Less than 2 weeks

Psalm 121:5-7 "The Lord is your protector, there at your right side to shade you from the sun. You won’t be harmed by the sun during the day or by the moon at night. The Lord will protect you and keep you safe from all dangers." (CEV)

I had another attack last night. It wasn't fun, but just as I started worrying about it happening during my trip, I read the verse above. It's all in His hands. He will protect me and I have to trust in that.

On another note ... as much as I'm thankful for my new phone and that I can get internet on it and update Facebook and my blog, typing anything too long can be a real pain on this teeny keyboard, so that's all from me for now. :P

Happy Easter!!!

Christianity happens when men and women accept with unwavering trust that their sins have not only been forgiven, but forgotten, washed away in the blood of the Lamb. Thus, my friend archbishop Joe Reia says, "A sad Christian is a phony, and a guilty Christian is no Christian at all.".

Computer woes

Well, I'm without a computer again. :( My computer died on me a couple of months ago and I got a new one a few weeks ago and now that one's died on me. I don't have the time or energy to research and go buy a new one right now, so I guess it'll have to wait until I get home from my trip. Ugh. I really DO want to tell you about my experience in the delivery room and show you pictures, but it'll have to wait.

Oh, I have an appointment with the surgeon on May 2. When I booked the appointment she said it'll be about 20 minutes and then after that she'll book me for the surgery once I get back from my trip. When she said that, my stomach did a little flip. I've never had surgery before. Heck, I've never even been in the hospital overnight ... I've only been to emergency twice in my life and from about the age of 12 - 30 I didn't even HAVE a doctor because there were no visits needed. So this whole thing is a bit new to me. And I'll be honest with you ... when I drove into emergency a couple of weeks ago, I was wondering what the possibility would be of them cutting me open right then and there and it made me sad that I was alone. I wanted someone there to hold my hand. I always feel like I'm pretty independant and content being single, but this was one of those weak moments where I wish I wouldn't have been alone. Yes, I could've called someone, but one thing about being single is that you (obviously) don't have the spouse there to see that you need to go to the hospital and just jump in the car and drive you there, so you have to make the effort to call someone and you really don't want to bother people. Plus, I really didn't think they were actually going to cut me open that night, so I knew I could handle it alone. I had phoned my parents while I was waiting in emergency and when I called them back to tell them what had happened, I told my Mom about wishing I had someone with me, and she said that her and Dad had thought about that but were worried about my car all alone in the parking lot all night! haha! That cracked me up. :)

Anyway, I've actually been feeling pretty good the last week, so I'm sure it'll all be good while I'm gone. I've alerted my insurance company that I've got this pre-existing condition so that if something does happen while I'm gone that I'll still be covered. One day at a time, right?

Easter ... and an analogy about surfing

I read this a couple of months ago on Jamie, The Very Worst Missionary's blog and it was such a good analogy that I thought I'd repost an excerpt of it here:

This is about surfing... but not actually.

If you could do me a favor, I’d like you to imagine, as you read this, that I have a body like one of those girls from that surf movie Blue Crush... or like the super-model, Giselle. Yeah, Giselle would be good. Trust me. I just feel like this whole story will come off better if you can pretend that I’m sleek and athletic, rather than stumpy and jiggly. Let’s pretend I’m “lithe”, I like that word. Also, lets pretend that I’m a pretty good surfer. I’m not. At all.

I get the same bruise every single time I surf. Same bruise, same spot, same reason. Every time. I walked out of the water with it, throbbing along the back of my arm, this week. And even though it always happens, it still kinda surprised me.

It’s a good deep bruise, the kind that bleeds into the closest joint, making everything feel stiff and sore. The kind that reminds you, every time you stretch your arm or roll over in your sleep, that, oh yeah, you were surfing today... yesterday... earlier this week... You were on the water with your eyes stinging and your lungs burning of salt, and you slipped off your board into the sea -like you always do- and, as you tumbled under the waves, your very own board came back at you, above you, trying to kill you. So you put up your arm to protect your face and head from the fin that was racing toward your skull, and that’s when it got you, right smack in the same spot where it always gets you, on the back of the arm.

