Follow your Heart

I try to follow my heart and do what feels right in the moment.  I try to live life with few regrets.  I would love to say NONE that that simply isn't true.  Sometimes it is the big stuff and but this time was a little thing.

I've recently had a rash of disappointments and cancellations from friends for events.  Last weekend it was the Hope ride.  I did this bike ride a few years ago and I have fond memories of a great event and I wanted to go again.  So I scrambled at the last minute and found a replacement friend to drag along with me.

The ride was good.  The weather was perfect and the company was entertaining.   It was well organized and the country air suited me.  Near the end of the ride I was getting fatigued and I stopped a few times to rest. Then it happened.  Something unusual crossed my path.  I saw a house that had three Shetland Ponies tied up in the front yard.  As we were riding by I thought about stopping but I didn't want to annoy my friend by taking another break.  We passed the driveway and I just couldn't stop myself.  I had to see the ponies.

There were two older adults standing near the house fairly far from the road.  I waved to them and I began the long trek towards them.  I met the man halfway down and asked him in an excited and rushed tone if I could pet the cute little horses.  He said yes and lead me over to the nearest one.  He told me all about them.  There was a male and a female pony and their baby that was born in March.  Adorable!  The male was kept further away because he has a temper and isn't nice to strangers.  I was petting the female.  He told me she was trained to pull a cart and she would give rides to his grandchildren.  He also gave me some bread to feed the pretty horse and it made me giggle like a little girl with delight.

I am so glad I took the time to follow my heart and take a closer look at the cute horses.  I would have regretted not doing so.  

I would have loved to show you some pictures but my friends phone battery was dead and I was to engrossed in the excursion to think about pictures.

Margaret Eleanor Atwood

Look!  Look!  Look!  I got to meet Margaret Atwood. 

She presented a speech at Butler on Wednesday as part of their Visiting Writer Series.  I was so excited when I randomly discovered this event on Sunday and I was super glad I didn't miss it.  I immediately posted a link on Facebook and I also sent an email to all my book club friends.  To my dismay, NO ONE was interested in going with me. NO ONE!  I had no idea why.  I feel like she is a fairly well known and important writer.  

I have so many friends and acquaintances who are book lovers and they missed out.  She wasn't an especially eloquent speaker and I could hardly see her from behind the giant podium but she was funny and interesting.  I liked the way she put together her speech and expressed her ideas.  She made me laugh out loud several times with her references to sparkly vampires and bad movies on airplanes.  I was also very impressed at how patient and thorough she was when she answered questions from the audience.

The line wasn't that long for autographs and she was kind enough to pose for pictures while she autographed my two books.  One well loved, and passed about copy of "A Handmaid's Tale" and a new copy of "In Other Worlds:  SF and the Human Imagination"

Great event and another great night!

Disappointment

I have had a series of disappointments lately.  Three exactly, and I am ready for them to stop.

1.  Vacation to New Orleans

My friend canceled her participation in this trip two weeks before we were scheduled to leave.  Not Cool. I was stunned and disappointed for two days and then I took action.  I did research to see how much it would cost to go by myself.  Ugg...super expensive.  I didn't want to lose my airline ticket and I didn't want my vacation ruined by another person's actions.  After extensive research I decided to purchase a cruise out of New Orleans for the exact days of my trip.  I thought I found a reasonable solution to my problem.

2.  Cruise to Cozumel

Then Hurricane Issac happened.  I was to leave on Thursday and my airline canceled my flight.  Or, more precisely the airport was closed in New Orleans.  I just couldn't get there. The earliest I could get to New Orleans was Saturday.  The cruise was also delayed but they left port on Friday at 9pm.  Apparently, going on the cruise wasn't in the cards for me.  I was super bummed.  I was looking forward to some time away from home and work.  I wanted some time to myself and I wanted to be able to reflect on where I was in my life and where I wanted to be.  I knew that wouldn't happen at home.  Again, super disappointed.

3.  Cake Concert

I purchased tickets with a friend to see the Cake concert on Friday night.  I was very excited because they were SUPER FANTASTIC when I went last year.  I was really looking forward it seeing them.  Then...bam...bad storms were predicted for Friday night.  The concert was slated to be at the White River venue downtown but due to the storms they moved it to Klipsch Music Center in Noblesville.  Duh...what the hell.  I knew that Klipsch had a pavilion but it wasn't adequate cover for a thunder and lightening storm.  My friend was a little apprehensive about going because she didn't want to be outside with lightening.  We went to dinner and when we were done eating the weather had cleared up a bit so we decided to go for it.  We were there about 30 minutes when the gates of hell opened up.  Terrible lightening, thunder and rain.  We made a mad dash for my car and headed back to my house. The concert was over for us.

Damn.   Again, I was super disappointed.  I couldn't believe another event was ruined in such a short span of time.  In the scheme of my life I know that these are not real problems.  I was out a bit of money and fun but they were important to me.  So I am ready for an upswing.  Hopefully, No more canceled events in my future.