I shot the sheriff...but I didn't shoot the deputy.

I went shooting for the first time yesterday. Ben, his dad, and I went to the Ocala National Forest and did some target shooting. The boys said I did really good for a first timer...I shot some kind of rifle, a bunch of handguns, and had a great time. Ironically, I favored the gun that had the most kick - but I guess that's kinda fitting to my personality.

I have to say, shooting has an invigorating feeling to it. I'm not dying to go out and shoot again, but I did like the feeling of knowing I had control and that I could now protect myself if someone broke in or attacked me. I plan to do some more shooting in the future and to get better at it...maybe some day I'll buy a gun (for protection, of course). Regardless, it was fun, and I had a great time, and I can't wait to do it again!!!

Who says age ain't nothing but a number?

Yesterday, Ben and I went do dinner at Ruby Tuesday's in the mall. As we were getting ready to leave, a bus boy walked up to the table next to me....I looked over by habit, and realized that it was an old friend from high school. We caught up on times, and I realized how much he had changed. For the better, and I say that with the comment that he was my friend before, and I was happy with who he was (hence, he was my friend), but that I'm glad to see that he's gotten his life more together than in the past (if he's reading this, he'll know what I mean). The thought crossed my mind on the way home that time goes by so fast....I think he's the first person from high school that I've ran into that actually changed - isn't still caught in the high school drama, still holding on to old grudges or memories, and has actually made an effort to do something worthwhile with his life. I'm proud of him. =)

However, ironically enough, I stopped at Sam's today and decided to get my car washed. Some kids were running a chairty car was, the Jeep needed it, and I had to run inside. I didn't ask questions, just made a donation, and went about my business. When I got back to the Jeep, they were still working on it, so I struck up a conversation. Come to find out, these kids were from my high school - despite two high schools being closer to where I was, and about a twenty mile trek from SLHS. Talking to these kids, I heard how much had changed, and was reminded about how glad I was to have those years over, and that life behind me. I chatted up one girl in particular (she was tired of washing cars, I'm sure), and as I walked away to get into my car, I told her, "Do yourself a favor....get out of Clermont after graduation. It's the best decision you'll ever make." She looked at me like I was crazy, and just said, "Okay" to appease me. Poor girl....she'll never learn.

Wow...

Okay, so this is going to sound somewhat retarded....but have you ever had one of those moments where you are watching a movie or television show and you suddenly realize that it's paralleling your life?

I was watching a movie today (which will remain nameless, as I do not want to will this into reality, despite it's already existance), and realized that it was like I was looking at my future....every conversation, every look, every moment, every comment, every everything.....the only difference is that it took place in Chicago, while I lay claim to Orlando. Minor difference...

Finding Noel, Part 2

I finished the book last night....I couldn't put it down. So, here's the rest of what I found valuable:

- Life had taught her that no good day went unpaid for.

- All psychiatrists have issues. Why do you think they became psychiatrists?

- When it comes to hurting children we cannot claim ignorance. Every adult I've ever met has once been a child And some have become more so.

- I have puzzled over the phrase "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Does that mean people intend well but never actually do it? Or that they do good things with bad results? I suppose it doesn't matter much. Either way the right thing doesn't get done.

- Tomorrow my world changes.

- I believe that whatever good or evil we do in this life eventually comes back to us. But in the sace of rampant evil, it brings its friends.

- Sometimes you can't go home again.

- Some people make life harder than it needs to be.

- Oftentimes the greatest hurts in our lives come from running from the smaller ones.

- Sometimes love happens so gradually that by the time you realize you're in it, you're already cooked.

- When you've finally met the one person you want to spend the rest of your life with, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

- Usually life's greatest gifts come wrapped in adversity.

- I have never felt truly at ease around the clean, shiny people of this world. Life has taught me the most trustworthy and honest are usually those who are frayed around the edges. Not always but usually.

- "And then one day I had this epiphany. I realized that being a parent was like being the Wizard of Oz." / I remembered what Macy had said earlier about Joette's life philosophy and I had to hide my amusement. "What do you mean?"/ "You know the part when Dorothy and her friends go to see the Wizard? This big, ominous head talks to them and they're all terrified. The her dog..."/ "Toto, " I said. / "Right. Toto pulls back teh curtain and there's a little man behind it pulling levers and throwing switches. And he says into his microphone, "Ignore the man behind the curtain." I think that being a parent is like being the man behind the curtain. We pretend that we know what we're doing - that we're back behind the curtain throwing levers and switches, doing the best we can." / In spite of myself, I found her explanation interesting. "And then our kids find out that we're not as great as they thought we were?" / "Exactly. And then they're angry and disappointed that we can't meet their expectations - as unrealistic as they are."

