Thursday, January 6, 2011

Are We There Yet?

I’m not living if I’m not looking ahead to some thing or to some event. That’s just me. I know I need to stop and smell the roses more often, and I need to appreciate the here and now; but I totally get off on that giddy feeling of planning something exciting and the days leading up to it.

Holidays are great. Musical acts coming into town are awesome. Kids’ sporting events are a lot of fun. I get to add those to my calendar and be reminded the purpose of getting through the work week is so that I can enjoy those moments of celebration, exaltation, and, as was the case last night, inebriation.

Still nothing quite compares to the trip on which Lee and I embark this afternoon. It’s an annual get-together with hundreds of our closest friends - which really are like family now - and we all pile aboard this ship and listen to music and drink and celebrate life and drink and share in the power of the musical spirit …. and drink. This get-together is a little thing we like to call The Rock Boat, and this annual floating music festival gets me amped up like nothing else.

Speaking of amped, this is the eleventh year of the cruise and the theme for the event is ‘Going to 11’. Like the rockers from ‘This is Spinal Tap’, this cruise goes that extra push over the cliff and all the way to eleven! As far as the cruising is concerned, the folks at Sixthman, the affinity travel company that puts on the event, have added a wrinkle to the party and have not yet announced to where we’ll be sailing. It really doesn’t matter. The ship could stay in the Port of Tampa all four days and it will still be the best vacation ever.

There’s something absolutely exhilarating about allowing yourself to be consumed by live music and sharing that experience with the people you love. In a nutshell, that is why I get so excited with anticipation for the Boat. In fact, I am telling myself to type faster so I can wrap up this posting and get going to the port.

Excitement is a good thing. I do concede it needs to be balanced (didn’t we just talk about that?) with allowing yourself to absorb the experience you’ve been looking forward to. It’s not like I am going to spend four days on the ship thinking about the next event I’ll be attending. Still, the rush of ‘are we there yet?’ makes it that much better.

As we’re still in the season of the New Year, I hope that you have a wonderful and exciting 2011 planned for yourself. Part of what makes us feel alive is wondering what life has in store for us next.

3 comments:

Jan Timmons said...

How different we seem. I want to live in the moment. I spend time trying to see things as my pooch does--there are no bones in the future; there are no bones in the past. There are only bones (or games or running or sleeping) in the present.

That said, I think an annual tradition that you value sounds stimulating. Intriguing to read what "amps you up", and a good concept. Hope you have fun--again.

lpgoodall said...

Are you back yet? The blogosphere is bored with you!

danaCreative said...

Thanks for the comments, Jan. Yes, I struggle at times with being able to just live in the present. I do find, however, that I am able to appreciate my experiences as they happen. I think life is a balance among learning from the past, appreciating and enjoying the present, and joyfully anticipating the future.

Lindsey .... missed you, too, sweetie.