We’re Still Stuck On Shaving Legs

We’re Still Stuck On Shaving Legs.

Kate’s New Blog

Dear Jenny,

Just wanted to let you know that I finally made the jump and have my own blog.  Go to www.justmekate.wordpress.com.  I posted, and would love for you to check it out.  Hope you like it, and we’ll use Amani Tree when you go back to Africa.

With Love,

Kate

Don’t Try This At Home

Dear Jenny,

"There goes Sam.."

As a parent, there are a certain set of unspoken rules that go along with the job.  You are required to feed your children, clothe them, provide a roof over their heads, love them , and protect them.  In most instances the protection code doesn’t have anything to do with a stranger or a dog, or the elements, but mostly it has to do with protecting them from themselves.. or not.

Sometimes we allow our children to do things that might not always be the safest thing, because they are having fun.  We hear them laugh, hear them giggle, and it’s not so easy to just say “no” and become the spoiler.   We know that there is a high probability that someone is going to get hurt, yet we still let them go. 

That was my situation last night before dinner.  Tyler thought it would be great fun to swing the baby, Sam, around in a circle really fast.  I was in the kitchen making dinner and didn’t really know what was going on, all I heard was an enormous wave of laughter coming from all 3 kids.  So I went into the dining room, and there went Sam, flying through the air, up and down.  All I could see was a streak and there was giggling from three happy kids .  I must say, it was pretty cute.  But at the same time I was thinking, ooh, somebody is definitely going to get hurt with this one. I was seeing visions of a head hitting the wall or a leg getting the table.  So you know what I did?  I got the camera out.  They were having so much fun, I was laughing too.  I just didn’t have it in me to spoil their good fun.

As I was watching this whole escapade unfold, I couldn’t help but think how lucky children are to be able to think of the fun first, the risks later.  When my kids started that game, they had no idea what all the bad consequences could be.  I on the other hand, took one look at it and immediately thought of all the “what if’s”.  To the point where I could have ended all the fun.  That is not to say that there are some things that are just downright stupid to let your children do.  Probably not a good idea to let them bring something electrical into the bathtub, or let them jump from the 2nd story window into a kiddie pool–no, I don’t think so.  But in many situations, as a parent, you just have to look the other way, and let them go have fun, or join in with them.  Let them figure out the risks and rewards.  Kids are pretty smart when we give them a chance.

Luckily, last night was not our night to go to the emergency room because of the “fun” that we were having.  All ended well, and surprisingly there were no fights or arguments in the “fun” process either.  As parents, sometimes we can take our job too seriously.  Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously too.  There are so many things to enjoy in life, why not go and do them.  Take a lesson from the kids, go put yourself out there and think fun first, risk later. 

On another note, Jenny, I know that you are really busy with your foundation and it hasn’t been so easy to write lately.  So I have decided that I am going to start my own blog sometime in the next week.  We will still have The Amani Tree for corresponding when you are in Africa, which will be sometime this summer.  I just think that it is time for me to go out on my own.  I will post and let you know what my new blog address is and what you can expect.  I do love hearing from you, but understand your time constraints with your busy schedule.  Take care.

With Love,

Kate

Tea for “Three”

Dear Jenny,

Tea for 3

Today I went to visit my family with just me, no kids.  Do you know how long it has been since I have been to New Hampshire without my tribe?  Let’s just put it this way, I can’t remember.  I miss not having them all in tow, but there are definitely some advantages to flying solo.

One of the cool things about this visit is that I was totally “Aunt Kate.”  Usually I am “mom” first, and then “Aunt Kate”.  A lot of times there is not enough “me” to go around, and the “aunt” part gets lost in the shuffle.  So I decided, since I left the “mom” at home, I should make the most of my aunt status; I stopped at a gift shop along the way and bought all of my nieces and nephews maple lollipops.  It was great when I arrived and I got to give them their surprise.  For once it was me getting to hand over the sweets and my sisters giving me the hairy eyebrow.  In the past it has been the other way around.   But hey, what are aunts for?

Then I had tea for “three” with my 2 nieces.   Tea for three..how simple, how nice, how intimate.  I have always enjoyed sitting down with someone, anyone and having tea or coffee.  Granted, it’s a little different with a 3 and a 1 year old, as opposed to folks my own age or older, but it is still tea.  Tea provides a warm medium that says, it’s time to talk.  Come, let’s share and warm ourselves with this drink. 

