Experiences

I have been thinking about the experiences I have been blessed with in my lifetime. Some seemingly small and insignificant yet they still stay with me. Others larger and life changing. Some I like to take out and look at again, remember them, the smells, the sounds, the feelings. Others I would like to erase from the tapestry that is my life.

This last week I did some catering at Universal Studios. We worked on Stage 28. It is where the original Phantom of the Opera was filmed back in the 1920's and has been declared an historical landmark by the State of California. While this is probably an insignificant event it is one I will likely remember for a very long time. I enjoyed the work but was also really captivated by the place and it's history. It is supposedly the oldest stage in the world. I worked with some nice people and made a bit of money too.

When I think about some of the experiences I would like to erase, if I look closer, I see the threads that are attached to those experiences and wonder if those threads would have been woven into my life in a different way if i had not had that particular experience. Some of my best friends have been made from going through a negative experience.

I remember things from my childhood - I am sure my love of reading began when my mother used to read me a story before naptime every day. I didn't want to go to kindergarten because I knew I wouldn't get my naptime story.

Even some things that are looked at negatively at the time can have a positive effect later. I remember hating to weed the garden, now I love to garden. I remember wondering why Mom got so upset when the dogs would lay in her flower beds. Now that I have my own flower beds I love to tend I understand her frustration.

I think of my experience of working for the Page Police Department and, although it ended badly, having Charlene come into my life for those 5 years was definitely worth it. Going to work there was something I *knew* was right from the moment I was offered the job. I haven't had many moments like that in my life so when I do have one it tends to stick with me.

My voice disorder is one experience I wish I never had to experience. I keep looking for something good that has come from it but its pretty tough to find anything. Maybe that it has made me a better listener, made me really think before I speak. There has to be a reason for it, maybe when I find the reason I will be able to come out on the positive side of the experience.