That's how it goes every stinkin’ time. And this might sound weird, but I love that wretched, painful bruise because it reminds me of how I love to surf.

I love the struggle of surfing. You have to battle against the forces of the Earth just to get out past the break. You have to beat the current, and the waves, and the wind, and your own tired body, before you can let it all loose again to come together and push you back to shore.

Then, once you're out there, there's a moment of quiet. A time of Peace. Where the crush of waves over your head has been replaced by the graceful sway of the water underneath you. You’re just there, in that place where you wait for the wave that will pick you up, steady your path, and shoot you back to the sand a little faster than you’d like.

When it’s time, you can feel it rising behind you pulling you backward, upward. And then the fight begins again, to paddle ahead, to stay upright, to get up on your feet as white water surges behind you, and then all of a sudden... you’re standing, moving, surfing along the wave, you are flying free and fast, and you don’t remember anymore how hard it was to get there. You aren’t bothered by aching muscles or burning lungs. The struggle is over. The battle is won.

It’s not until your feet are buried in the sand again, and after you’ve caught your breath, that you feel the pulsing at the back or your arm, where the fin of your board laid into you, You can feel the blood pooling under the skin and seeping down into your elbow, but you totally don’t care because that’s the price you pay for the freedom to glide above the water. And it was worth it.

And that’s when you remember another price that was paid so that you could be free.

Today, I am reminded, whenever I flex my sore right arm, that we are commemorating the battle waged, the broken body, the shed blood.

Tomorrow, a moment of quiet anticipation, as we wait for what's to come.
And finally, on the third day, a celebration. The freedom granted to each of us by the empty tomb, the battle won.

Now, I need to stop wondering if I’m worth it...

One Minute Sermon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUQYJ77qa50

Where do I live???

How is it possible that on April 14, THIS ...

is what I woke up to this morning? WHAAAAAAT?

My vacation can't come soon enough!

Ultrasound results!

Well, I just got out of my ultrasound and luckily she didn't tell me that she heard the heartbeat! Haha That would've been a whole other ultrasound and I would've felt ripped off! ;) But, I am the proud owner of gallstones! I know that may sound weird that I'm proud about that, but I'd been so nervous that they wouldn't find anything and there'd be no cause for the pain/issues I've been having, so to hear her say to me, "you've definitely got stones" was a big relief to me. What happens now? Well, I'm not 100% sure, but I've got my follow up apt with my own doc on Thursday next week and I'm sure he'll tell me where we go from here. The tech seemed to think I could be put on a list with others having the same problem and it'll depend how often and severe the attacks are before I would have surgery to have it taken out. She, herself, had her gallbladder out and she said it took forever to even get a consultation with the surgeon. I'm not holding out for anything to happen before my trip, but now that I can technically put a term to what I'm going through, I'm ok with it. Thanks again for all your prayers and advice!

Gallbladder update

So, I had another "attack" (until they confirm that there's a problem with my gallbladder, I have to put attack in quotes because it's alleged, not confirmed) last night. I was sick of it, so I drove myself to emergency. I was happy to see the waiting room virtually empty and 10 minutes later, I got called in. The doctor came (he didn't look anything like George Clooney, btw) and did a little interview with me. I didn't realize how stupid I'd feel that I wasn't actually an emergency. I was more there because I was sick of feeling this way and wanted to get an earlier ultrasound than the 27th ... and pretty much because my doctor had told me to go in the next time it happened. I was in pain, but it wasn't excruciating. When I think of the ER, I think you should have an appendage dangling by a thread to go in there, but I guess that's not always the case (I heard another guy in the bed next to me later tell the doctor he felt bad for wasting his time, so it wasn't just me). Anyway, the doc told me that he couldn't get me an ultrasound then and there because the techs had gone home for the day and they only call them back if it's a true emergency. "Sheesh! Why was I there then?" I thought. They took a few samples and then the waiting began. I had to go out once and pay for more parking, but just before that one was about to expire, the doc came back to me and said, "Well, your samples came back fine." Of course they did. Ugh. "But I'm going to order you an ultrasound anyway." THANK YOU!!! "I can't guarantee that you'll get in earlier than the one you've already got scheduled, but we'll see what we can do. I was home 3 hours after I'd gone in and had a good sleep.