Today, the conversation revolved around the actual process of making tea at my nieces house.  Then I learned about the game Candy Land, and that “we really should play it sometime, Aunt Kate.”  I got to eyewitness the one year old, drinking and pouring “tea”, all over herself.  I wondered why my sister covered their cute little table with a bath towel–now I know.  And we also talked about my nieces “chick-a-doodles”.  That’s what she calls her real live chickens.  It was nice because it was all stuff that was important to her.  And that is what made it important to me.

What I am saying, is that if you want to connect and learn about someone’s life, sit down and have a cup of tea.  What a great way to listen.  It doesn’t have to be tea; it could be coffee, lemonade, or any other drink.  What matters is the fact that you took the time, and enjoyed each other’s company. In the course of everyday life, it means so much.

I’ve always believed that the greatest gift that you can give anyone in this world is your time…why not spend it over a cup of tea

Thanks nieces, for sharing a cup of tea with me!

With Love,

“Aunt Kate”

Observations From The Locker Room Floor

Dear Jenny,

Summer anyone...?

 

I know, you must be thinking “What? Locker room floor? What is she doing now?”  Yeah, well, why not?  Why wouldn’t you want to get down and spend some time on the locker room floor?!! I must say, it wasn’t my first choice, but it worked..

Yesterday, was my youngest’s, first go around in the “hour care” at the YMCA while I worked out.  As you can imagine, the one year old, wasn’t too excited with the whole prospect of leaving my side for just a short amount of time.  He was fine when I left him, but then I think the down fall was when the babysitter picked him up and he got a glimpse of me on the treadmill.  That’s when it all came crashing down.  I stuck it out for 15 minutes, and then I couldn’t do it any longer.  You know, a work out just becomes so stressful when you are looking over and seeing your baby cry.  The baby sitter was good, she gave me the motions to just keep going, not a big deal–which at first was fine .  But I could only take it for so long, and finally I pulled the plug.

So I went in and got him, and trying to save some part of my workout (the over achiever in me) I decided that I could at least do my sit ups and leg lifts while Sam was with me.  However, where am I going to do that, where my one year old, standing right by my side isn’t considered too much of a liability around all of the machines?  You guessed it, the locker room floor…I’m not too proud

The world looks a lot different when you are on the floor of a locker room.  First of all, you feel small.  Second of all, you feel a little like a voyeur, because you can peak under the stalls, and third, you are a little cold–those tile floors are not meant to lay on.  For the whole 10 minutes that I was down there though, I did have a chance to observe…and this is what I noticed.

The women would file in and smile at me, I’d make a funny comment about my situation and they would go about their business to wash their hands and look in the mirror.  When they looked in the mirror it was an immediate scowl and something was always mumbled under their breath about their appearance.  One woman mentioned that she couldn’t wait for summer when her nose wouldn’t look so red, another lady commented that she had so far to go, as she focused in on her mid section. I actually commented to her that she looked great–and she did.  She smiled and acted a little surprised that this 36-year-old psycho, who was on the floor of the locker room with her one year old, doing situps would actually take the time to say something nice to her in between repetitions.  Well, she did, she looked good, and she needed to hear it.  There was another woman who came in next and kept looking at her forehead–wrinkles maybe?  I couldn’t see them from my view, but that is all I could surmise.  She definitely was not happy, whatever it was she was looking at.  And away she went…

Hmm, are you seeing a pattern here Jenny?  The operative phrase being my view.  I think that we are too hard on ourselves.  From my view, I didn’t see any of these flaws. Why is it that we always tear ourselves down and look at the worst possible attribute that we “think” that is ours alone?   Do we realize that most of the world doesn’t look that closely at how red our nose is, or how many wrinkles that we have on our forehead?  I know that I don’t.  Usually I notice someone’s nice demeanor, warm smile, or their cool hairdo.  I’ll think, yeah, that’s what I want.  Wouldn’t it be nice to walk away from the mirror with a smile on your face instead of a scowl? 

Remember, it starts with love of self.   When was the last time you looked in the mirror and said, “Damn, girl, you look good..nice teeth,  nice eyebrows, and what a great nose you have.”  Try it Jenny, your next look in the mirror, pick out the good, not what you want to change.  We are all beautiful people and it’s time that we started recognizing it.  If we don’t see it in ourselves, who will?

I did my time on the floor of the locker room, that was my beautiful moment.;)  It wasn’t so bad, and it definitely gave me a different perspective.  Always enlightening to look at things from a different view-point, you never know what you are going to find, you should try it..

