Around the World in a Minute

A trip of a lifetime.

I really got choked up watching these videos. They are a result of a project from director Rick Mereki, director/producer Tim White, and actor Andrew Lees as they traveled through 11 countries in a little more than a month. 38,000 miles later they have produced three videos telling of their experiences.

I was fortunate to travel to South East Asia for a few months after college. It was certainly a trip of a lifetime for me. Even though I wished I could have kept going, I felt an obligation to come home. I don't know why. I was young, able and had no real commitments. Now that I'm older and have many real obligations and commitments, I fear I will never see and experience parts of the world I dreamed of going to.

So for now, these will have to do. What an amazing trip this must have been. I'm so thankful I stumbled on these beautiful and inspiring videos. Hopefully, the world will some day welcome my boys when they are ready to venture out and experience what I have missed.

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Rules For Being Human

My sister sent this to me today. I love it almost as much as I love her. Good stuff.

Rules for Being Human

1.) You Will Receive A Body - You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.

2.) You Will Learn Lessons - You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called Life. Each day in this school, you will have the opportunity to learn lessons - you may like the lesson or think them irrelevant and stupid.

3.) There Are No Mistakes, Only Lessons - There is a process of trial and error; experimentation. The 'failed' experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately 'works'.

4.) A Lesson Is Repeated Until It Is Learned - A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.

5.) Learning Lessons Does Not End - There is no part of Life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6.) 'There' Is No Better Than 'Here' - When your 'there' has become a 'here', you will simply obtain another 'there' that will again look better than 'here'.

7.) Others Are Merely Mirrors Of You - You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.

8.) What You Make Of Your Life Is Up To You - You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9.) Your Answers Lie Inside You - The answers to Life's questions lie inside you. All you need do is look, listen and trust.

10.) You Will Forget All This.

11.) You Can Remember It Whenever You Want

Thank you Kate. I love you more than cheese.

Playing For Change

This is one of the most moving things I have seen lately. This is the first of 8 (so far); Musicians from all over the world singing a song - together. The results are truly moving. Check it out.

Playing For Change

An Eye For an Eye

I knew there was something different about him the first time I met him. The bar was darkly lit and from where he sat a halo of light surrounded his head making it difficult to see the details of his face. It wasn’t until a few more Friday Night Happy Hour celebrations in the same dark bar, that I realized that one of his eyes wasn’t “normal”. As we got to know each other the story emerged.

When he was a young boy, he and his brother were playing “swords”. Their mother, listening from the kitchen, warned them to be careful; “Stop that before someone puts an eye out.”

Fateful words. Haunting really.

With one swift jab, Pete’s left eye would be damaged beyond repair.

He lived his life like a normal boy – just only with sight in one eye. It never stopped him from doing anything his friends did. I can only imagine it might have taken him longer to make those friends; how the staring and taunting by too honest children would have made him feel.

But he grew up. His mother taught him confidence and never treated him differently. He married; became a skilled woodworker; a world traveler; a loyal friend; a friend who is outgoing and fun. He makes friends easily. But he always has to live with the fact that people who don’t know him well and don’t know his story yet will look at his face, first with a nervous glance and try not to stare in to that dark, dead eye.

Pressure began to build behind the eye a year ago. He’d get awful, debilitating headaches. A trip to an eye specialist diagnosed glaucoma and fluid problems and warned it would only get worse.

So it was with nervous excitement that he prepared for the surgery to remove the eye and prepare for a glass prosthetic. It was supposed to be a simple procedure and within a few weeks he dreamed his life would be dramatically different. No more pain. No more stares and awkward questions.

The operation went as planned and he wore his pirate’s patch with pride and offered to show us what was behind it.

Um. Nope. Thanks though!

But the healing didn’t happen as everyone had hoped. It took months of pain and disappointing check ups, but it healed. Slowly. And the day finally came, 4 months delayed, but Pete finally got his new eye!

I am so excited to finally see him and eagerly anticipate forgetting which eye is the bad one. But I will always cringe when I see my boys pick up a stick to play “swords”.

Congrats. PG! We’re so happy for you!

Jill Bolte Taylor: My Stroke of Insight

I'm not sure how I found this, but this woman's story gives me chills. To be so in control when you're so not in control is - wow. I don't have the words.