This morning, I got a call from the hospital and they've booked me for an ultrasound on FRIDAY!!! Whoo hooooo!!!

I'm trying not to worry about the thought "what if the ultrasound doesn't show anything" because then I'll be back to square one with no reason why I've been having these "attacks."

Anywho, just thought I'd give you a quick update. Thanks for your prayers ... would appreciate if they continue. :)

Movie Monday

Short and sweet ... it definitely had some funny parts, but knowing my readers, I'd say you can skip this one.

Catch up!

It seemed like I was on a roll there for awhile and then I left the planet for a bit. Sorry about that. I was actually quite busy and when I finally did have some downtime, I wanted to just sit on my couch and catch up on shows I'd PVR'd (that would be DVR'd for my American readers ... hopefully that's not Lost in Translation ... ooooh, there's a GREAT old movie I could review for Movie Monday ... but that's for another time). Anyway, here are a few of the events I was busy with over the past couple of weeks. Sonya's quick visit. When Sonya told me she was coming down to Abby, I asked if I could get some girls together to see her. She was all about that, so here we are reunited at Earl's. The lovely Kori and Jill joined us as well ...

And Rachel was also there. Apparently I didn't get the "wear black" memo. :P We had fun chit chatting and jumping every time my phone rang because, I don't know if you noticed, but Jennie was absent from this night (so was Keri, who was on her way to Palm Springs ... whatever. Who chooses Palm Springs over girlfriends? haha - JKJK!). Jennie was supposed to come, however, she was having contractions that night and they were 6 minutes apart and some of them were so bad that she could hardly breathe through them. We all thought, "Tonight's the night!" but alas, it wasn't to be. What was to be turned out to be something different all together.

Unfortunately, I ended the night quite abruptly. I've been having a few stomach aches over the last month after I've eaten a meal, but I was just attributing it from going to strictly Jenny Craig food (high in fibre and soy) to a "normal" diet again. Well, I got my regular stomach ache and I joked that I should tell Jennie, "Oh, I totally know how you feel about your contractions. My stomach hurts, too." haha We all had a good laugh, until all of a sudden I had stabbing pains just below my chesticles (as Len from Dancing with the Stars calls them). I excused myself from the table and went to the bathroom for so long that one of the girls was about to come and check on me just as I was coming back. Don't worry, I won't get too graphic on you here, but let's just say that I was lucky I made it home in time before my quesadillas decided to make a reappearance. So, you know after you puke you usually feel better. Nope. Not this time. The stabbing pain continued for another 10 minutes or so and then it was like someone flipped a switch and the pain was gone. Exhibit A - the meal in question

I love my quesadillas at Earl's and have had them many times before. I chalked it up to bad chicken or something. Until the pain came back the next day while I was sitting in the movie theatre. Same story. Excused myself and went home. By this time, people are starting to tell me that my symptoms sound very similar to (insert family member's name here) story of when they had gallbladder attacks. I decided to be my own physician and google it. I could pretty much check off every symptom I found on google. It said it could also have been a problem with my appendix, but when I clicked on that, none of the symptoms matched. Anyway, to make an already long story short, I found out that my Dad, my uncle, my Grandma and 2 of my cousins have had their gallbladders out, so my doctor thinks that's most likely my problem as well. I've now had 4 "attacks" in 2 and a half weeks but of course, unless you go into emergency, I can't get an ultrasound until April 27. Crappy thing is, if they find something, I leave on my trip a week later. Oh well. I know it's all in God's hands and will work out how it's supposed to. But there's my update on that.

