A Ride on Random Express

Figured it's about time for another ride on the Rambling Express, so if you got your ticket and are ready...All aboard!

(If you are on FB you will have already read about this first tidbit of information so you can read it again since I will no doubt add something different or skip to the next paragraph.) About a month ago I had sent in a poem to a contest held by a publishing company. Last week-ish I got a letter from them and it stated my poem had advanced to the semi-finals and because of that it would be included in the multi-volume books it would publish of the poems sent in from this current contest. Now if you read that post about me sending a poem in I had said that all I wanted was for it to get to the stage where I could say I had a poem published so for that to have happened I am very happy. Granted, not bragging on my writing because sixty to seventy percent of the poems advance to the semi-finals. I'm not really expecting  to go any further but if I do that's fantastic. So I posted a picture of the letter on FB and got some super nice comments and such that I really do appreciate and I had a cousin that wanted to know what poem I had submitted so I copied it in the comment section so she could read it. And to be honest her comment probably meant more to me then reading the letter that I had gone on to the semi final round. She stated that she could relate to the poem and other stuff but that part meant a lot because that particular poem is 100% me and for someone else to read it and say I feel that way too it's something I guess everyone breaths a sigh of relief that they are not the only one. Because that poem is so much of me the comments, making it on to the next, all of it just means a lot because I'm not always, or even very often, an open book are a very easy one to read and to share my writings makes me always feel very vulnerable.

Well that was a beautiful quick little stop, now it's time to go on to our next stop and on the way I would like to take this time to ramble about another little thought I had while driving home last night and that was life is like a waiting room. Most everyone has had to be in a waiting room of some sort at some point in your life be it waiting on a doctors appointment or waiting in a hospital waiting room for news of some sort. When you're in these waiting rooms you may bring a book, catch up on the latest pics and quotes uploaded to FB, flip through the magazines in the waiting room, talk to a stranger or family member, or maybe even find it's the perfect time and place to say a prayer. Sometimes I feel like I'm sitting in life's waiting room while I'm waiting on perhaps news of some sort, deciding which particular road I should take on my latest journey in life, or whatever else could be added. Just like how when you're in the waiting room at the doctors office sometimes waiting in life's waiting room can seem to take forever and you are never going to hear your name called and be able to go through the door and proceed to the next part of your journey. Kinda, but not really, like how what you bring to the real waiting room to help pass the time by can really help make sure the time passes by how you decide to pass the time by and what you bring along while you feel like you're in that waiting room can not only help the time pass by but help you potentially grow while you are waiting and that can sometimes be the biggest lesson learned and the most profound experience that we'll always remember and not what happens when we hear our name called and we get to walk through the door to the next round.

I sometimes think I drive to long to have thoughts like that but then they seem to pop up when I'm trying to sleep to so there really is no escaping them. We're having a brief delay while another train comes through you may take this time to get up and stretch or what have you at this time we're not sure how long the delay will be but thank you for your patience.

Alright, looks like that didn't take to long now we can continue with our journey. I'm one that believes that actions speak louder than words and treat people how you want to be treated because I see everyone as a story, weird perhaps but I do, to me we're all a living breathing story that whether we know it or not or even believe it has more people to share it with then we may ever realize and more people that it will help in ways we may never fully know or understand. Where am I going with this? I have absolutely no idea I am just typing what pops in my head cause I was tired of seeing the cursor blinking at me.Something happened the other day that just kind of got me thinking maybe I make a bigger impact on people than I even realize. Whether I do or not I'll probably never truly know or even believe if I did happen to find out but what I do know is that I always want to take the time to get to know people, to know their stories and make sure they know their story matters. Many of those stories, and most definitely the people behind them, have helped me in ways I can never repay or truly thank them. You know how sometimes in wills or whatnot they say a person has to wait until a certain age to receive a particular item(s) I sometimes wonder if life doesn't come with a will of some sort (bare with me I do know where I'm going with this one). For months before I turned 30 I was full out panicking about it now that I've been this age for a few months I am loving being thirty. Apparently, thirty was my year to receive a few things that wasn't quite available to me in my twenties. This year, in particular the last few months, it's like I got a package and I was finally allowed to open it and with that I got some long awaited knowledge and acceptance of myself. I look back and I see that I stayed in some places to long and some not enough but everyone got me to this point and this road I'm on now though it may have pot holes, curves and hills the ride I'm in is making it feel like a smooth ride. I got to remember to keep up the maintenance of my ride and there's going to be times no matter what I do it won't be so smooth but all in all thirty has been my favorite birthday and year so far.

Well that was quite the random stops we had on today's ride but I thank you for riding along. Just because this quote from Shrek has randomly been floating in my head I'll leave you with it and thank you for riding this weeks Random Express.

Shrek: For your information, there's a lot more to ogres than people think.
Donkey: Example?
Shrek: Example... uh... ogres are like onions!
[holds up an onion, which Donkey sniffs]
Donkey: They stink?
Shrek: Yes... No!
Donkey: Oh, they make you cry?
Shrek: No!
Donkey: Oh, you leave 'em out in the sun, they get all brown, start sproutin' little white hairs...
Shrek: [peels an onion] NO! Layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers... You get it? We both have layers.
[walks off]
Donkey: Oh, you both have LAYERS. Oh. You know, not everybody like onions. CAKE! Everybody loves cake! Cakes have layers!
Shrek: I don't care what everyone likes! Ogres are not like cakes