Road to Orlando: Workshops 1 and 2

Sunday, October 6, 2013

 

I wanted to write a little bit about my Orlando workshops thus far.  In preparing for Orlando, we have monthly workshops.  These workshops are meant to help us prepare the material we will perform in Orlando.  As Ms. Kim told us at auditions, nothing is done in Orlando that is not prepared ahead of time.

 

So, August 17^th was my Orientation.  We spent lots of time reviewing the Contestant Manual, and practicing appropriate runway walking and “model stance”.  We also went through TV commercials and received our assignments for the next months’ workshop.  We took measurements, and tried to sort through which categories everyone would be in.  There were more people than I expected at Orientation.  The Kansas City location serves as regional center for Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska contestants.  Altogether, though, there were probably about 40 actual contestants there, and then parents/spouses. 

 

It was an exciting, full day; I packed my car with my lunch and learning materials, and drove to Kansas City at about 4:30 am.  I definitely stopped for coffee. 

 

My assignments for next workshop were to bring 3-5 monologues I could present, along with 3-5 songs I could present; the singing and the monologues need to be approved before they’ll let us do them in Orlando.  I also needed to memorize my TV commercial for next time.

 

Our next workshop was on September 22^nd.  We spent the morning reviewing the Contestant Manual, and practicing our introductions for the Photography Competition (for this category, we walk the runway and introduce ourselves into a microphone, while our pictures are shown on a big screen behind us).  We also practiced TV commercials.

 

After lunch, we presented monologues and songs, and I was approved for both categories.  I was so nervous to sing in front of our Fashion Man.  He is a little intimidating, but I know that in this business, if you don’t tell your charges how it is, they won’t work.  He definitely tells us how it is. 

 

So now, my current assignments are: prepare 6 outfits for my photoshoot coming up on October 20^th; continue to practice my commercial and monologue daily; and to find someone who will help me find the correct key for me to sing my song in, and then find someone who will do a piano recording of my song. 

 

Our next and final workshop will be two days long: November 9^th and 10^th. 

 

Showtime is December 18^th-22^nd!  It will be a full week for me, but the exposure I will receive will be so worth it.  I’ve already got my room reserved at the resort, and am booking my flight this week. 

 

Trying to keep myself balanced and sane throughout this process is interesting.  It’s tiring.  I’ve noticed I am taking more interest in my appearance on a daily basis.  I also notice I crave more sleep.

 

I'll keep you posted!

The Orlando Audition: A New Adventure

Monday, September 30, 2013

Well, more than two months later, I thought I should sit down and actually write down the Orlando Story. 

If you haven’t heard or read, I am traveling to Orlando, Florida, this December to participate in a national talent showcase. 

This is how it started.

Back in July, I heard an ad on a local radio station:  “Calling all singers, actors, models, and dancers: come to this audition! It’s not like auditions you may have experienced before!”  Or something to that effect.

Well, the first time I heard the ad, if I’m being honest, I half-heard it.  It was during a workday, as I rushed about town, so I didn’t pay too much attention.  I heard it again about 2 days later, and again about a week later.  I actually tried to call the phone number that time: 1-800-STAR-102.  It rang and rang with no answer.  I figured it was not legit, so I dismissed the thought.  A couple days later, I heard the ad and phone number again, “Auditions will be Friday, July 19^th.”

I called again, this time on Monday, July 15^th.  I got an answer, and said, “Yes, I’m calling about auditions in Salina, Kansas this Friday.”

“Yes, we will be in Salina this Friday…the auditions start at 7:00pm, and I’m going to give you a website that you can go to, that will give you more information about your audition.”

My thoughts were, “That’s it? Really?  I just show up?”  I had been expecting to be given a 20 minute time slot, sometime during the day, that I was going to have to jump through hoops to be able to make.

She gave me the website, www.theartstalent.com.  I forgot about it until the next day, Tuesday.  On the website, I found out that there would be a presentation before the audition process: “We want you to know who you’re auditioning for.” 

I also found out that I could prepare a 60-second song and a 60-second monologue.  “Okay, cool,” I thought.  Also, I was to bring a picture of myself, no larger than 5x7, that could be kept with my file.

The REALLY COOL part was that, about a month prior to this, I had been watching my favorite show, Gilmore Girls, in my living room, like I always do.  I came across a really strong rant by Lorelai, the main character, and I stopped everything I was doing, rewound it, and watched it again.  And again.  “Wow, that was a really good monologue,” I thought.