The next weekend I went out with my cousins for a little stagette/shower for my cousin Taraleigh. I got to go to her dress fitting as well, but none of those pictures can be shown here ... gotta keep that beautiful dress a secret! Janelle and I planned to take Taraleigh downtown and keep her in the dark as to what we were doing. We left just before supper so I made this cheese plate to take along with us to eat on the drive in.

We saw this street performer downtown (who looks strangely like Mr. Tumnus) and we told Taraleigh that as part of her stagette, she had to go stand with him and have her picture taken with him ... as you can see from the picture, she didn't comply. haha We weren't into that kind of stagette.

We were, however, into chocolate. After walking around and window shopping for a short while (we didn't realize the stores we wanted to go into closed so blinkin' early!), we headed to our reservation at The Sutton Place for the Chocolate Buffet.

Yes, I said Chocolate Buffet. It was pretty darn good. I would definitely recommend it, but I will warn you, it's not cheap. You definitely pay for the atmosphere as well, though. It feels very posh with the pianist in the background (he was really quite good), the fancy table settings and decor and of course, the company.

Here's plate #1. Yes, I was a little nervous after what had happened at Earl's the week before, but I chanced it and all was ok.

Here's the happy bride. Janelle and I were wondering if she was going to want to kill us for filling her up with chocolate a month before her wedding ... but then we thought, "It's a month before the wedding! She'll have lots of time to work off the chocolate!" haha Luckily Taraleigh agreed with us and wasn't mad at all. :)

Plate # 2 - I had to go back for a crepe! Good think I only see my Jenny Craig consultant once a month now! I conveniently forgot to tell her about this when I saw her. ;)

She looks a little nervous opening this bag in the middle of the restaurant, doesn't she ... or maybe she looks excited ... I can't really tell.

And THIS is what you get when you ask someone else to take a picture for you. I didn't think that I had to specify to focus on US and not the huge painting on the wall behind us. Funny. I didn't crop it because it's actually kinda funny.

Taraleigh decided she wanted a better look at what was in the bag when we got to the car, so she pulled this out ... with 2 others in different patterns. They were SUPER soft and a great price for 3, so if you know anyone who's getting married and you don't want to get them something super slutty, I'd say to head over to La Senza for these cute little nighties. I almost bought myself some because they were so cute and soft, but then ... really ... why? haha!

And the last "big" event that I planned was a mini Bornefest. My cousin Brenda was coming out to visit from Manitoba so I sent all the Bornes that are in the area an email letting them know when and where to meet and they ALL showed up! It was great! There were 19 of us in total and we had so much fun.

There were 6 of us cousin there representing 6 different families (out of 10). Usually we have a bunch of siblings in the group when we get together like this, but this time it was different. We have: back row - Taraleigh (Art), Edee (Vern), Janelle (John) and front row: Brenda (Henry), me (Herman) and Gord (George).

So, those are just a few of the reasons why I was busy over the last weeks. There were a bunch of coffee nights with individual friends where we were chatting so much that I didn't take any pictures and then nights out with my Little Sister and so on. The biggest event that happened in the last few weeks will have to wait for it's own post. SOOOOOO much to tell from that amazing day. My schedule has cleared up now so hopefully I'll be able to post about it soon.

Movie Monday

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see," (Heb. 11:1).

On the brink of winning a seat in the U.S. Senate, ambitious politician David Norris meets beautiful contemporary ballet dancer Elise Sellas--a woman like none he's ever known. But just as he realizes he's falling for her, mysterious men conspire to keep the two apart. David learns he is up against the agents of Fate itself--the men of The Adjustment Bureau--who will do everything in their considerable power to prevent David and Elise from being together.

But why? Why don't they want them to be together? And when you find out why, is that a good enough reason? This movie seems to make you want to ask yourself if we control our destiny or do unforeseen "forces" manipulate us.

Before I say anything more, I will tell you that I liked the movie. It's definitely more romantically inclined and less action than they lead you to believe in the trailer, but I did like it. I don't want to give anything away or taint your thoughts before seeing it, but this movie could really mess with your mind. If you're unsure of what you believe and who you believe in, I can see that this movie would bring about a lot of questions, which it did for me at first. On my drive home my mind was going a mile a minute and I started questioning God ... and then the verse I opened with popped into my mind.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see,"
(Heb. 11:1).

