Thank You Olivia

I saw my first Olivia concert at the age of 8 with my bestie Amber. Our moms surprised us with tickets for our birthdays and we were beyond excited.

Peering down at that far far away stage, my little legs dangling as they danced to the beat, I felt as if every dream I'd ever had in my whole eight years on Earth was coming true.

I gazed entranced, as Olivia sang with her angelic voice. I was awed by her ability to sing while jumping rope. At 8 I knew all about jump ropes, that was hard stuff.

She was simply amazing. I wanted to be her when I grew up. I was utterly in love, obsessed really, with everything Olivia after that. 

No family get together or neighborhood BBQ could be complete (or so I believed) without my lip synced rendition of Olivia's Greatest Hits Volume 2 or "acted out" scene from Grease.

There was the school talent show in which I sung Tuta La Vita complete with Oliviaesque sailer back ground dancers. Cheese cannot even begin to explain my adolescent-I-want-to- be-a-Newton-John-fantasy. 

How fun, and what a terrific cheerful humanitarian role model she was and still is. I see her as a beam of happiness illuminating moments of my life with song. Thanks Olivia. 

A Thousand Words

Photographs carry us through life. There are the pictures of our babyhood, graduations, wedding or weddings, and everything in between.

All I have to do is look around my house to stir up a whirlwind of emotion. Above my dining table hangs a treasured picture of my mom, and in my living room hangs a portrait of my son when he was three, a rare moment when I allowed him to play in the mud; my nephew at five blissfully experiencing snow for the first time, and a mantle filled with wonderful clips from the past.

My family has always been full of photographers. Amateurs like me who just love taking a pretty shot and professionals like my cousins. 

My grandfather owned his own studio, back in the day, where he experimented with  all kinds of photographic wonder. Therefore I've been lucky to have a rich assortment of family photos over the years. 

My mother loved photography. How I think she would marvel over the digital world we live in now. No more waiting to see how the rolls come out, instant reward in the palm of your hand, the ability to edit and instantly share your world with a friend.

I'm so very thankful to have an amazingly beautiful view of my childhood through her photographs, and I hope that my son will appreciate the photos I will someday leave for him.

One of my son's friends walked into my house a few years ago and said, "Wow coming here is like walking into a memory museum."

What a wonderful compliment, one I hope to always live up too.

My Grandpa with his trusty camera in hand.