2010…let’s begin again

2010

As this year ends, I find myself anxious to begin the new one, like no other I can ever remember. The actually saying “2010” aloud makes me think of renewed hope, new beginnings, rebuilding, reinventing, while maintaining all I’ve learned from the past year. Some people weren’t affected by the recession but those folks are few and surely fortunate. The majority of us learned hard lessons about extravagance and living beyond our means, taking things for granted and never believing lives can change (and do) in the flash of a moment. In the past weeks, on my travels, I’ve seen and experienced the peoples will to survive under the most dire circumstances…with ingenuity, honor and dignity. I’ve seen some give when there was so little of their own left to give. My belief in the goodness of mankind has been renewed just when I began to forsake it. I find selfish strength in numbers, in mass understanding that we share these difficult times as one world. I know I am not alone in my fears.

I think, we as Americans, have long been spoiled and “over-blessed” with a multitude of unnecessary “things”… failing ourselves… our children and our neighbors on the most basic levels. We must pay more attention to loving, understanding and accepting one another than we waste on arguing our own opinions, religions and staunch beliefs. All the politically correct words in the world don’t feed those who go hungry at night nor hug the loneliest among us. We must be willing to not only listen to those suffering most but to offer our hands in ways that actually do make the difference. We need to leave behind wasted time on the unimportant fluff.  We’re just now re-learning the simplest things that make us the most happiest with the least cost to our pockets…and souls. It’s time to relinquish the cells phones long enough to breath the fresh air and see the magic that God gave us with appreciative eyes. It’s time to finally “see” the beauty and wonder around us and live our lives in simplicity.

I look back at what I’ve lost in a year…my Gallery, my job description, my uterus, the curve in my left cheek, three-quarters of our combined income, a fancy car, two mentors and one very dear friend. To that, I compare what I’ve gained…white eyebrow hairs, simplicity, fairly impressive barbeque skills, some weight, a new group of artistically gifted friends, a mysterious pirate scar, more patience, old wisdom and renewed eyes to finally see the world around me. I thought I’d be older when this epiphany happened. Maybe I just needed to be forced to choose to. I am grateful for all the winding roads that lead me to be a stronger woman, a wiser person and a better human than I ever would have been without being shown the way. Low and behold…I find I gained even from all I’ve lost.

I wish for all of you, those I’m blessed to know, those I don’t know yet and those I never will…a happy, happy New Year full of all the love and happiness you deserve, the eyes to notice it when it’s in front of you and long arms to reach out and grab it when you realize you actually can.

2010…to new beginnings.

Love Heather

Slow Down

I live in a sleepy residential area, close the the ocean. It consists of mostly seniors who bought their homes in 1964 or beginning families that were lucky enough to inherited or purchase their parent’s homes. There have been 2 God-awful car collisions at a small intersection within a 4 way stop… around the corner from my home. All these collisions have happened with a minor behind the wheel, driving upwards of 90 miles per hour, about a stones throw from the local elementary school. Just 2 weeks ago, 3 cars full of teens racing side by side, clipped a neighbor with his wife, his 3 small boys…ranging 5, 3 and 18 months and another 5 year old neighborhood girl while they were on their way to a birthday party. This little family got away unharmed, thank the Lord. One passenger (in the back seat of the car that clipped them) died on the scene after smacking a cement telephone pole. He was 14 years old. The driver’s 17 year old girlfriend had her entire face sheered off. Her face was gone people! GONE…and she lived!

Today, yet another teenager, with his own father as the passenger, drove through this intersection at a very high rate of speed (according to all eyewitnesses at the local liquor store at the intersection)…and this time they hit my neighbor…3 doors down. I don’t even know my neighbors, but this quiet, unassuming man, walks his dog faithfully everyday…so I’ve noticed him and waved. He, I learned later, was the man who went through my entire neighborhood taking down my Halloween signs after the event was over because he knew I would be tired. A man that I’m embarrassed to say… I didn’t even know his name! Well, his name is Malcolm and I am sick and tired of people driving wrecklessly, with no regard to other’s. Tell your kids, no… yell at your kids and make them understand. While you’re at it, tell yourself…to F—ing slow down…because it matters!

HUNTINGTON BEACH – Two drivers and one passenger were transported to the UC Irvine Medical Center this afternoon after a yellow Ford Mustang crashed into a black Toyota Camry at Bushard Street and Banning Avenue, police say. That accident occurred in the same intersection where 14-year-old Phoenix Nguyen was killed on March 15.

According to the Huntington Beach police department, the 17-year-old driver of the Mustang carried one passenger, 56-year-old Gregory Jackson. The Camry was driven by 76-year-old Malcolm McKenzie.

McKenzie and Jackson have multiple injuries but are in stable condition, and the Mustang driver, whose name was not released because he is a minor, suffers from minor injuries, according to a police news release.

Huntington Beach police and paramedics responded to the collision at 3:20 p.m. The preliminary investigation indicates that the Mustang was going at a high rate of speed southbound on Bushard Street and ran a stop sign before hitting McKenzie’s car, which was going eastbound on Banning, the release said.