Oh yeah. I don't NEED to know what's going on because God's got it under control. I will NEVER be fully in "the know" and that's ok because that's what faith is. And besides ...

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you
and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)

I went and saw the movie with a co-worker and she obviously had some thoughts about the movie as well because as soon as she walked through the door the next morning, before she even took her coat off or turned her computer on, we were talking about faith, God and free will. It was pretty cool. I don't know if we came to any hard conclusions, but I told her about the 2 verses that I've mentioned here and that I don't worry because I really do believe that God's got it all under control. All I can do is think about today and see how God wants it to play out.

I mentioned that this movie seems to make you want to ask yourself if we control our destiny or do unforeseen "forces" manipulate us. I believe they left out one option. That there's a loving God who allows us to have free will and won't manipulate us but will be there with open arms if we decide to choose Him. No, it doesn't mean that life will be a piece of cake if we do choose Him, but He'll be with us every step of the way to help us through it ... and that's enough for me.

Red Eye Flashes Twice

This cracked me up on a couple of levels. One - don't you have one or two friends/family members/co-workers who ALWAYS ruin a picture by having their eyes closed or walking away before the picture finishes? Two - if you listen until the very end, it's kinda what I was talking about last Saturday in my post about wanting to be famous. I realize it's cutting off half the video, but you'll get the gist of it.

Happy Anniversary!

Today is my parents 51st wedding anniversary. These pictures are from last year when I went with them on a trip down memory lane to some of their hot spots when they were dating and early married. Here we were at White Spot eating at the drive in/up ... whatever it's called. They honestly giggled like school kids almost the whole time we were eating in the car. It was quite funny.


And then they took me out to UBC where they used to watch "the submarine races." Yeah, right!

Happy Anniversary you crazy kids!

Love you lots!

Pay it forward

The other day a friend of mine who I hadn't seen in a long while sent me an email after hanging out for the weekend and wrote in it (and I quote):

If I didn’t say it to your face, you look great. Slim and great. Healthy, and frankly, you sound happy.

As nice as it is to hear that I'm looking "slim," I actually was more touched by the compliment that I sound happy ... because I am. I have a great life. I really have nothing to complain about. Well, other than this long winter, not having much money right now, the gas prices going up and thinking I may have a gallbladder problem - but other than those silly things, I've really got NOTHING to complain about! haha - No, but really. I take that as a compliment because I do feel the blessings of God in my life on a daily basis and if I come across as happy, it's because He's in my life and that means I'm somehow paying tribute to Him ... and that makes me happy. I do want my life to be a testimony to His goodness.

So, thank you to my friend for paying me that compliment. It was honestly one of the nicest things anyone's said to me in a long time.

I'm going to look for a way to pay that compliment forward. How about you? Have you received a compliment lately that was unexpected and made your day ... or paid a compliment to someone and shocked them?

Wordless Wednesday

Another Happy birthday!

This little girl turns 18 today. WHAT? How can that be? Sydney is my first niece. I remember when she was born because I was out in Alberta for a friends wedding (in April) so I got to see her when she was a month old ... and it snowed. I think that clinched me ever wanting to live in the Prairies ... snow in April!? Uh uh.

Anyway, back to Syd. This girl makes me happy. She is SUCH a good kid (I'm sure at 18 she hates to be called a kid, but when you're "old" like me, she's still a kid). Sydney is a nice person. She always has been. She's a loving sister and friend. I've witnessed it. She LOVES to read! I think she read the Lord of the Rings trilogy when she was 12 ... I didn't read those until I was in my 30s! If you give her a new book, don't expect to see/talk to her for a couple of days because she's engaged in reading said book. And she's super smart, too! I mean, she's graduating this year so the fact that she's passing means she's smart, right? :)

This is a pic of me and Syd a couple of years ago. I think she was 14 then. Yeah, my little niece!