So, a month later, upon seeing “prepare a 60-second monologue”, guess which one came to mind?  It was like the monologue had been divinely given to me for precisely this audition.

On Thursday, I thought to myself, “Oh, that audition is tomorrow; wasn’t I supposed to print an audition form off the website?  Oh, I also need to pick which picture I’m going to print off.”  So back to the website I went.  This time I printed the form and made sure I was clear on the expectations and “rules” for the audition.  “Everything is G-rated; no drama allowed!” (I’m paraphrasing, but basically, the company is family-friendly and oriented---not your typical slang/gang/all-the-rage Hollywood).

I also picked my picture off my Facebook albums.  Luckily, I had a slew of semi-professional photographs to choose from, as this modeling thing is not completely new to me.  J

On Friday, the day of the audition, I had a full morning of work appointments.  My job is not a typical office job; I drive all over town all day to different homes and schools.  I tried to get up super early to do my 55-minute Turbo Fire workout that was scheduled for the day; I failed, so I had to fit it into my after-work-before-audition schedule. 

I also had to figure out when I was going to hit up Walgreens to print out my 5x7 picture. 

I figured out that I had a window of time between the end of my 1pm appointment and the beginning of my 3pm appointment.  I thought I was going to have to drive this kid all the way back out to the country to his house, though, so I didn’t know just how much time I would end up having.

Well, as divinely set up as it could get, the kid’s grandmother had me drop the kid off to them at the grocery store, just across the street from the Walgreen’s where I needed to print my picture.  Score. (And thank you, Jesus)

Oh, and by the way, I didn’t have any idea what song I would be singing until about 12:45pm that afternoon, on my way to pick up my 1pm appointment. 

I was driving out to the country, to pick him up, and I was wondering, “WHAT am I going to sing?”

Not 10 seconds later, the song pops into my head and I sang it out loud: a Garth Brooks song I remembered singing in high school with my show choir.

“You know a dream is like a river/ever changing as it flows/ and the dreamer’s just a vessel/ that must follow where it goes/trying to learn from what’s behind you/never knowing what’s in store/makes each day a constant battle/just to stay between the shores/and I will sail my vessel/til the river runs dry/blah blah blah blah blah blah blah/these waters are my sky/I’ll never reach my destination/if I never try/so I will sail my vessel/til the river runs dry”

It gave me chills. 

But, darn, what are the actual words behind those “blah’s”?

Inside my head: “Okay, figure out the rest of the lyrics later; gotta pick up this kid; but this is the song I’m singing.  Cool!”

Right.  So back to the Walgreens intervention.  I dropped off the kid, then ran across the street and dropped off my picture for printing.  My plan was to go see my next two kids (3-4pm; 4pm-5pm) and then pick up my picture.

I picked up my picture at 5pm.  Then, I called my friend Jeff.

“Jeff?  Okay, I need a favor.  I can’t explain now.  I’ll explain everything later.”

(Jeff) “Okayyyy…”

“Okay, I need the lyrics to the first verse and chorus of a song.  I don’t know what the song is called.  It’s something about a river.  It’s a Garth Brooks song.  Are you ready for me to recite the first line?  That should be enough for you to put into Google and get the rest of the lyrics.”

So, 2 minutes later, Jeff called me back with the title of the song, the lyrics to the first verse, and the lyrics to the chorus, clarifying my mystery “blahs”.

“Like a bird upon the wind/these waters are my sky.”

Okay, cool.  Thanks, Jeff.  J

So THEN I went home and rushed through my 55-minute workout, which I finished at around 6pm.  Then I took a 1-minute shower (rinse-off with warm water, just to get the sweat off), and sat on my couch drying off while I frantically scribbled my monologue onto the back of an envelope.

Yup.

I let my hair down and added more powder to my shiny face.  I curled my eyelashes, added tinted lip balm, and a little eyeliner.  I picked clothes to wear (pink top, jeans, black flats). 

I was out the door at 6:27 pm. 

I pulled up to the hotel, parked, and got out of the car.  I walked to the door, then realized that I didn’t have my picture with me.  I panicked for a minute, thinking I left it at home.  Thankfully, I had left it in the car when I pulled up in my driveway to do my workout.

I went back to the car and got my picture.  I walked into the lobby.  I checked in at the table.  I sat down to fill out my form (which I had not managed to fill out previously).  Then they told us it was time to start the presentation.