Have a good day!

With Love,

Kate

“Running on Empty”

Dear Jenny,

This is how a hairdryer unfreezes my waterer..

It’s cold, cold, cold out, and I’ve had one of those days where I feel as if I am “Running On Empty.”

I know that you have had a day like this, because we all have.  It is one that starts out okay, and then just keeps on diving, zapping all of the energy that you have.  I am going to attribute this downward spiral to it being Monday, the fact that I didn’t work out today, and that it is downright frigid out.  “Thank you old man winter–you really know how to throw a good punch, don’t you?”

I thought that I was going to make it okay through this cold spell, but I didn’t.  This evening when I went out to check on my animals, one of the barn waterers was frozen.  Part of the fun of being a farmer in the winter (yes, that was sarcasm).  I had to pull the old hair dryer out to get the water flowing again–and boy, did it take some time.  It was frozen good.  On a normal cold day I would have embraced the challenge of getting it thawed by myself, but today, the cold had set in and every bone in my body just seemed to ache with it.  The usual skip to my step was definitely not there and finally I had to just abandon myself to the cold within and I kept the Carhart Coveralls on, with my alpaca hat, vest and socks.  It made it much easier to go out and check that the waterer had thawed.  Not to mention this old house doesn’t have an easy time keeping the cold out either.  It actually felt good to be bundled inside too.  An hour later, it was thawed, but I was not..

Favorite mug, favorite HOT tea

So, as I sit here tonight, hands wrapped tight around my trusty friend “tea” in my favorite mug,  I think to myself;  tomorrow is a new day.  I’m going to love myself tonight, nurture, and contemplate.  I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning, shake the cold out of my bones, and keep marching forward.  We all have these days, and how we deal with them, sets the motion for the next day.  I’m just going to have to take a dose of my extreme Sagitarian optimism and just smile through it.  I will, tomorrow.. 

I’m not out of gas yet Jenny, just running on empty.  That’s okay, “Running on Empty” makes you appreciate a full tank.   Stay warm tonight.

With Love,

Kate

Women

Dear Jenny,

I just wanted to tell you about an amazing day and evening that I had on Friday–filled with incredible women… 

Friday for lunch, I had a friend of mine over.  She lives out-of-town and we get together every 2 months or so and “chat”.  She has no kids and is unattached, so between the two of us we have all bases covered–and boy do we cover those bases!  Do you have a friend Jenny, that you hold nothing back from and talk about things other than the grind of everyday life?  It is always so much fun.  This friend of mine has this joke going with me,–”Is it coffee with Kate, or cocktails with Kate?”  She claims that two different conversations will ensue, depending on what the beverage is.  Well, I might agree with her there, although Friday, we covered everything from boyfriends and books, to orgasms.  And there wasn’t a drop of alcohol involved. ” What do you think of that friend?  There goes your theory.”  It was so fun, and we laughed so hard, I could barely breathe.  Her usual 2 hour stay ended after 4 hours, and it was great. I think that she primed my pump for my outing that evening.   Thank you..:)

That evening, I went to my quarterly movie group dinner.  There are 10 women that get together and analyze a movie that was chosen by one of the group members.   We are supposed to be looking at the art of the film, but usually it turns to the art of how we feel and how we reacted to the  movie.  This time we watched The Bridges of Madison County.  I really don’t need to say anymore, because I am sure that you have watched it, a real heart jerker, that involves love, marriage, an affair, and children.  The conversation that followed was incredible.  It felt as if a glow set in over the room, because there was so much wisdom and feeling floating around. 

There are 39 years between the oldest member of the group and the youngest; each of us are married, some have been married twice, some have children, some don’t.  Based on the differences in age, you can see that there were many levels of experiences.  All I can say about the conversation that evolved is that it was electric.  We all seemed to be in agreement that so much of the love that we have in our relationships is dependent upon the love that we feel for ourselves.  In addition, the strength of the relationships are dependent upon the strength of the foundation to which it was built upon. We agreed that relationships aren’t just about sex or

When it's cold, we sled inside..

friendship, but an intricate balance of both. 

After listening to everyone, and their own love story(s),   I don’t think that there is any right or wrong way to be in a relationship, it is primarily up to the parties involved.  But I do believe, intensely, that the most important relationship that we have is the one with ourselves. 