I can't wait to go see her walk across the stage and matriculate (big word, hey? I like reading, too, you know. It really has helped me with my vocabulary.). I hope that no matter where my nieces or nephews live when they graduate that I will be able to go and see it.

Now Sydney has a boyfriend. I can't wait to meet him. I haven't heard what their plans are for next year, so I'm excited to sit down and have a good chat with her about all her plans for the future ... or at least for the next year.

Isn't she beautiful? Seriously. I think she should apply for America's Next Top Model.

Love you, Syd! I hope you have a wonderful birthday and an amazing year. It will be full of changes but I know you're strong and you'll make it through with excitement and lots and lots of vigor.

Movie Monday

Maybe I've got babies on my brain because Jennie's about to have hers any day now and I'm SUPER excited slash nervous to be in the delivery room, but this is also just an awesome movie that you really should see. I believe I've admitted that I'm not sure if I want to have kids. That doesn't mean that I don't like kids, but I guess what I'm trying to show here is that even someone like me, without kids, liked ... no LOVED this movie. I watched it with my cousins one night and then I had Jennie over the next day and asked her if I could show her a few minutes of it (knowing that she'd be suckered in to watching the whole thing) and watched it again the very next day.

The remarkable thing about this movie is that there's no talking. The movie angle is from the baby's perspective, so you rarely even see adults. Well, you see their calves and sometimes when they bend down or are sitting, you actually see the full human that birthed this child, but most of the time, it's just a year in the life of one of 4 babies.

One of the babies is named Bayar who lives with his family in Bayanchandmani, Mongolia.

I don't want to ruin it for you, so I won't tell you specifics, but this kid gets into some interesting situations. The lone male of this movie, he's battered by his brother and left to play amoungst the cattle at times.

Oh, and he's super cute!

The next baby is named Ponijao and she lives with her family in Opuwo, Namibia. This little girl (who I thought was a boy the whole movie) is absolutely ADORABLE!

Some of the things that happened in the Namibia sequences made me gag and some made me cry. Seriously. Amazing.

Again, I don't want to tell you too much, but pretty much their only toys are rocks ... and they seem content with that!

The 3rd baby is named Mari and she lives with her family in Tokyo, Japan.

Mari has more "things" at her disposal so this sequence isn't as jaw dropping as with the other 2, but she's still super cute, so she's fun to watch.

The last baby is named Hattie who lives with her family in San Francisco, California. This rolly polly little girl lives a life that we are used to.

Playing with cell phones and trips to the beach are regular activities for us, but when watching it in contrast to what the other ones are doing in their perspective homes, it's really very interesting.

I think everyone should watch this movie. Even kids. Like I said, there are very few spoken words in this movie, but it grabbed my attention right from the get go. It will blow your mind to realize how spoiled we North American's are. I thought I knew that lesson ... yeah, this will reopen your eyes to that subject. The more we have around us, the less content we are, it seems.

Anyway, I highly recommend this movie. It's awesome. It obviously took a year to film and then a couple of years to edit and get into theatres, so they do a little follow up on them at the end a couple of years later, but I'd love to see another follow up on them maybe at age 10 and then 15 ... you know ... every 5 years to see how they're doing and to see what they think of themselves as babies. So great! Enjoy!

Happy birthday(s)!

I know 3 people who have birthdays today ... and if you know anything about me, that makes me happy ... because of the number 3 being involved, duh! I don't know why, ok. It just does. :P As far as I know, none of them read my blog, but I want to pay tribute to them anyway.

First, I'll tell you about my nephew, Jackson.

He's my youngest nephew and he turns 11 today. He's such a sweet guy. I haven't seen him since my trip to Malaysia back in 2007 when this picture was taken.

I can't wait to see him again in May. He's just a barrel of fun. When we skyped with them at Christmas, I could totally see a change in him and although I'm sure he'll be taller than me in no time, he'll always be my little nephew.