I went in and found a seat in the front row.  I listened while Ms. Kim Myers introduced herself, her company, and what they were all about.  She told us how she works and what she is auditioning us for.  She told us she travels around the country to find talent for her “human buffet” that she puts on her big Broadway stage in Orlando, in front of Disney, Sony, Tyler Perry Studios, and others.  She told us that she believes everyone needs a chance to pursue their talent.  She told us that everything we do in Orlando is prepared ahead of time.  She told us that she doesn’t put anything on her stage in Orlando that is not good.  She told us, “This is my show.”  She told us that if we got a callback, we would get an email late tonight, inviting us to an informational session where we would receive more details about the program.

Then she asked for anyone who would be singing to line up, as we were to go first.  The line was long.  I was cowardly.  I got in line wayyyyy in the back.  I tried not to be nervous.  I watched little kids sing, teenagers sing, boys, girls…then it was my turn.  There were a total of probably about 50 people in the room.

I stood in front of the judges’ table (and the whole room of families and children behind them), introduced myself, and watched as Ms. Kim sprang into action: “So what kind of heritage do you have going on here?  Do you speak Spanish?  Your last name makes it look like you should speak Spanish, but you know, so often it looks that way, and then the person doesn’t speak Spanish.  You know, this means two languages, two commercials, two paychecks, right?”

Whoa. 

“Okay, what are you going to sing?”

“I have ‘The River’ by Garth Brooks.”

And I sang.

She liked it, talked to me some more, then told me that she wanted to hear me read a commercial from the prepared scripts they had for us. 


“Actually, I have a 50-second monologue I prepared.  It’s not all the way memorized, but I have it here, written down.”

“Go for it.”

So I went.

“Look at you!”

She looked over my audition form, over my goals and aspirations, and said, “There’s a passion there when you perform; it’s a hunger, I think.  You know, a lot of times, in this business, you find yourself trying to motivate people to do more, to challenge themselves.  I look at your form here, and I see myself trying to keep up with you; you don’t get that a lot.  Nicely done.”

Whoooooaaa.

I couldn’t believe how genuine the whole process was; how calm and confident I was while I sang (I used all my breath support and everything!), how encouraging Ms. Kim was. 

I felt truly good about it.

I left the audition thinking, “That was the best audition experience I’ve ever had.  I don’t even care what comes of it.”

I called Fred and gave him the play-the-play, then just went home.  I knew I had to work the next morning, as it was my assigned Saturday for the month.  I don’t have internet, so my plan was to check my email at work the next morning. 

Well, 10:00 am Saturday morning rolled around, and I checked my email, on the slowest computer and internet connection known to man.  But I managed to read: “Callback from the ARTS” in the subject line.

I had a callback.  Yay!

The information session was the next day, Sunday.  Ooh.

In Kansas City.  Yikes.

Kansas City is a 3 hour drive from Salina. 

I called F and gave him the “yay”, the “ooh”, and the “yikes”. 

I calmly told him I wanted to go, and that I would go by myself, but felt like it would be really beneficial if he went with me, especially because I didn’t want to have to come back and try to explain the whole thing to him.  He is a very detail-oriented person, and I knew that there would be no way I could explain it to his liking.

He had to go to work, and so did I, so we agreed to talk after his shift, at 8:30 pm that night.  When we talked again, it was decided: we would go to 9:00 am service at church the next morning, and then we would drive to Kansas City for the info session.

The info session started at 4pm, and we listened to all the details, including cost of the program (it’s a very honest, no-hidden-costs thing; definitely not a “quick rise to stardom” or “get-rich-quick” scheme).  We learned that I had til the following Monday, July 29^th, to decide whether or not I would be attending the showcase in December, and to put down my initial deposit.

I knew I wanted to go, and I would say my final decision was made by about Wednesday the 24^th.  But the area between the info session and my final decision was agonizing.  It was stressful, worrisome, and lots of prayer was involved.  I didn’t know how I was going to afford it, mostly.

But we scrounged together my deposit, and on Monday, July 29^th, I called it in and secured my spot on the biggest stage of my life: The Applause Rising Talent Showcase in Orlando, Florida. 

I felt like everything had been lined up and put in place and dropped in my lap for me to have this audition.  I felt blessed to have the callback, and privileged yet COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED to be able to spend time trying to make a decision about the showcase.  There was an overwhelming feeling of a cloud of providence surrounding this ordeal for me. 

Thus began my journey. 