So what I took home from my evening with this amazing group of women is that, to truly love, is to love oneself.  Then, you can give your love, with an open heart, no strings attached, no resentment, no hidden agenda.  Love is a journey.  It takes nurturing, patience and time. Everyone writes their own love story.  What works for one, doesn’t mean that it works for another.  Are there similarities?  Yes.  Are there common feelings paralleled among all of us?  Absolutely.  And that is what made the evening so special.   I will cherish the conversation that I had Friday night with those 8 other women forever. 

No hen pecking Friday–thanks girls, each and every one of you for making my day so magical!

With love,

Kate

Me and the “Y”

Dear Jenny,

Outdoors, the preferred method of exercise

Another snowy day…anyways, I have got to tell you, the YMCA finally came to our town.  It opened last week, and from what I can tell, the community is embracing it. I am included in that embrace.  As you know, we have had a snowy winter.  My running on the road has been down to a minimum, and me and my body have not been happy about that.   So, when I found out that the “Y” was here, I decided it was time for me to join.

You have to understand, I’ve avoided the gym thing for a while.  I can blame it on childcare, I can blame it on location, but one of the big reasons is that I suffer from “Gym Anxiety“. I have this thing about letting people see me sweat.  I don’t like it.  Messy hair, gym clothes, sweaty face, it’s just one of my things.  But what am I going to do?  Not stay fit because of this ridiculous head game that I play with myself?  I don’t think so.  It had been a week since my last work out in Atlanta, and I was aching for movement and yes, sweat.  That being said, I got my membership yesterday, and then I decided to workout last night.  Logistically it was perfect, I had dinner with my girl friends in town and then I figured if there was enough time (we were done by 9pm), I would go for my first “Y” workout…and so I did. 

Like anything new, you go in with your eyes wide open, as you try to figure out the program.  Last night, my first strike against me was that I was going in on a stomach full of food and beer.  No problem, I would be fine–I’ll go for the elliptical machine, it’s the least jarring and juggling to the belly.  That’s what I like the best anyways.  Could it be that easy though?  Oh no, when I walked in there, the ellipticals were packed, what was everyone doing here at 9 o’clock on a Thursday night anyways?  Okay, I’ll deal. I headed to the locker room to change and re-group. 

I got my locker, decided that I would go for a treadmill, changed and went to deal with my hair.  Strike number 2, I forgot my hair elastic. Great, what was the likelihood that my hair clip, which was the only thing that I had, was going to keep this mop up and out of my face while I was running like a hamster on the treadmill?  Not likely, but that’s all I had, so it was going to have to do.  But for a fleeting second panic tried to over come and I had to take a breath and say, “Okay, Kate, you can do this, get your iPod rigged up and let’s go”.  And whoops, I forgot my gum and my chapstick too.  Boy, this wasn’t going so well, maybe I should just leave right now.  What seems like minor things, are really adding up to one big First Time ”Y” Disaster…

I walked out of the locker room, and I saw my machine, over next to the wall.  I headed straight for it. There was even a decent amount of space between “it” and the next person over working out on another treadmill.  I was good to go. I hopped on, and then proceeded to push every button on the machine like 5 times–do you think that I could get that thing going?  Nope.  Finally, I abandoned ship and decided to move over to the other machine.  Is this one going to work, or is it just me, and I can’t figure out how to use these “Y” treadmills?  Am I going to have to ask for help, with all of these people around me sweating it out, doing their thing, while I fumble through this, trying to look like I know what I am doing?  Yeah right, Kate–this gym thing has never really been your scene.  You are an outdoors kind of girl, time to get back on the road and run in the slush, I am out of here.  Alright, another big breath, walking out is just not my style.  So I opted to talk my way down from the ledge and I hopped on the next machine. Yes, it worked. 

We started at a brisk walk.  The hair was not holding, the ear phones were not staying in very well, and if I wasn’t careful I was going to fall off of this god forsaken machine and really make a scene.  I abandoned the hair–it was going to have to be free for this workout, and after one final jam in the ear of the ear phones, I finally got them to stay.  I am telling you, if I couldn’t have had my music to get me through this ordeal, I was out, not coming back, ever again… 

Forty five minutes later, the beers, fajita, and gingerbread that I had for dinner were still in place, my hair was out of control, and my face was red and sweaty, and I had gotten through my first workout at the “Y”.  It wasn’t so bad, was it?  No, I guess not.  We did have our moments, but maybe next time I’ll remember everything.  And as always, I have to laugh, going to a gym is sort of like going to a meat market.  You can pick out the young singles immediately. They aren’t so much about the work out; they are about who they can watch and who can watch them.  Very entertaining…

The bottom line is though, that I stretched my “Kateness”, last night.  I did it, I’m back on the gym scene.  I’m making my body and my mind better for doing it, and, if you take the anxiety of the whole thing away, you’ve got the making of a great relationship–me and the “Y“.  I’m sure this first week will be a little rough, but after that, I will conquer the “Y” and I will eventually, become a ”Y” Queen!  Ayyy…

Have a great weekend Jenny!

