A letter to the Quarter of a Century

Dear 25,

I knew you and I would meet one of these days. Perhaps you feel like you've been waiting forever but from my perspective, you totally just snuck up on me...

Some people seem to think that you and I are going to have quite an eventful time together, others can't even remember their time with you so don't necessarily give you so much credit or memory space.

I figure I'll see how things go before I make any decisions about you. It's really only fair given the nature of our relationship. But let's set 3 important ground rules, shall we?

1) 25, I know this will be hard for you, but you must pay ZERO attention to all the talk about how you're going to win a Year of my Lifetime Award for your role in Lerone Meets Her Significant Other. Like I said, if it works out, GREAT, if not, I don't want to hear any complaining. 24 was fine with that, you should be as well.

2) We must cooperate and make sure that we take advantage of this time together. We are free to explore the world together and our limits are only those we set for ourselves. I (tfu tfu tfu) won't have that in my expected relationships with years like 35 and what not, so don't sell our relationship short. And while you're at it, try to remind me to let loose and go a little crazy once in a while. I'm sure 26 will be able to handle whatever "mess" we leave behind.

3) 25, I'm going to need you to back me up when I stand firm on my beliefs about not planning it all out. People might try to take you aside and convince you that I need to hurry up with certain things and slow down with others. But at the end of the day I want to get into bed with you knowing that you "got my back" and won't flake out on me at the first nudge of a family member or buddy of mine ;-) As long as we're both happy, there's no sense trying to please the rest of the world. Deal? Deal.

Well I think that's about it for now 25, I'll let you know if I think of other important discussion points. I'll be seein' ya (for the next 365 days).

Cheers to a happy and healthy relationship,
Your newest partner in crime ;-)

it's the little things...

at the end of the day it's all about noticing all the little things...

the guy at a bar I was at complained to the bartender that the salad on his plate was really bothersome and how he had asked specifically to not have salad on his plate... (WTF??)

when someone jumps and clicks their heels together (think Mary Poppins) lifting one leg in the air before you jump creates the illusion of both legs being in the air for longer and jumping quite high...

in the movie Wit (great great movie) Emma Thompson doesn't REALLY not have eyebrows, they just dyed them a light blonde so that people can't see them...

young Israeli fathers that love playing with their kids in the park are collectively one of the most attractive things in this country... (or maybe just for me)

my cat has a particular meow when she first sees me (or anyone, really) in the morning, and it almost sounds like she's saying "good morning" in her own kitten language...

i am very good at remembering random names and telephone numbers that aren't important and all and information and knowledge i acquired during college that could be quite helpful seem completely erased from my short and long term memory...

well-placed pauses in songs (in some ways this is the same is interesting syncopation) can be extremely important and unique. it seems odd to appreciate the silence in a song, but if you pay attention to them, they add great character to music...

the split second when you can see a flash of satisfaction on a person's face (before the nervousness sets in) as they do something courageous and decide to take a risk...

ok... those are all my "deep thoughts" (SNL style) for today...