#eatINsept

 

Saturday, September 28, 2013

 

Today is the twenty-eighth day in a row that I only eat what I can cook at home. 

 

“Eat IN September” was born out of the blue for me.  I just wanted to challenge myself to go a whole month without eating outside the home.  (I think in the back of my mind, I wanted to save some money, but this was not the driving thought.)

 

Then my friend Maggie decided she wanted to join me.  I didn’t ask her to, beg her to because, “I just can’t do this by myself, I need someone to keep me accountable!”

 

Nope, it just happened. 

 

Even though the concept came seemingly “out of the blue”, I now believe that there was a reason for it.  There was a reason I chose this particular month, in this particular year, in this particular season of my life.  I’ve had some changes at work that require me to drive more, and had I not sacrificed eating outside the home, I may have found myself in the red financially this month.  I’m also trying to pay for my trip to Orlando in December, for a national talent showcase that I’ve been invited to participate in.  The money I’ve saved from eating IN will help me pay for that trip.  I realize now that it was not an accident that this idea dawned on me this particular month.

 

It was also not an accident that Maggie decided to join.  I believe she’s learned a lot about herself this month too, and has also opened her eyes to some things in her budget that she may not have seen before. 

 

I think it’s most of all been empowering.  I really DON’T have to let the machine of consumerism control me! I really CAN step out and CHOOSE to do something different, small a thing as it may be.  This month has shown me that I still have that willpower I remember having in my teenage years, before jobs and incomes and stress and work and freedom. 

 

One of the coolest moments that happened this month was with my friend Jodi.  She lives in a tiny town about an hour and half’s drive away, where she teaches music.  She and I had been trying to schedule a Friday night/Saturday for me to come visit her for about a YEAR now!   Well, this month, I finally made it happen, because I wanted to make it happen before the weather changed and then I had THAT excuse as to why I couldn’t make time to go see my friend. 

 

Well, in scheduling my visit, I said, “So, the thing is, Jodi, I can’t eat out this month.  I’m doing a month-long challenge and I can only eat what I buy in the grocery store.  So…we may have to get creative.”

 

Her response? 

 

“Oh, okay! I have tons of food!  Will you want dinner when you get here? We can figure it out!”

 

We then proceeded to plan how we would shop for the makings of a picnic lunch on that Saturday morning.  Which we did.  And where did we picnic? IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.  On her family’s farmland.  Surrounded by fields and nothing else, with the sun warming our backs, and the bugs trying to share our food. 

 

It was awesome.

 

What was more awesome was the fact that Jodi said, “I’m so glad you did this no-eat-out thing; I’ve never been on a picnic before in my whole life, and I wouldn’t have been able to today, if we could have just gone to a restaurant for lunch!”

 

Epic win.

 

I took video.  It was that exciting. 

 

It was a first for me, too.  Eating in the middle of nowhere, that is. 

 

This month also went by really fast.  After the first week and a half, it was already a habit to just cook at home, pack lunch, eat before I leave the house, take a snack.  I can’t believe I only have 2 and a half days left! 

 

I may end up carrying on with this.  Maybe I can finish out 2013 eating at home. 

 

Dare me?

Breaking Up after 5.5 Years

September 15, 2013

Today is Sunday.  Two days ago, on Friday, I celebrated my one-week anniversary of a breakup. 

This relationship had been going on for 5 and a half years. 

I had been trying to end this relationship for the last 6 months, and struggled.  I had to wean myself off.  I had myself fooled into thinking that I still needed the daily contact, as if it was a comfort, a safety zone for me.  I had come to not even know how to function without having it in my life.

So, startinAg this last spring, for 3 months or so, I was torn.  I knew I wanted to challenge myself, be my own person, to not need it in my life anymore.  Then I decided to be brave and tested myself to see if I could start surviving on my own, learning to be on my own again.

I started by reducing the intensity, the dosage I was allowing myself to partake of.

Then, I reduced contact.  I limited myself to only making contact once every other day.  At first, I had to fight.  I felt the pain, the cloudiness, the murkiness of the withdrawal. 

For the next several weeks, I sometimes felt that it was too much to do it on my own, and would run back to the pacifying arms of the embrace I had come to know so well.

 But I kept fighting.  Deep down, I had known for a while that it was time for it to come to an end.

I reduced contact even more, limiting myself to only once every 2 days.

This was where I saw my strength starting to shine through.  I realized with each passing day that I truly had gained the skills, confidence, and courage I needed to be on my own.  I had learned that being on my own is more difficult sometimes, but I also saw that if I just let my patience rule my will, I really was capable of processing any life event, emotion, or circumstance, on my own two feet. 

