Change is a Coming {Five Minute Friday}

I just stumbled upon Lisa Jo Baker and her Five Minute Friday series. If you’re unfamiliar with this series, I’ll give a brief explanation.

 

Every Friday, Lisa Jo Baker encourages her readers to set a timer and write for five minutes on her writing prompt for that day. The posts are short, sweet, unedited, and real.

 

Today’s prompt is “Change.” 

 

Change has never been easy for me.  Ha!  That may be the biggest understatement ever uttered (typed) in my 30 years of life. 

 

Two weeks from tomorrow, is my wedding day.  Getting married will be one of the most life-changing experiences I have ever embarked on.  As of right now, I am not feeling anxious about the marriage.  Danny understands me as no one else that I have dated before him.  I am nervous about a new sense of identity though.  Not only will I become his wife, but I will have a new name - Laurie Pechie. 

 

Yeah, I am still working on that one.  I have been Laurie Killmer for 30 years (and 5 months), so that is going to be quite an adjustment.  If nothing else my cursive P probably needs some work.  I still remember learning proper cursive in elementary school, and being chastised by my teacher for not doing the "x" correctly, and so I guess I lucked out that there will never be an "x" in my name.  I am not sure if she approved of my P's, though.  Oh the strange things I think about...

 

Even though there is no name changing involved for Danny, but please do not get me started on the unfairness of that one, it is still going to be a change for him.  He will be wearing a ring on his left hand, and for the first time he will be Mr. Pechie to my Mrs. Pechie.  Danny saw that in print for the first time last night, and started laughing when he realized that was referring to him rather than his father.

 

I guess we all react differently to change.  I think about cursive P's and Danny thinks of Mr. Pechie.

 

Five minutes goes by really quickly!

 

This was really fun and rather cathartic.  Perhaps you should try it.  What does change mean to you?

Who Would You Spend a Day With?

For as long as I can remember I have loved Lucy.  I Love Lucy that is; and today through Facebook Lucy fans were asked, "If you could spend 24 hours with Lucy, what would you do?  I quickly found myself having great fun thinking of the possibilities. 

Imagine having a tour of Hollywood from one of the legends - we could go to the Brown Derby Restaurant, Grauman's Chinese Theater, and see her star on the Walk of Fame.  Or perhaps I would ask her to introduce me to the rest of the cast - I mean they have all passed away now; but if I am meeting Lucy, why can't see find the other three?  I definitely need to  ask her to tell me about being a pioneer for women both in front of the camera, but also in the business world.    I love the thought of having the opportunity to ask her what it was like to create some of the greatest moments in television history.  Lucy was more of a physical comedian than a quick quips type of woman, which explains why my Grandmom said she was not a very funny interview.    I feel as though the writers for her shows worked to play on her strengths, and created some wonderful acts in the process.  Moments such as, 'Vitameatavegamin", the chocolate factory, stomping grapes, or my personal favorite a mirror routine with Harpo Marx.  I have often wondered if she and the rest of the cast had any idea that they were taping shows that would prove to stand the test of time.  At the end of that day I would like to be able to give Lucy a hug, and say thank you for all the laughs.

While I am on the subject of spending the day with someone who is deceased, I may as well go all out and admit my fascination for James Madison.  Yes, I am just cool enough to want to spend time with our fourth president or the "Father of the Constitution."  For those of you keeping track at home, Madison passed away in 1836 - I only missed my chance by 146 years.  The picture above, taken two years ago at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia may be the closest I ever get to him.  A few side notes about the picture:  first, if you ever get the chance, please go to the National Constitution Center as it is a really well done museum; next, the height difference is to scale - Madison stood at a towering 5'5" to my impressive stature of 5'2", which may be part of his appeal to me; third, I am well aware that the picture does not do much for my pallor, but I blame the lighting.  

I digress.  Back to James Madison, and what I would do if I could spend a day with him.  As with Lucille Ball, I would welcome the opportunity to ask whether Madison and the other Founding Fathers had any idea of the impact that would have on future generations.  The Constitution is a remarkable document.  It was ratified in 1787, and yet in 225 years has only been amended 27 times.  It was also written in such a way that allows for multiple interpretations; so allowing time for him to explain the true original intent of the words must be taken into consideration when planning the day.   Another interesting (yes, interesting!) topic for discussion would be Madison's thoughts on the politics of today, as well as the place that the United States holds in the world.  