With Love,

Kate

The Little Things

Dear Jenny,

Two Very Special Things

Do you know one of the reasons that I love being a stay at home mom?  It’s Snow Days!  I love them.  They are a bonus, and once you get past the fact that the plans for the day have changed, you are good to go.  Stuck at home with no reason to go, and we love it.  Yesterday we played in the snow, played games (it was Battleship–I won for once ), we watched a movie, and stayed in our pajamas.  It was great.  And then today, it’s back to school, aww.. too bad guys, I’ll miss playing with you!

Recently we painted our dining room.  Whenever you do any sort of home improvement project there is always a total disruption of the house.  Things get rearranged and dug out, stuck in weird places, and you are forced to go rummaging through stuff that you haven’t laid your eyes on in years. 

Due to the most recent disruption I was able to re-acquaint myself with 2 little things that have always been very special to me.  They have hung in one of my kitchen windows for years.  I’ve looked at them every day when I do laundry.  Yet I’ve gotten so used to them hanging there that I didn’t really see them anymore, they didn’t even register on my brain.  Two weeks ago, when I was forced to go move something to the cupboard that is next to that window, I took notice, and saw them once again and was able to remember just how special they are to me, and why I keep hanging on to them.

In the picture you will notice the large cutout piece of paper with the boy and the girl kissing.  First of all, being the romantic person that I am, I always just thought that it was a sweet picture.  But that picture is a form of artwork that came from a pen pal that I had in 8th grade from Denmark.  Her name was Ena, and I corresponded with her for probably 2 years during middle school.  One of those years for my birthday she sent me that cutout.  It is very intricate craftsmanship and I am sure that it took a great deal of time to do.  I was always impressed that a practical stranger took the time to make that for me.  I’ve always had a soft spot for it, and it has hung in many different places during my life. Now I have put it in the window of my office, where I can see it every time I look out at my alpacas.   

The second little thing that is hanging in my window is a ballerina made out of lace that has a heart crystal dangling from her hands.  This was something that my aunt gave me when my grandfather died back when I was in 5th grade.  She was looking after me while my parents were taking care of arrangements, and she went to a craft fair and brought me and my cousin home these little window things.  My cousin has a horse of similar size, and mine was the ballerina.  In case you didn’t know this Jenny, when I was younger, my life revolved around ballet lessons and dancing, all the time.  My mission in life was to perform for all of the kids that lived on our street in some form of musical production at least once a week.  Looking back it was pretty funny. So, because of my love of dance, this ballet dancer has stayed with me.  She always hung in my bedroom window at home, lighted in the kitchen when we moved here, and now is also in my office window.  She reminds me of my family, the thoughtful gesture of my aunt, and my days as a ballet dancer.  I just love her.

Why do I tell you about these two little things, that to most, would find their way to the garbage?  Well, they are special to me.  We all have these silly little mementos of our lives that we just can’t part with. They seem to always make it through the cut, when we move on to the next place or are simply “cleaning house”.  They never get ruined, stay intact, and smile at us when we open them up and remember.  They are important things, that remind us of who we are, and where we’ve come from.  I think that they even have the power to pull us forward too.  Who knows..  All I am saying Jenny, is hold on to those special things, bring them out, dust them off, and put them in a spot where you will  actively see them on a regular basis.  They are the little things that will make you smile and warm your heart. 

Have a wonderful day.

With Love,

Kate

Mike Rowe, Meet Tenacious

Dear Jenny,

Thanks for the picture Mike

As I promised, I am going to tell you about the other exciting thing that I did in Atlanta.  But first, let’s go to the dictionary and look up a word–I knew that is just what you had in mind, didn’t I?   The word of the day is Tenacious.  Let’s see, Webster’s definition of tenacious: adj. holding fast//firmly held//retentive//persistent.  Hmm, for my application of the word, I think that the definition of persistent works and holding fast–so let me tell you why..