It came to the point that whenever I did make contact, I felt no different; no worse, no better.  It made no difference to me whether I made contact or not.  I became immersed in my daily routine and my personal goals, and I really didn’t even notice when I hadn’t made contact.  I had to actively remind myself, “Hey, try and make time for that today.”  It was no longer part of my routine.

 So I ended it. 

 On Friday, September 6, I started counting.  I started counting the number of days I could go on my own.  I think I had actually been on my own for about a week at that point, with no contact, but it was subconscious.  I wanted to be fully aware, to have a date, a bookmark on this page of my life so that I could look back many years from now and know when the day was that I finally said goodbye.

For the last 5 and a half years, I had been taking antidepressant and anti-anxiety medication. It is the relationship with this medication that I ended.

The latest one, Pristiq, I had been taking for 1 year and 9 months. 

Before that, it was Lexapro (which didn’t go well), and then Paxil, which I took the longest, for over 2 and half years. 

 Paxil ended up being my happy medium, the one that gave my brain the chemical balance that it needed.  It was a great medication.  It quite possibly saved my life. 

 But I don’t need it anymore.*

 I have learned the coping skills and life management skills that I need in order to do life on my own.  I have re-created the chemical balance in my brain by creating a life that makes me happy, a life I believe to be filled with purpose.  Between my friendships, other relationships with other people, my Christian faith, and my ability and desire to be a lifelong learner about various topics, including the human body and mind, and physical, emotional, and mental health wellness, I have all I need to be successful.

 And today I celebrate that.

((*Don’t worry! This decision was made alongside my wonderful primary care physician.  It was a carefully monitored process. ))

Crazy Cat Lady: Lindsay

Lindsay

 

            My mom and her then-boyfriend came home with her one May afternoon.  They said they found her over by the school, and decided to bring her home as a birthday present for my younger sister.  She was still a young kitten, her gray and white fur was soft, and she was friendly.  My sister named her right away: “Lindsay”.  This was my sister’s 9th birthday.  I was 11.

            Lindsay was there through my awkward pre-teen years.  She was there while we (my sister and I ) were both preadolescently chubby and acne-filled.  She witnessed our chickenpox.  She adjusted to a home that already had two dogs in it.

            Then she was there to greet me when I came home from after-school basketball, track, soccer, and volleyball practices, curiously sniffing my bags and shoes.  She saw good days, bad days, sad days, stressful days; fad makeup and hairstyles.  She saw everything that had to do with two girls being brought into their teenage years with essentially a single dad.  The mom that initially brought her into our home was seldom around.

            She was a companion; she came meowing and headbutting whenever she heard tears or sobs.  She purred happily when brushed or petted.

            In the summer of 2002, she had her only litter.  They were born on July 3.  There were four altogether: Cupcake, Liberty, Bell, and Shamu.  She adopted Smoky, the rescue kitten brought to us by the neighbors.  Smoky was the first to be adopted, after the ad we placed in the Super Shopper announcing “Free Kittens to Good Home” was seen.  Shamu and Cupcake also found homes, but we decided to keep Liberty and Bell.  Liberty was around for about 1 year, then went missing.  Bell was around about 4 years, then went the same way.  We were never sure where they ended up, but searched frantically for both of them.

            All of them were always inside/outside cats, so a couple times, Lindsay didn’t come home for about 2 days, and we freaked out, thinking she was gone forever.  I stressed, cried, and prayed that she would come home.  She always did.  She had her favorite playing spot across the street in the neighbor’s hedge. 

            I took my anger out on Lindsay once.  I think it was high school, and I was crying and she wouldn’t leave me alone, so I threw her onto my bed. 

            When I left for college, it was hard to leave her, and the two dogs, who were also both around at the time.  But, every time I came home to visit, Lindsay was there to cuddle.

            Lindsay stayed at my mom’s house the whole 4 years that my sister went away to college as well.  My mom never took very good care of her (this was after Dad died).  She said her fur flew everywhere, so she kept her mostly outdoors and in the garage.  Her fur got matted.  Still, she never ran away.  She was always loyal.  My sister finally got smart and moved her to Tucson to live with her last year.  She shaved her down and made her feel safe and loved again.

