What the hey hey did we do?

So this past week my phone died on me. The port thingamajib that I stuck the charger in broke somehow and I was out of a phone for some 4-5 days before my replacement came. (THANK GOD FOR INSURANCE!) So although I had a wonderful time with my Dad on Sunday, knowing with Mom out of town he'd be at home all weekend catching up on his honey-dos, I didn't do jack all weekend because it's impossible to coordinate anything with anybody when you can't call them. Plus my sister was out of town too--and Lin we need to discuss how you and Mom CANNOT go out of town at the same time again!! How in the world did people ever do anything before cell phones? It really makes you wonder. Now granted, I did have a really nice weekend. I slept until 11:30 (hey, my cell is also my alarm clock!), I went for a 2 hour hike through Rock Creek Park, I walked the dogs about 15 times and did every single piece of laundry in the basket. And like I said, I just lucked out knowing my Dad would be home because usually he and Mom are running ALL OVER town on the weekends. Today, my new phone arrived and I realize while at first it's disconcerting not to have a phone, it's kinda like not wearing a watch. After a while it becomes pretty liberating.

But then again, there's no more laundry to do and I've read all my crap magazines, and it's nice to have a connection to the outside world once again.

Reliving my past lives

So now that the majority of boxes have been unpacked, I'm left with the little tasks. Going through Christmas decorations to decide if I really want to keep (and therefore store) that ceramic snowman. Color coordinating my closet. You get the idea. Last night was the finally put away photographs that have lived in a box for 6 years in an album. There is something truly cathardic about reliving your past. I've been so blessed to have been so many places, and to live so many places. I filled one album with photos from a beer trip to Prague and Budapest, Thanksgiving in San Diego, my life in Oregon, South of the Border and Charleston. In reliving those lives, which seem somehow so distant and so like yesterday at the same time, I always realize how much I'm enjoying my life right now. I have a tendency to hover in the past. And even as I write this, I receive a phone call from my past, which makes it even harder to focus on the now. But the now is so fleeting, and pretty soon my albums will be filled with photos from my now. And I'm learning to grasp the present, and how very great it actually is.

What Genius Looks Like

Thanks Emily for alerting me to the wonder that is the Literal Video Version!