June 7, 2009 - LIVE, LIVE, LIVE!

June 7, 2009
Well, here I am sitting on an airplane waiting to take off. It’s 3:01 CST (10:01 in Paris, Paris is 7 hours ahead.) I am pleasantly relieved. I had a huge fear that the seats were going to be too small for me and that the airline was going to force me to buy a second seat and/or wait for another flight. BUT, no one even mentioned buying another seat, and the seats are larger than I remembered, and the seat belts longer than I remembered. I was also worried about checking my bike, but that went off without a hitch as well. A skycab worker met us at the truck. We unloaded the bike box right onto the cart, added the saddlebags, then he rolled me right up to the special services counter. I didn’t even have to wait in line. Security went relatively well also. A word to the wise: Take laptops out of bags before sending them through the scanner. Well, we’ve finished taxiing and here we go. We’re taking off. I love the feeling of taking off in an airplane. It’s such a rush, so exhilarating. The sudden burst of speed as you go racing down the runway, building to the moment when the wheels finally lift off the ground. Then climbing, climbing, till buildings, people, responsibilities are but a memory. You enter a cotton cloudy world where anything is possible and all goals are attainable. I want so badly to be successful at my venture. Of course I’m afraid and nervous, maybe even a little petrified and terrified. BUT, I am NOT going to let my fear keep me from trying, succeeding , and LIVING. Several quotes and thoughts have been going through my head in the last couple of days:
1. We should work to LIVE, but for the last 15 years or so, I have been living to work. I want to LIVE.
2. “LIVE, LIVE, LIVE! Life is a banquet and most poor bastard are starving to death.” - Auntie Mame.
3. Jeffrey Chen, Valedictorian, DHS—”You deserve to reach for your dream. You deserve to be successful.
I do deserve to reach for my dreams. I deserve to be successful. I deserve to be thin. I deserve to be happy. I deserve to LIVE!!!!