Nebraska. And a small explaination of why I'm so odd.

I'm a huge believer in fate.  Fate in the manner that you will be exactly where you need to be, even if you don't know why at the moment. The last two years have been a rough time for me. And I've had a couple huge hurdles to deal with. Once in a while, I have an epic freak out and cry, which is not normal for me. At least not to cry out of frustration and anger, but I'll cry over a Hallmark card or commercial in a heartbeat. It, luckily, doesn't happen often.

So when vacation time came around last year, my best friends asked if I wanted to go with them to Nebraska, I jumped on it. All I knew about Nebraska was that it was QUIET. There was no noise, no traffic, no lawyers (of mine, at least), no exes. I figured I'd finally get the chance to hear myself think. So we set out last June, our little gypsy caravan. And I LOVED it. Sean's (half of my best friend couple) parents and brother live in Nebraska, literally smack dab in the middle of America, an hour outside of Lincoln. For weeks, we enjoyed fishing off their dock at the lake, walking around their beautiful property, going to wine tastings with Sean's congenial and hilariously charming dad, and stuffing our faces with his mom's awesome cooking.  And our kids hung out around the bonfire at night, enjoyed time outside, you know, in nature! With very little TV. And no video games. I was in heaven.

It happened that Kristi's (that's the best friend) birthday fell on a weekend while we were there, and we got to go out to the big city (Lincoln. Okay, not so big.) to celebrate. Sean's brother invited along some people, who were lovely. But one was more lovely than the others. She just kind of "sparkled". Did you ever meet someone who sparkles? Most of my friends are sparkly, they live life with zest and you can tell. I dig that about them. Anyway, back to Lincoln. So this chick, Chandra, was just adorable and I immediately invited her to come stay with me. After one night of knowing her. Seriously, it was like I was hitting on her. But we just connected. I think something told me we would be friends, despite the distance. And we are. A year later. And you know, a year is a long time in "I met you one night in a bar in Lincoln" time. So what does this have to do with this post? Well, she has a blog. And it's awesome. She's candid and hilarious. And self depreciating, which is always good.

And for some reason, she asked me to contribute to a new project on her blog titled "Fire & Heart". I am extremely honored to have been asked. It's a project about what fires you up and inspires you and drives you to action. I didn't have any struggle to write this because I remember my epiphany moment like it was yesterday. So please, follow this link and read it. If you know me well, or just a little, this short story is a huge part of who I am today. And you also get to visit Chandra's blog. After all, she's sparkly. How could you resist? You can find it here: http://earthfoodexperiment.wordpress.com/