his spot because he wanted me to go bond with one of my editors at a conference. 

The last job sent me to Mexico and Canada and Baltimore in the space of three months. 

Most recently, I butted my way into two local conferences and paid all hotel, gas, tolls and meals out of pocket. You know. So they’d let me go again someday maybe.  

I say it with no feeling other than thanking God that I live in the vacation capital. I can create my own vacation just by jumping in my jalopy. 

Never mind that I hate driving more than just about anything. 😉 Of course, I hate it just less than doing nothing fun at all!