No Regrets


I went to a friend's father's funeral today.  He was 66 and passed away very unexpectedly here in Australia while the friend is living in the states.  A year younger than my parents and the same 15 hour flight apart.  It's got to be tough going through something like that so far away.

 The impression I got from the funeral was that he lived every day to its fullest and made the most of life.  He had said on several occasions that if he died that day he would die a happy man.  I have never had the pleasure of meeting him but that certainly hit home with me.  That is exactly how I try to live life, making sure that I have no regrets because you really never know what's coming next.


And so I think it's time that I say thank you to my parents while I have the chance.  Thank you for giving me life, for changing my diapers, teaching me to eat my peas, squash, and chicken even though they eat worms, for showing me how to ride a bike, change a tire, drive a stick shift in LA traffic, for my love of sewing, and animals, and hiking, for not killing me when I got in stupid fights with my brothers, or became a teenager, or moved back in after college, for giving me a pink pocket knife and hammer with my name engraved on them and a stud finder when I started dating, for lending me the car so I could work my way through school, and for not interfering while I figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up, for every dance lesson and band practice you sat through and all the money spent trying to wear me out, for teaching me how to eat dinner as if the Pope was joining us and how to always cook enough food for 8 people even if it's just for myself, for offering to meet my ex at the front door with a rifle and telling Phil he could marry me if he thought he could afford me, and for keeping quiet when I decided to buy a condo in the midst of the housing bubble, or planned our wedding, or moved across the world.

Changing my first tire
One of my many dance costumes
Exploring Philadelphia
College graduation 
In the mountains
Headed down the aisle
Tesselated Pavement, Tasmania

Cradle Mountain, Tassie


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