This has gotta be the good life.

Yeah, I'm a bit of a nerd. I like to hang out at Barnes & Noble (there are far less intellectual ways to spend one's time, I guess). I like to hang out in the "self-help" section... seems like the most interesting people loom around there. The other day when I was there, I picked up a book called "God Never Blinks" by Regina Brett.  Not sure why it caught my eye, but I'm glad it did. I couldn't put it down. It was like one big blog on life. The author had hit quite a few speedbumps along the road of life, and this book contains 50 musings on the lessons she's learned along the way. If you can get to Barnes & Noble or a library TODAY, do it. You won't be sorry. If you thought your life wasn't in order, get a load of this lady. Her book is appropriately named-- some days she feels as though God "blinked" when she was born, and so she was forgotten along the way somewhere.  She's experienced it all, and she'll help you see the sunny side of anything (with a chuckle or two along the way).

One of the first stories in the book mentions a friend of hers who lives by the phrase "get to." He doesn't have to go to work; he gets to go to work. He doesn't have to go grocery shopping; he gets to go grocery shopping. He's thankful for every opportunity, even the unsatisfactory ones.

Funny how some people view life like that, and others (like me, I admit) see those opportunities as obligations. Sometimes life seems to be going less-than-perfectly, but it always helps to sit back and look at what's going WELL. Despite how I may come off, not everything is perfect in my life (but I had you fooled, didn't I? haha). Today was another unusual day, one of those days when a smile can be difficult to produce. But the day is done, and I'm sitting on my balcony, watching the sun set over Portage. There is a family enjoying a barbecue in the courtyard, and the three young girls who live below me are chasing millions of fireflies around the gazebo. I can hear Disney's Beauty and the Beast through the open window of a nearby apartment, and I am humming along to songs I remember from my childhood (and as I pay attention to the lyrics and dialogue as an adult, I realize exactly how ridiculous they are).

Yeah, this has gotta be the good life.  It's the only one I've got.  I don't have to live my life-- I get to live it.  So I will.  Damn the torpedos and full speed ahead :)