On Monday, our conference had a keynote speaker, which this year was Mike Rowe.  Do you know who he is Jenny?  Mike Rowe is the creator and star of the extremely popular show, Dirty Jobs.  My kids love it, and they think that Mike is the funniest guy on earth.  So, as you can imagine, being the mother that I am, I really wanted to get a picture with Mike after the speech–especially after he closed with he would be glad to meet people after the session.  That’s all I needed to hear,  I was in. 

So after the speech I went down front to find him, and I couldn’t, it was as if he had disappeared into thin air.  Hmm.. I looked around a bit, among a scattering crowd of 5000 people, and noticed some curtains set up on the side of the convention center with a few people standing outside of them.  Ah ha, that’s where he is.  I made my way over and proceeded to go through the curtain, and was abruptly stopped by a “gatekeeper”.  He asked me if I was a state president.  Honestly, I had to answer “no”.  His reply was, “I’m sorry, we are only taking pictures with the 50 state presidents and their families.”  I’m sure that I looked a little perplexed and he continued to tell me that it was part of Mike’s contract and that I couldn’t have the picture.

I was denied.  That wasn’t supposed to happen.  I was met there with some others from my state who wanted a picture also, and they were shut down too.  I looked at one girl in particular and said, “don’t worry, we’ll get a picture, we just have to wait.  I don’t give up in these situations, I am a celebrity magnet.”  Well, maybe not a total celebrity magnet, but I’ve had my share of run-ins.   I’ve had breakfast with Adam Sandler in an airport McDonald’s, stood within 5 feet of Arnold Schwarzenegger at the opening of  A Planet Hollywood in Los Angeles, and gotten the autographs of Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser.  Now it sounds like I am a real star watcher, and it’s really not the case, I just enjoy the challenge of getting to them, because usually I am told “no”.  I am by no means a rabble-rouser, and I really do respect authority.  However, I hate being told “no” when I deem it unnecessary and silly.  In this instance, there wasn’t a mob of people waiting to see Mike Rowe, there were only 25 of us.  So I was just going to wait it out..

A few of my constituents bailed about 20 minutes into it.  What? Come on, you can’t leave now.  It’s an ice storm outside, we can’t get back to the hotel, we might as well stay here and give it a shot.  Nope, they were done, and the crowd was getting smaller.  Was that going to be good for my cause or bad? 

After a little while another gate-keeper came around, and I got brave.  ”Do you mind if I just pop my head in a grab a picture of Mike for my kids?” I asked.  Yes, I got in, I was one step closer.  At least I could see Mike now.  I stood in the back and waited, quietly, patiently.  The old gatekeeper looked at me when he got back with a questioning look and I explained that the other guy let me in to get a picture.  He tried shuffling me out yet again and I just smiled and stood my ground, turning my attention back to Mike and all the pictures that were being taken by the professional photographer.  Maybe if I just smile, act like I belong here, and keep quiet no one else will notice me.

Finally all of the Presidents were done and now all of the staff and photographer himself were rattling through and getting their pictures taken with Mike.  You can be assured that my friend the gate-keeper was making sure that I stayed where I was.  At that point I realized I was in this alone, and I didn’t come to leave empty-handed.  I thought to myself, “Self, no one is going to give you a golden invitation, you better get in there and get it done.”  So I did.  And this little voice came out of my mouth and said, “Hey Mike,” and he looked at me and said “Yeah”.  “Do you mind if I get a picture with you for my little boys?”  His reply was of course, “yes”, whose going to say “no” to the “little boys”?  The crowd parted and there I was, standing with Mike Rowe, getting not only a shot with my own camera, but also the professional photographer grabbed one too.  Yes, I was in and I got my picture. I was on cloud nine.

Tenacious, persistence, desire to get what you want.  I wanted that picture, and I got it.  You don’t get anywhere in life or reach any goal unless you a) really want it with your heart, and b) are persistent.  All too often we get shot down, told “no”, thrown a wrench in the works, and we dismiss it and move on, admitting defeat, changing our course because it all seems just too hard, too long, just too much in general.  But I believe that if you want it bad enough, and are hungry enough for it, your tenacity will pay off and you will get it.  You just have to dig deep and go get it.  Be creative, don’t take “no” for an answer. It’s so empowering when you do get it done.  That Monday night, I could have done anything, all because I had decided that I was going to get that picture with Mike Rowe, and I did. 

“Mike Rowe, I’m Tenacious, nice to meet you..”

Write soon Jenny,

With Love,

Kate