Krispy Kreme

I landed in Seattle at 9:30 pm, within 5 minutes of Ratchris. I was in town for a wedding, the wedding of a dear, dear man named Shaliboozehound. I walked off the plane and down to the baggage claim and Ratchris was already ringing me on my celly. He had news. The wedding had been called off. I won't go into the details, but sometimes that's how things go. It was Thursday night.

I grabbed my bag off the carousel and turned to find Ratchris already off his plane and standing 10 feet away. We got it together, picked up a cab, and headed into the city. The bachelor party was at a place called 'Fenix'. I don't know anything about that club, but that night they were hosting a burlesque show, and it was a nice show indeed. I got a kiss on my cheek for a dollar and WestSide bought me several double-vodka's and cherry cokes to smooth out my wrinkles.

It was a good night. Within 30 minutes of landing, young ladies were swooning around me and my hands were filled with booze. Later, I was escorted to a lovely home and fed cheese fish, cheerios and Guinness.

The next morning I woke up feeling like I had slept on top of a bicycle. It's enough to know that much.

That day was nice, I recovered mostly, saw a bunch of dear friends, had some more booze, some kind of mud thing drank as a shot, tequila, and a great vodka I can't tell you the name of because it's not been found by the mainstream yet. It is fantastic. And I reserve that word for special occasions.

That was Friday. Saturday the wedding occurred without incidence, of course. We drank, danced, ate bacon and rode a tandem bicycle around a military base in the middle of the night while drunk. How many of you can claim that? A thing of beauty.

The next day was mother's day. Well, I was over three thousand miles away from my mother, so I gave her a call. But I was only a couple towns away from my grandmother. And grand she is. She is a big part of my life, she raised me only second to my mother. I can't imagine not having her as a part of my life growing up. It is as if my life is a building, and without her, it would be like two walls missing.

I didn't call her. I drove over and showed up on her doorstep. I took *great pleasure* in surprising her this way on mother's day. Now I have to tell you that I live over one thousand miles away, but I didn't plan this. I didn't know that I would be able to give her this surprise until that day, but sometimes things just have a way of coming together in such a beautiful way.

They say life is like a play, and all the world's a stage. I say you need to fucking show up, every damn day, because every day counts, and don't ever let go because at the end of your days you'll regret it if you don't. I swear before God regret is the one of the worst evils in the world, and one with the least power. The least of us can greatly over power it should we choose to.

What I was saying somewhere in all of this is, I have finally come to that point in my life where I have already lived a very serious life. I have let a lot of factors steer my course. And now I am the most alive I have ever been. I plan to choose the course from here on out. There are, of course, things over which I have no power, but I will stand for or against them, because I have belief.

And...

I'm scared. But scared never got anyone anything except in the ground with regret. We're all going to the same place at the end of the path, and what you experience along that path is up to you.

Here's a quote from Thomas Edison of all people... "If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves."

Well, obviously, I am not as succinct and clever as Thomas Edison, I prefer this wordy and self-congratulatory method of relaying my thoughts and feelings, but that's just one of my defects. But imperfection is what makes things beautiful. And you know what? I don't know what I am capable of, but like a child taking that first step, when it stands up from crawling, and stumbles, unstable, but on it's own footing, I am finding out that I can lift myself up. I hope I have the opportunity to literally astound myself. I really do.

I don't know what this has to do with Krispy Kreme, but somebody out there who I know personally does. I hope they remind me, because I'd really like to know...