Greetings!  

For eighty-five whole minutes I had the perfect day. Until 7:10 a.m. (yes I got up at 5:45) it all went exactly as planned. Got up, put on running clothes, backed car out of garage without having to move someone else's car, drove to friend's house, chatted, ran, stretched, and now on my way home - perfect. Then my phone rang. It rang just as I was feeling smug about my awesome day.

"Hello!" I sang into the phone. It was our youngest son, Evan. "Hey Mom, my back is still hurting. Actually it hurts so much I think I need to see the doctor today". "I'll call right away," I replied in my best I-love-to-be-a-mom voice. I do love being a mom and a wife and all the other things I am but darn it, does there always have to be a twist - some sort of a roadblock - to my flawless day diagram?   

On hold with the doctor's office my mind wandered and I found myself thinking "I wish we were on our summer ocean vacation where everything was easy and peaceful and perfect." The exact moment I had that thought I realized how not true it was. I laughed out loud. "Easy" and "peaceful"  and "perfect" were not the words to describe this year's beach trek. "Adventure" and "Uncertainty" and "Moment-by-moment-nail-biter" were much better descriptors for a vacation full of twists and turns. Literal twists and turns of wind and water.

"Hey Mom, Irene is picking up speed. She's turning into a category 2 hurricane!" exclaimed Evan, less than two months ago. It was the end of August and we were packing for the anticipated easy, peaceful and perfect summer trip. Our destination? Well, right into the eye of the storm, of course! We'd listened to weather announcers in past years excitedly share the play-by-play trajectory of a looming tropical turbulence but, so far, each whirling dervish has turned away from shore or slowed down prior to our arrival. Not this time. This time, angry Irene was headed - smack dab - for the middle of our (yes, we think we own it) island.

"What are you going to do?" asked concerned friends, family and others who knew of our plans."Hope for the best and let the adventure unfold", we replied. The whole week before leaving I alternated between humming the songs "Com'on Irene.." and "Rock you like a hurricane!" Outwardly, I kept a positive but maturely concerned attitude. Secretly, I was more than a little excited - I was jacked! The mundane stuff of life was getting on my last nerve and I needed an adventure badly! If I didn't get a break  from the every day crap of life very soon, someone might get hurt. I craved a little (controlled) danger - a little spice to life -and Irene fit the bill.

And - spice is what I got! Fun adventure along with nail-biting suspense. We camped (in a hotel ) in close quarters waiting for the island bridge to open. Bunking next to each other longer than expected was an adventure to the limits of our family relationships. Daily email messages on island conditions from the rental company provided suspense as Irene arrived, unleashed her wrath, and retreated. In the end, the excitement of the storm, discovering a new town while we waited, and enjoying each other's company outweighed the set backs. When we finally arrived - just one day late - we were rewarded with starfish sightings, giant seashells, and the island almost to ourselves.

Still on hold with the medical center, I listened to music and some announcements about shared doctor's appointments. With time for more mind wandering, it occurred to me that maybe this unexpected wrinkle in my day  - the unplanned posterior malfunction (back pain) - was actually like a mini life hurricane. A tumultuous twist to add a little zing to my zang. Maybe, I could allow myself to find a little thrill in this unexpected medical mayhem. In fact, any unplanned detour could be seen as a departure - a break - from the daily grind. 

I didn't want our son to be hurt and I didn't want things to go wrong (by "wrong" I mean not according to my master plan) but maybe, just maybe, this schedule tweak was part of the adventure of life. Real swirly hurricanes on the Weather Channel are easier to categorize as adventures than the regular swells of life but in all moments there can be hidden juiciness. Our salty sea brush with death (big exaggeration I know, but I like the way it sounds) was definitely more exciting than a doctor's appointment but any departure from the norm could kick things up a notch.Maybe this tiny twist would unearth new and interesting things like the starfish and seashells that Hurricane Irene slapped to the shore!

"Can I help you?" asked the appointment setter. "Yes!" was my eager reply. Yes to the help, yes to the appointment, and yes to getting rocked by the big and the little hurricanes.

Rock on! 

Erika :)

P.S.  Where was the September newsletter? I was helping others and myself make up tons of Happy Crap so my apologies for the delay. Thank you for noticing the absence!