living in the moment...

going to lighten things up today. the past few posts have been heavy. well for me they have been.

in the past month i have posted, more than once, a particular song on my facebook page. this particular week i have had it on repeat (i needed the extra reminder). i am sure i have listened to it at least a bazillion times and i am not tired of it yet. at this point i know every single word including the whistling portion. i find myself humming this catchy tune whenever i step away from the actual music source. i can't help myself i love this song.

in the spirit of the song living in the moment i am going to share my major achievement of the morning. thrilling i know. i love when i can back my car into a space perfectly between the lines on the first run. my ex husband had shared early on in our dating years that more accidents in parking lots happen with people backing out of space, so i try to back in as often as possible so i can just pull out. i always think it is funny the little bits of information that stick with you. anyway, this may not seem like a major achievement but we will back up twenty years, yes twenty, and you will see why.

twenty years ago i was sixteen. the age that every teen looks forward to. the age when our true freedom begins. getting your driver's license is one of those major achievements in life that opens doors that were previously closed. you no longer need your mother to drop you off at the movie theater, bowling alley or whatever local hang out you go to. you no longer need to bum rides off your older friends or have to take the bus to get to school. yes, getting your driver's license is a right of passage to freedom.

taking the test and passing it was a nerve racking experience for me. i remember it like it was yesterday. i took my test in the city i am currently living in, marysville. my mom brought me. i took the driving test in the car i had been learning in, a light blue, four door, stripped down toyota corolla. it was a manual shift, windows that you had to roll down with a handle, a radio but no tape deck (this was before the age of cd's and xm radio), not even power steering (this car was a beast to turn). it had tan cloth interior and i was in love with this car. it was to be my ride when i passed my test.

i can remember sitting in the lobby of the dmv, nervous as all get out, feeling like i was going to vomit, just waiting for my name to be called. a man who looked just like waldo minus the striped shirt called my name. we climbed into my blue toyota and drove off. i was doing great; looking both ways, stopping at the appropriate times, maintaining the perfect speed, checking all my mirrors and then i made a big mistake.

we were on a side street, he told me to turn the corner and put it in park. i did that to perfection, then he said back around corner. he may have said back slowly around the corner, but my foot had another plan. i put my car in reverse and floored it, whipping my car recklessly around the corner. he grabbed the oh shit handle, braced himself and i'm sure was holding his breath. i came to a screeching halt and let out my breath, apparently i was holding mine. he calmly said, well that was the fastest back around the corner i have ever experienced.

i failed every other technical maneuver from this point on. i knocked over every cone parallel parking. is there anymore to fail? i can't really remember. anyhow, we get back to the dmv, i park my car cattiwampus in the space he tells me to and put in park. he finishes slashing my record and turns towards me i'm going to pass you. if you can't park that is your own problem. make sure you come to a complete stop and look both ways and you should be fine. oh my word!! you are kidding me, i passed? best day of my life up until that point.

so you see, being able to park my car perfectly on the first shot is something to be celebrated. living in the moment is celebrating and finding joy in the small things that happen everyday. it is also letting go of things beyond our control. as you know i struggle with this, but with the help of jason mraz's melody looping in my head it is a little easier.