Yes we can!

Dude and I volunteered to get people registered to vote today. We spent three hours at a local shopping center asking "Are you registered to vote?" We registered five people, sent three home with apps and were told "I'm not interested" twice and "It's not my thing" once. About 90 percent of the people we talked to were already registered -- most super excited about the upcoming election. The registration weekend was coordinated by the Obama/Biden campaign with the goal to get as many people registered over the holiday weekend as possible. We were not out as Democrats, Republicans or Independents but as Americans. Every voice needs to be heard this election -- no matter what party you're affliated with -- it's too critical to sit this one out. So, if you aren't registered get to it! Go Big Blue!!!

Saying Goodbye
I've said goodbye to two of my very good friends over the past week. My friend Joanne has been a consistent member of my running group and has been a very good and supportive friend. She left her husband of 20 years last fall and our runs have helped us both get through some very rough times. Baxter, her dog, always ran with us too. She and Baxter moved to Orlando to start her life over. Her only child just went off to college and she's taking advantage of this next chapter in her life. My running group has not had much success with attracting and retaining female runners -- I could always count on Joanne to run the trails with me since the guys seem to always be so much faster no matter how much I improved. Now I'll be hitting the trails alone most of the time and I'll miss how a good, hard run seemed to help us put our lives in perspective.
Victoria, who has become more a member of our family, is moving back to St. Louis to be closer to her son and his family. She helped me to see there was more to life than the box I'd created for myself to live in. That I could truly carve out what I wanted to do, decide how I wanted to do it and that it was ok to not have a life or family that looks like everything and everyone else. She helped put me on a path to achieve more than I thought I could, to take risks and to be happy with exactly where I am.
My move to Georgia has been very challenging for me from a personal standpoint. Everything and everyone is so spread out here that it's tough to make friends -- they could live on the other side of the world and still be in the same city. So the fact that I made two good friends was pretty remarkable. Now, they're starting new chapters in their lives and I guess it will force me to do the same. It's difficult because I don't know where I fit in (which was why Victoria was so good for me -- she always reminded me I don't have to) because I'm single but yet I'm not. I'm always walking that tightrope of being a good mom and trying to have a personal life. I love being a mom so I automatically default to that (sometimes maybe hide behind it or use it as an excuse to close myself off) and having a personal life is a lot of work and hasn't been nearly as rewarding as being Colton's mom. Now that he's older and so independent (geez, I wonder where he gets that from!) I've got a lot more time on my hands. With the two of them moving I've also got two less people to hang out with.
"It is not so much our friends' help that helps us as the confident knowledge that they will help us."- Epicurus (341 - 270 BC) Greek philosopher.
I will miss them so much.

St. Croix

After four years with no vacation, I decided we had waited long enough. Dude's at home for three more years and I really want to make the most of that time and taking a great vacation to create some awesome memories was moved to the top of my priority list. We headed out to St. Croix (US Virgin Islands) on July 27. What an amazing and beautiful island. In all my life I have never seen water like that!

We had several firsts:

• Scuba Dive -- I was admittedly terrified of diving but willing to get over my fear to cross off an item on my bucket list and view the ocean life with dude. We had a guide that walked us through how to use the equipment (Dude was still calm, cool and collected at this point) and then she strapped on our tanks, handed us our masks and flippers and we were on our way to the beach. Once in the water we practiced breathing through the regulator (weird) and using our new hand signals. Our instructor had us practice using her emergency regulator in case we ran out of air. This is when Dude panicked a bit. He surfaced (we were in about five feet of water) and, after just a couple of minutes, had calmed himself down and we were on our way. Honestly, at that point I was a bit relieved thinking maybe I could use his brief moment of panic as my escape! I put on my big girl panties and we were off! We swam out (I have no idea how far) and the deepest part of our dive was 35 feet. We saw a ray, squid and a sea turtle. It was incredible! Once we began swimming out I totally forgot my fear and was captivated by this "sneak peak" under the water. It was an amazing experience and now we're hooked!
• Snorkling -- Not nearly as scary as diving but amazing just the same. On Colton's 15th birthday we took a day sail to Buck Island. There we swam through a coral grotto and saw lobsters, parrot fish (my faves!), more squid, a zillion different kinds of fish and Dude even saw a SHARK! Fortunately it had already swam off by the time I reached the area Dude spotted him. Whew!
• Jet skiing -- While I've jet skied in the ocean before, Colton had not. We went on Thursday for a guided tour which would take us back out to Buck Island and snorkling. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate. It was incredibly windy and the waves were five and six feet high. We were both on the same ski and Dude was driving. I had a difficult time hanging on and, because of the waves and the wind, I think we both swallowed a couple of gallons of sea water! We had to stop at another resort along the way because it had started raining. We experienced our first "white out" (I'll post pics later...have to scan them) and by the time we made it to Buck Island the sky had turned black. Our guide told us to keep up with him and we'd beat it in to shore. Sure enough. The moment we pulled up to the dock it started pouring. Lucky us!

We had a wonderful time and I truly loved just being able to enjoy Colton without laundry and dishes and work and friends...all those things that keep you from just connecting and having fun. He's such a water baby! I had to bribe him out of the water after TWO HOURS of snorkling at the resort! We can't wait to go back!

Our dive pics actually turned out pretty well. I'm going to scan those in later this week and post them. You can access our other vacation photos by visiting Snapfish at http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=226499013/a=4658588/t_=4658588 Hope this link works. If not, just email me!