Where in the World...

Congratulations, Seahawks! Good luck at the SB!
I know Sherman lost his mind for a minute after the game the other night but I wish people wouldn't be hating on the whole team just because one dude got caught up in the excitement and didn't use good judgment in that rant of his. Seattle is comprised of classy, talented, tough, good sportsmen. I love that team!
So on to other subjects. It's three weeks into the new year and I find myself in a most unusual place--back where I started! Dang! Not where I thought I'd be. It took a lot of convincing to accept that coming back to Ohio was not a backward step with my life but rather a sidestep. It's only temporary. I don't like to look too far ahead because that's just too daunting and I sure as heck don't need to be looking backward (at least not until I finish my memoir), so the day-to-day goal is to stay in the moment. But...I can't help but wonder and speculate as to where I'll finally decide to plant my roots next year. I'm narrowing down my options and zeroing in six places. They are:
1. Washington (Whidbey Island area)
2. Texas (Austin area maybe or Galveston area)
3. Florida (either coast--as long as I'm close to the water)
4. California (somewhere north of San Francisco)
5. Louisiana (there's something about it that speaks to me and draws me in)
6. Someplace unexpected (I'm open to suggestions)
The reason why I call this blog Somewhere Else is because no matter where I am I always want to be somewhere else. I've always been this way. I just can't help it. I wish I could. I make myself crazy sometimes dreaming about being anywhere but where I am. I always feel like I'm chasing some elusive entity...some goal that to anyone else is easily attainable but to me, it's just out of reach. I catch glimpses of it...it's right there...so close...but, damn...I can't quite get there. Last year I defied my own odds by not only seeing what I wanted right in front of me, but actually reaching out, grabbing hold and hanging on to it...for a time. That was big! For someone who's always let fear hold her back, I leaped! I didn't look down...I just jumped into the arms of the universe and hoped it would catch me. And it did...sort of. That leap into the universe was just what I needed! I proved to myself that I could take a risk...go blindly toward the unknown with no guarantee of success or safety. And even though the risk didn't pay off in terms of happily ever after, it paid off in bigger ways. Here's my take-away from my giant leap into the universe:
1. I'm not gonna win the lottery...but buying a ticket helps.
2. I'll never get anywhere if I don't open the door and take the first step.
3. I don't have to know where I'm going as long as I'm going somewhere.
4. With great love comes great risk but love is always worth the risk--always.
5. I had to live the story of my love in order to write the love story of my life.
6. If my plan doesn't work out, I'll make a new plan.
7. Don't make any plans.
8. That music you hear at the end of an awesome movie that captures the theme and sends you out of the theater humming? That happens in real life! A song played on the radio for every big moment I experienced in Texas. My story has a soundtrack! Perhaps every chapter title of my memoir should be a song title. Am I allowed to do that or will I get sued? I'll check into it.
9. Sometimes someone tells you something they really mean at the time they say it  only to find out later they don't.
10. You know that saying, "When one door closes, another one opens?" Well, what happens if the opening of one door and closing of the other don't happen simultaneously and you get stuck in the dark space between the two doors? Food for thought.
I shall close here and go make some lunch. I'm hooked on those Lean Cuisine Salad Additions. Yum!
Have a good January 21st everybody. Until next time...
KH
P.S. Notice the colors of that map up there? Go Seahawks!