Tag Archives: excitement

Upside Down

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Scout’s favorite vantage point is upside down. I’m not sure why but I like to think it gives him a unique perspective on the world.

Isn’t that what we all need sometimes?

If you’re stuck in a rut or too sure of your own thinking, it’s important to look at things from a fresh perspective. That rut could be cured by an impromptu excursion or by a small change in your life.

If you’re too confident in your thinking, it’s wise to consider the world from someone else’s vantage point. This seems all the more important in light of how contentious American society has become.

So, get up out of your chair and go enjoy this beautiful Saturday doing something you don’t ordinarily do. Try a new recipe, buy a new outfit for work, take a road trip, go to the movies, visit a museum, chat with a neighbor about something other than politics.

There’s more to life than what you’re doing.

Try looking at things a little differently! Trust me – or more importantly, trust Scout. He won’t lead you astray.

First Thing, According To Pooh And Piglet

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I have been ransacking my bookshelves for an antique copy of A.A. Milne’s Winnie The Pooh that I know is hiding somewhere in this house. That’s because I keep stumbling into quotes by this British author and I think the tale of this funny bear and his little friends would be good for me. 

Last night I giggled at this:

“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?”

What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”

“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing,” he said.

The last few weeks have been more exciting than normal but not the right kind of exciting. I did thousands of dollars worth of damage to my car by hitting a deer a few weeks ago. My mother was sick, dad had outpatient surgery, work has been busy AND my rental car had a flat tire yesterday. A knee injury has kept me limping into the chiropractor’s office for weeks. I also bled all over my kitchen after slicing open a finger with a serrated knife Saturday night. I probably should have sought stitches but there was no way I was venturing out to the hospital, the place where they keep all the sick people.

I have enough problems as it is. 

Despite this spate of poor luck, there’s a flip side to every one of those stories. I wasn’t injured in the crash, my deductible is low, my folks are ok, I am gainfully employed and my rental car flat was at home rather than along a lonely highway. My knee is doing better and I didn’t bleed to death in my own kitchen.

See? Sunny side up. All things to be grateful for.

Plus, breakfast will be in a few short hours and, as Pooh would say, that’s pretty exciting too.

Santa, a Biplane, and Something To Be Excited About

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Little kids like planes so I was pretty excited to hear that my barnstorming friend Dewey was helping with something special for kids in his community this Christmas. You see, he picked up Santa and gave him a lift to the airport in Springfield, Ohio on Sunday.

Santa and his elf spent that afternoon visiting with youngsters and learning their fondest Christmas wishes.

While Santa was tucked away with a line of kids in a warm airport terminal, Dewey was outside visiting with the kiddos and their parents. He fitted them all with aviator caps and goggles before lifting them up into the plane for photos.

Despite the cold, biting wind you only experience in western Ohio’s flat farmland (I’m from the hills where the wind can’t get up that much speed), groups of kids and adults came trooping outside for their turn with his 90 year old open air cockpit biplane.

I swear that many of them were just as excited to see the biplane as they were to meet Santa. The pilot seemed equally thrilled to give people the opportunity and to talk about the lost art of barnstorming.

He’s good with people and you can tell that there’s little he loves more than sharing his passion with others. It was fun to watch and I was happy to play a very small part that day.

A piece of me wishes I had something to be so excited about. I’m enthusiastic about lots of things and interested in almost any topic but there’s never been one thing that captured my enthusiasm so dramatically. Although, if I did something so cool as barnstorming in a fabulous old biplane, I might be singing a different tune.

Here’s a thought for today. If you have kiddos and you see a spark in them, you see that they’re excited about something, try nurturing that spark. Encourage them to learn and grow with that thing they love so much. It could turn into a career or maybe just a lifelong hobby. Either way, I’m guessing they’ll be happier than the rest of us who just bounce around from interest to interest.

And if Santa is coming to an airport near you, friends, go see him. There’s nothing cooler than seeing Santa climb out of an airplane.