Pink Stilettos Come To Mind

Singing in the car "."..and he said someday I hope you get the chance to live like you were dy-y-ying. Got me thinking, what would I do if I found out I had years, months, weeks, days? 

• I'd do stand up comedy and laugh at my own jokes
• I'd walk the catwalk in stilettos 
• I'd learn how to scuba dive and capture images of all the animals no one ever looks at
• I'd paint pictures on the streets of Paris for free and give them out to total strangers
• I'd home school all my kids while we traveled the world in search of folktales
• I'd be a teacher again, and teach for free
• I'd write and write and write and never stop until everyone I love has a book of their own
• I'd make all of you video cards so I'd never have to miss a birthday, graduation, wedding, birth, flat tire or heartbreak.
• I'd stop every morning to give thanks for another day, no matter how short 
• I'd forgive.  And forget.  Forever.

I'd never make my bed, worry about those last ten pounds, complain about standing in line or care about singing off key ever again.  Most of all, I'd never forget to say I love you.  

Mom:  What would you do, Hope? 
Hope: I don't know, yours sound so much better.  Why can't you do those now that you're not dying?
Mom: Sometimes, I guess things have to happen to make you throw caution to the wind.  

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I'm reminded not that I've been blessed to have been spared, but that I can't take anything for granted.  I remember the battles of those I loved who have lost their battle against cancer and those still fighting.  I pray that those of us who have survived or continue to get "good news" each time we seek a new exam will be given the opportunity to share our lives in meaningful ways.  

Breast Cancer Prevention: online at Feel Your Boobies and on island at Pinktober!

You got me all Googly eyed

I never thought the day would come when someone would Google "Saipan Budweiser consume statistics" and get my blog, but here it is!  I'm at your service, and I know who drinks Bud, where you can get it and even how to make a fancy mosquito repellent stand out of an empty Budweiser can.  Not.

Other popular Google searches that made their way here this week: pugua, how to revive a rosebush that was improperly cut, pteromechanophobia, hot sexy babes with hot sexy jobs, Chamorro miss you and my fave, stupidest things to think about. I was just kidding about the hot sexy jobs. I wanna give a special holla to my peeps reading from Hungary, Morocco, and Nigeria.  The three of you keep me writing all this crazy stuff, so here's to you!   I have one crazy stalker who keeps reading the same thing each week, maybe three times a week.  You need help my friend, or a cold Bud.

In other news: eBlogger just upgraded their image upload tool, which rocks, because the old one really unrocked. 

A Book About Home

If you read Angelo's blog,  Jane's blog or like Wild Bill's on Facebook, you'll know that a group of writers on Saipan are putting a book together.  If you're interested in submitting some stories, go here. I have a hard time thinking about what I'd like to share about my home in the middle of the ocean, near the deepest trench in the world, with the most vibrant and orange blooms in the spring, with the most succulent barbecue that ever touched a grill, where the sun always shines except when it rains for about 5 minutes on one side of the road and is dry on the other.

If I were to write a story would I tell everyone how the bowling alley was the coolest place to hang out as a teenager?  Or, how Reiko's Soba House had a monkey in the back yard of the restaurant when I was little?  Or, how the blueberry slushy at Matsumoto's theater was the bomb even though it came in a tiny styrofoam cup?  Maybe I would tell the world how my sweetest memory would be sitting on my grandma's patio eating salt and iba because we were both not supposed to.  And, how I cannot visit her grave without breaking down because I miss her so much.
I don't know if I want anyone to know that in parts of our islands, life is so bad that the most exciting things kids do on the weekend is sit in the emergency room of the government run hospital watching TV and enjoying the air-conditioning.  Or, how I witnessed a woman buying school supplies for her family with a PO. And how everyday someone cuts down a tree it turns our island paradise into more of a "rock".  And how I hate when people here say they live on a rock, but as soon as I lay my mat on the beach and watch my children play in the water I am soothed by the awesome realization that this is my home.

Leave a message...i'm at the beach

 

This is what happens when you whine about not having been at the beach for weeks.  Your husband tells you to go to work and concentrate on what you need to get done and then organizes an afternoon fiesta. Family, food and unlimited bliss. I love this man.

This is my kind of afternoon meeting.  Me, Jess and my sister Yvette.

Count the black dots.  

On second thought, don't waste your time looking for things that aren't there.