Day Seven

A good day.  Not the day I was expecting to have but a good day anyway.  I expected to take today completely off and do nothing.  Instead I went into work for four hours so that Bossman could go with his son-and several thousand other sixth graders- to a minor league baseball game. They had a WONDERFUL time.  The weather was perfection itself, the baseball players interacted with the kids and a very meaningful memory was created for both father and son. Sometimes wealth comes from giving stuff away, even if it's a day off used differently than planned.

To celebrate the creation of Cordy's Chariot my Mom took me to my new favorite restaurant, a kind of cross between an Aussie Pub and a Parisian Bistro.  Great service, luscious food and a fantastic atmosphere.  It's also casually elegant, and elegance is something I crave when I wear a green apron all day.  It reminds me of who I really am and that I'm not just a barista dealing with rude people for $11 something an hour.

 I am also a world traveler who has circumnavigated the world eight or nine times, who lived in Australia, who has explored New Zealand and China and soaked up the sun in Bali and was forced to take a 3 day bus trip from Kuta Beach in Bali back to Jakarta in Indonesia.  I have actual haunts, favorite places I go in London and Paris and a favorite wine in Italy.  I've been to Switzerland and Germany, Romania, Brussels, and other places in Europe both east and west.  I've seen the Berlin wall when it was standing and I would like to go back now that it's gone.  I've hand fed kangaroos and a baby wombat and have a scar from where a jealous Emu pecked my head-I wanted to continue to feed the joey.  I've had a boa constrictor wrapped around my waist and had a Kookaburra laugh at me when I fell flat on my face while I was looking up at it.  I've driven off the road while pointing out a flock of wild cockatoos to my mom in Australia and had to be pulled out by a  guy passing by who said not one word of criticism but I'm sure drank off that story for months afterwards.

I have watched the sun come up on four of the seven continents.  I have gone swimming in six of the seven seas- Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico- I'm only missing the Arctic Ocean.  I have climbed Pike's Peak in Colorado, part of the Matterhorn- I was 4 years old at the time- and walked along the Appalacian Trail- okay so that last one was by mistake and I got us lost and Cordy had to take me back to the car when it started to get dark-which he did cross country ignoring All of the 'Stay on the Trail' signs-but I'm counting it anyway and Ayres Rock when it was 114 degrees in the shade with a killer hangover. I have celebrated the Fourth of July in Washington, DC, NYC, Honolulu, Newcastle, NSW, Australia, China, New Zealand, and in Banff.  I have couches that I am welcome to sleep on in Kotor, Montenegro, Split, Croatia, Namibia, all across Australia, in London and Paris, in other parts of Britain and France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, several in Canada, in Colombia, Guatamala, Hondurous, and across the U.S.  

I have eaten foods in China that I am sure were distant relatives of Cordy and things that I do not want to know the origins of.  I have eaten in some of the finest restaurants the world has to offer and blue plate specials in local dives the world over.  I have stayed in youth hostels and campgrounds and in the George IV in Paris and The Plaza in NYC.  I have ridden trains across Europe and Australia.  I have driven all across Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Canada and the US-cross country four times.  I have sailed and gone water skiing and snow skiing and snow boarding and surfing and ice skating, roller blading-though that didn't go well- bicycling, hiking and walking all over the place.  I have ridden in a Riksaw and on a bus with chickens and goats as fellow passengers.

I went to my first congressional reception at the age of three.  To balls at Disneyland and in New Orleans.  I have danced with Pluto and Mickey Mouse.  I own a ballgown.  I have shopped on the Champs Elysee and Rodeo Drive and in the local's market in Beijing.  I have seen the Terracotta Soldiers in situ and slept countless nights in the Snowy Mountain Country in the arms of one of my true loves and in the Outback under a blanket of stars that must be seen to be believed.

I am rich beyond measure in experiences and memories that no one else has on this earth.  I have done things and gone places that most of you only dream of or think of as 'someday.'  So when you greet me with a "Gimme'a decaf tall skinny vanilla latte" instead of a "Hello" know that I have lived some of your wildest dreams and I haven't even begun living mine yet.