On a lighter note, Perhaps he could lay to rest the question of whether his wife, Dolley really did save the painting of George Washington as the White House burned during the War of 1812 or if that is just folklore.  I do not know that a day with President Madison would consist of anything more than talking, since I still cannot eat ice cream.  I connect ice cream and Madison since many people think Dolley Madison was the first person to serve ice cream in the White House (false - it was Jefferson).  Even if it was "just" talking, what an experience for a history dork/former Social Studies teacher like me.

I once had someone ask me to switch brains, since she was suffering from a terrible migraine.  I told her that I did not think she understood what a ridiculous brain she would get in return.  This post is a glimpse at how silly (okay, dorky) I am, but also a look at things that I find interesting beyond the world of sports.  You now know my choices, but I hope that perhaps you will tell me a person (living or deceased) that you would like to spend the day with, and what you would do with that time?

 

I Got a Gig - Her Game Life

My love of sports is pretty well documented at this point, but a fact that I do not readily share is that I was never much of an athlete myself.  There are probably athletic genes somewhere in my body as my parents were gifted athletes.  Me, not so much: basically I am short, slow, and really lack the ability to trash-talk.  Not the makings of a great athlete.  It's okay though, I have enjoyed being an avid spectator.  Although I had always hoped perhaps I could do more in the world of sports.  To that end, I will put a positive spin on a terrible expression - those who can't do coach, or in my case write. 

I had a couple disastrous experiences with coaching in college, and so that is probably not the path for me.  My junior year at IU, I was the co-head coach of a co-ed 3rd grade basketball team for the local parks and rec department.   It was a non-competitive league that was designed to teach kids the fundamentals of basketball.  Apparently someone forgot to explain this concept to a number of the parents.  Oh my - the pressure many of them were putting on their children was pretty horrible to watch.  Then when we didn't win (which was most of the time),  parents and even grandparents would come up to the other coach and me to tell us how we could have done things differently.  I was very saddened by the apparent disregard for the fact that the kids were trying really hard; but like me, most of them were not born athletes. 

While that experience was less than enjoyable, it was not even the worst thing I ever heard in my short-lived "coaching" career.  Oh no - that honor goes to the woman who called me a b*tch from the stands as I was pitching for the youth KICKBALL league.  It was summer following the basketball team debacle, and I was a part-time camp counselor for the same parks and rec department.  One of the roles of the part-timers was to lead the kickball league.  Our job was to "coach" the teams, which really just meant trying to be sure everyone was having fun, had the chance to play, and we took turns pitching.  Well apparently that woman was a hard-core kickball enthusiast (who knew those existed); who took issue with how I was throwing the ball.  That pretty much ended any aspirations I had of coaching, especially kickball!

Perhaps I will have better luck with writing since about a month ago, I got a [volunteer] gig!  I am one of three contributors for the Chicago Bears on the all-female football site, Her Game Life.   

Her Game Life began as trash talking text messages between native New Yorkers, Nikki Sickles and Shamika Lee. Despite growing up in the Big Apple, both ladies are avid fans of other teams in the NFC East (it’s complicated ). At least twice a year, Nikki (a Dallas Cowboys fan) and Shamika (a Philadelphia Eagles fan) would put aside their friendship and represent their teams. At the end of the 2011 season, Nikki and Shamika found themselves with plenty of time on their hands as their teams went home early. They started Her Game Life to answer the question “Are there other female NFL fans in America?” In response to that question, Nikki and Shamika received applications for contributors from women from all walks of life. Our writers include the daughter of an NFL coach, college students, former Division I athletes, Green Bay Packer shareholders, actresses, stand-up comedians, finance and marketing professionals, lawyers, and freelance writers from across the country. The answer was clear. Nikki and Shamika forged ahead to create the most complete website for female NFL fans.

I found the site completely by accident through a friend who has another friend that was already contributing to the site.  Without too much thought (otherwise, I probably would have thought my way out of it), I submitted a writing sample; was then asked for more information, including answers to specific questions, and a couple days later I was accepted!  So far I have posted three articles for my Bears, all of which can be seen by clicking here. 

Today I received a notice that we now  have an official NFC North Division editor to support the blogging teams as a means of working toward the goal of making the site more of a professional news organization.  Still, what may be the most exciting part of this whole experience was what arrived over the weekend (a media pass)!

I have no idea what I will use it for, but I am going to try to figure it out!  If nothing else, a life-long dream of doing more than just yell at the TV during various sporting events has come true.  I hope you will consider following my coverage of the Bears through what looks to be a very promising season!