I
have been meaning to sit down and crank this one out but instead I find
myself buried in my couch with a warm cup of coffee and reality TV
marathons. This is the first time I have been in my home for any
length of time since I started my new job. I have been trying to take
advantage of the time to reacquaint myself with doing nothing. I was
good, for about a week I never even left my apartment except to pick up
minor groceries or coffee. Both my birthday and Christmas have passed
and today I am cleaning up from the Leftcoastlove Christmas Open House.
Snowy and Kevin showed up first then over the next few hours my house filled
with friends and we feasted and laughed. This year I went for it and
put up a tree. Not just any tree but a tree on a stick. So easy
since it's pre-lit and two pieces. There is a sturdy base then the
tree on a stick. Stick stick into base then plug in, instant Ho Ho Ho,
don't cha know. The tree is artificial but it still looks very nice.
Alexis hooked me up with one of trees from her store. The Christmas
display was over and she got the ok to discard the stick trees. Hmmm.
The stick trees made me think of the Island of Misfit Toys from the Rudolph
legend. These poor trees still had some Christmas to give.
I rescued the middle sized tree and made it the center piece of my pad for the holidays. Tree on a stick will even fit under my bed during the off season. I only have two ornaments, thanks Stacey and Bonnie, but now I have reason to get more. I feel warm and good since giving the tree on a stick a place to live and lot's more Christmas to give. In fact isn't this the real reason for celebrating the holiday? At the root is this notion of a gift. Gift from God, gift from mom, gift from Santa, gift from grandpa, gift for him and gifts for her. Unfortunately my birthday is on Christmas Eve so I have a bad attitude regarding gifts. I love to give them but I am bad at the receiving. I get weird and uncomfortable when people spend money on me. I prefer time but since part of the equation is that someone wants to give a gift and so you have to appreciate and respect that. I think I am getting better so this year it was nice to space things out and to have an open house. This way I get their time and presents, this was the first time since Duran Duran in August that all the founding Leftcoastlove members were all together. Bonnie, Andy, Alexis and yours truly all in one place at the same time. That was the best gift of all.
I titled this essay Jump for a reason. A few weeks ago a distressed man tried to commit suicide by jumping from the roof of the building across the street. Very sad on so many levels. First off he chose a one story parking garage, second he screamed on the roof for 8 full hours before making his move and lastly he made sure that all the local news teams had the amazing footage of him jumping and breaking only his leg. Oops. He limped himself to the ambulance crying in his hands. Good idea but a tragic execution. What I mean is that that the jumping part was good but you shouldn't use it to end a life, instead jump back into life. Sometimes I am called Tigger because I will spontaneously bounce. Jumping to share my energy and happiness. I felt sorry for the guy, I can't imagine it ever getting so bad that death is viewed as a viable option. I know I've said I don't want to get very old and become slow and dependant but that doesn't mean I advocate checking out before your big lotto ball comes up.
Life has so much to offer and each day is a fresh start, if you choose tear off the wrapping paper and look inside. Life is not a spectator sport nor should you be a coach for someone else's life at the exclusion of living your own. A friend of mine once said, "You need to secure your own mask first before attempting to help others." Oh wait, that's the flight attendant but the advice works here too. If you are happy and balanced then you can venture out and try to help others. Be careful though, some people want no help and they are insulted at the idea that you can offer them anything. Sad but true, you can't save the world but there enough people who do care that the effort is still honorable. Jump and jump again because you can. Much of our world can't jump and you should understand that. They are jump deprived.
Jump for joy! I think we can save the jump and I think there is hope for our jumper across the street. He picked a small building and screamed for hours, this all indicates that he just wanted someone to listen. He doesn't want to die. During this time of year share and love but also remember to jump a little. Teach someone to jump, hold a hand and jump with a friend. This weekend I was able to jump so much that I fear I may be evicted since I do have neighbors below. My friends came over and played with my toys. We drank eggnog and sang along with Outkast. This is a new Christmas tradition that I am sure we will carry into the future in Leftcoastloveland. We ate lots of food and shared music and presents under the warm glow of the tree on a stick. In other words the joint was jumping.
Even my fridge was feeling festive this year. Full of food and booze it was just bursting, my guests filled then emptied the guy then I restocked with leftovers. I am going to be eating well for the rest of the week. We had ham, rolls, cheeses, chips, salsas, lasagnas, salad, apple pie, chocolate pie, fudge, crackers, turkey, Coke, Coronas, Sky, Captain Morgan, White wine, and lot's of coffee. I understand why food always goes well with these types of gatherings. It doubles the pleasure of feeding the soul since you are feeding the body at the same time. The endorphins must have been jumping off the charts last night. The evening ended with hugs ands kisses and that was it. Another year in the books. I look back and once again I am amazed at how far my world has come in one short year. All the jumping has been paying off, I jumped into a new apartment, I jumped from one job to another, I jump back and forth from Dallas each week, I jumped at over 50 concerts and I jumped down turned around and got ready to jump again. Go ahead and touch your inner spring and learn to jump again, if you already jumping then share the bounce. Best wishes for a new year from me to you and please stay tuned.
Peace,
Sean
Thanks to Snowy for providing these pictures.