- "There are things in my past. Dark things you don't know about. " / "I don't care about your past. It's your future, our future, that I'm thinking about." / "There's no difference. The past is our future." / "That is not true. We can transcend our past." / "Have you?"

- How foolish to believe we have any idea of what is relaly going on around us or that permanency is an earthly option.

- "She loves you, Mark. She's fighting it, but she does. To get through to her it's going to take a lot of faith on your part - enough for both of you. Macy's greatest hurts have come from those who were closest to her. She wants to get close to you. But think of the risk that poses to her. Everything inside her tells her to run. It's self-preservation. And that's a pretty powerful instinct." / "How do you break through that?" / She looked at me for a moment and I saw the answer in her eyes. "With love. Unconditional, unrelenting love."

- I guess it's never too late to find a home.

- I have learned first hand that one well-placed truth can counter a lifetime of ignorance.

- "I told myself it didn't matter. Hearts do that."

- "It was like she'd already given away that part of her heart."

- "That's like asking Mrs. Lincoln how the play was."

- I have come to believe that there are moments too profound to be contained in time.

- But in the meantime make the most of every moment you are blessed to have. Love. Hurt. Laugh. Cry. Dance. Stumble. And drink lots of chocolate!!!

- Remember, in the end what really matters is that you love. You'll make mistakes every day, but somehow love just washes them away like a wave cleansing the beach, and each day you start anew.

- I've come to know that our families are a canvas on which we paint our greatest hopes - imperfect and sloppy, for we are all amateurs at life, but if we do not focus too much on our mistakes, a miraculous picture emerges. And we learn that it's not the beaty of the image that warrants our gratitude - it's the chance to pain.

- Everyone brings baggage into a relationship and the two of us have more than our share. But that's just life. I once read that love is like a rose: we fixate on the blossom, but ti's the thorny stem that keeps it alive and aloft. I think marriage is like that. Like my father said, the things of greatest value are the things we fight for. And in the end, if we do it right, we value the stem far more than the blossom.

Finding Noel...

So, I started reading this amazing book yesterday. It's a new release called Finding Noel, by Richard Paul Evans. For those of you who don't know, I'm in this "self actualization" stage of life, and all the books I'm reading kinda fall into this category. Most of the are fictional stories (although almost always based on fact) and parallel beliefs about life's great mysteries: love, religion, and the pursuit of happiness.

That being said, I thought I would share quotes and excerpts from this book that I find to be valuable. It's a story of a guy who has a chance meeting with a woman, whose sheer entrance into his life because a course of change that he would never imagine. He's sufered great loss, is severly depressed, has had his heart broken, and is severly downtrodden....to the point that he is ready to end his life. Then, with one tiny incident, his life takes amazing turns...

So here's goes:

"When I was a boy, my mother told me that everyone comes into our lives for a reason. I'm not sure if I believe that's true. The thought of God weaving millions of lives together into a grand human tapestry seems a bit fatalistic to me. Still, as I look back at my life, there seem to be times when such divinity is apparent. None is more obvious to me than that winter evening when I met a beautiful young woman named Macy and there ensued the extraordinary chain of events that encounter set in place.

Of course such a theory carried to the extreme would mean that God sabotaged my car that night because, had my car's timing belt no broken at that precise moment, this story would never have happened. But it did, and my life was forever changed. Perhaps my mother was right. If God can align the planets, maybe He can do the same to our lives."

"If love isn't blind it's at least horribly nearsighted."

"I now believe that under the right circumstances we are all capable of things we'd never think possible."

'My mother used to say, "Man's extremities are God's opportunities." She also used to say, "Be kind to everyone - you don't know what cross they're bearing and how sweet that kind word might ring."

"That night was the start of a journey that taught me that one truth can change everything."

"Nothing heals the soul like chocolate," she said. " I just love chocolate. It's God's apology for broccoli."

"I can't believe I'm telling you all this."/"We always tell our deepest secrets to strangers."/"Why do you think that is?"/ "Maybe it's because they can't use them against us."

"All bad things pass with time. YOu can trust me on that."

"My mother was right. Angels do walk on earth."

"I've wondered why it is that some people come through difficult times bitter and broken while others emerge stronger and more empathetic? I've read that the same breeze that extinguishes some flames just fans others. I still don't know what kind of flame I am."