            Lindsay is still alive as of today, August 14, 2013.  However, she has had a few vet visits lately, due mostly to my prodding my sister to get her in for a wellness check.  I have a cat of my own now, and encourage my sister to be a responsible pet parent since this is the first time she has had Lindsay on her own.  The vet was concerned about Lindsay’s overall health.  She had mites in her ears; some of her teeth were questionable and look like they’re on their way out.  She also found an abnormal amount of fluid in her stomach, and told my sister further tests would be needed.

            Now the vet is worried that Lindsay has cancer.  Lindsay will have an ultrasound tomorrow to determine what’s next. 

            My sister just had her 23^rd birthday.  That means she’s had Lindsay for 14 years.  I wish we had kept her healthier, like more routine vet visits.  She never went to the vet for wellness checks ever, and hasn’t even had vaccination boosters for like 10 years.  But we were kids.  Our parents were supposed to take care of us and our pets. 

            They didn’t.  So now, we do the best we can to continue to care for ourselves and our animals, making up the ground that was lost. 

            Lindsay wasn’t our first cat, but in a way she was.  (We had Mota and Zeeper before them; I was 9 ish and Sister was 7 ish; Mota had a litter that all died at birth/shortly after/went missing; Zeeper disappeared.  It was a family legend that certain neighbors to the back stole all of our cats over the years.  We’ll never know)

            She’s been such a good cat.  I hope she feels as though she’s had a good life. 

 (Lindsay, 12/21/2012)

 

Pickles. Yes, Pickles.

6-20-2013

Learning to Love Pickles

 

            In trying to pick a topic from my list to write about tonight, I came across the title of this post.  I thought it’d be fun to throw a few more pieces together for you, for me, for my soul.

            In 8th grade, my close friend Alle* called me and told me that a modeling school called Barbizon was coming to town to do a model search for their classes, and that she was auditioning and I should do it with her.  I talked it over with my dad, found the ad in the paper, and decided to go for it.

            We auditioned, were called back, and were both given spots in the class.  The class started in the fall, and would go through the spring, with classes for about 6 hours every other Saturday.  My dad and Alle’s mom took turns driving us to the classes, and afterwards, we spent time together practicing everything we just learned, having sleepovers, and eating (and then analyzing what we were eating, thanks to our newfound model knowledge).

            So one of those Saturday afternoons after class, Alle introduced me to Jack-in-the-Box, a very popular fast-food chain of the Western United States.  The first time I ordered a Jumbo Jack, their signature hamburger, I realized it had pickles on it.  I don’t think I had ever really given pickles a chance up to this point, and I was 13 years old!  The one memory I had of eating a pickle up to this point in time was an unpleasant one.

            But I noticed that Alle ordered a CUP of extra pickles every single time.  That’s right, a small beverage cup from a fast-food restaurant—filled with pickles! 

            I saw her do this enough times that I started wondering more about the tangy sandwich topper, and pretty soon, I was eating them every chance I got. 

            Alle and I also went to lots of movies.  I remember going to one movie at the theatre where instead of popcorn or candy, Alle ordered a giant pickle!  I now knew that pickles were everywhere.

            Today, not only do I love pickles, but pickle juice. I’ve been known to drink it (maybe about half a glass at a time). 

As far as the pickles themselves, I pile them high on my burgers, the rare one I will eat anymore (more on my “vegetarian tendencies” in another post), but mostly, I just eat them however I can get them.  I buy jars of the slices; at salad bars, I go for piles of the slices; my most recent favorite way of feeding my habit is by purchasing the economy-sized jar of the spears from Walmart and keeping it in my fridge.  I nibble on them every couple of days (ahem—especially right before certain times of the month).  Pickles have become a sort of gauge for me.  If I’m craving them, I know I may be needing to replenish the sodium in my body after a tough workout.

            I know it’s strange to write about pickles.  But, it is a piece of me, so it was going to get written about eventually! 

            Plus every time I stop and think about how crazy I go for pickles, I can’t help but remember my sweet friend Alle.  It’s always so nice to just stop and look back at all the little things of my good ol’ early teen years.  I associate those two years that Alle and I became closest with wonderful lessons about friendship and incorporating positive leisure time into one’s life.  Alle was a really positive friend for me to have in those crucially shaping pre-teen/early teen years.  I loved going over to her house.  We always found something to do that was productive yet fun, and I always felt so much more centered after coming back from her parent’s house.

            I know the pickles don’t necessarily have anything to do with that, but to me, they are an icon of a previous season of my life. 

 

*This is the shortened version of her name, which she went by in grade school.