I don't know if he'll let me put him in a trance by tickling his face anymore, but as an Auntie, I think I'll always have to try, right? It's my duty!

Happy birthday, Jackeroo! Can't wait to see you in 54 days!!!

The 2nd person I know with a birthday today I've known since I was 10 years old. It literally makes my heart happy that we're still friends after all this time. My friend, Lee and I have been friends since we met in Grade 5. We went to different schools for Grade 8 and 9 but still kept in touch and then were BFs again in Grade 10, 11 and 12 when we were reunited at the same school again.

After we graduated, we lost touch a little bit, but never for long. We definitely went our separate ways and did different things and I think we might have gone a couple of years without being in touch, but you can't kept true friends away from each other. Last summer I had the privilege of going to Lee's wedding. It was such an honour to be there. This was a picture of us from last month when we went out for supper, had some great laughs, looked through old High School pictures (and of course had more laughs about that) and just generally chatted about our hopes and dreams. Honestly. That may sound corny, but we did. Lee's got 2 beautiful little girls now and it's wonderful to see her as a wife and mother. We also talked about our shared love of Sixteen Candles (we can recite almost the whole movie), Ricky Gervais (have you seen the new show An Idiot Abroad? HILARIOUS!) and Hoarders (gross, but you can't look away!). I love you, Lee, Lee the Dancing Bee!

The 3rd person I know who has a b.day today is my friend, Colleen. I put Colleen 3rd because, like me, she's got this weird thing about the number 3. Neither of us can explain it. It just makes us happy to know that there's someone out there who gets it. So, there's that that makes us great friends, but Colleen's also one of the nicest people I know. We became friends because I was friends with her brother and slowly over time, I started hanging out more with her than I did with him. I don't think I know anyone who doesn't like her when they meet her.

When I was living in the States, Colleen was one of the people who would write me letters (remember those days when we actually still put pen to paper?) and send me little things in the mail to make me feel not so far from home. She's one of those people who does those extra little things to let you know that you're special to her. I am blessed to call you my friend, Colleen.

Happy birthday to you all! I hope you all have a WONDERFUL day because you all deserve it!

Thank You for making me average

I was going to call this post, "Thank You for making me normal" but then the opposite is abnormal and I don't like that word. Here's what I mean.

The other day I was watching TV and I came across a show where a guy had a 12 pound tumor on his face. It was awful. I felt so bad for him. Luckily the show was about an amazing doctor in Chicago that said he would remove the tumor for him. When this man would walk down the street, people would stare at him. After the surgery, he did look a million times better, but people will still stare at him. On average, most people don't have 12 pound tumors on their faces.

A couple of weeks ago I saw another show where a 7 year old girl was kept BY HER PARENTS in a dog cage in the basement. Awful. Awful. Who does that to their child? On average, most people didn't grow up with horrible parents.

Then there's the show Hoarders. I realize that this show has opened our eyes to the fact that more people have this problem then we may have thought before the show aired, but on average, most people don't live like that.

I've always been attracted to fame. I used to watch Entertainment Tonight religiously. I used to buy People Magazine as often as possible. One of the things on my Bucket List is to see myself on the big screen. Not as the star. Just walking by in the background in a movie. Or when someone invents something that makes millions or goes from obscurity to fame, I'm honestly happy for them, but there's a twinge of jealousy in me as well. It's not about the money. There's this weird desire in me to be known. I don't know why. It's not one of my finer points, but it's not something that controls my life, either. I don't crave it so much that I'm actively doing anything to BE known. It's just kinda always in the back of my mind like when I hear how Stephenie Meyer has a dream, wakes up and starts writing down this dream and it turns into the Twilight series. My first thought is, "How cool is that for her?!" and my second thought is, "Why couldn't that have happened to me? I love writing and I have TONS of crazy dreams!" I know, it's weird. I don't seek the spotlight, but if it's put on me, I don't shy away from it, either (although I probably should because my face goes ALL SHADES of red! Not because I'm embarrassed, but because attention is drawn to me and I know that people are looking at me and then inevitably, someone will yell out, "Man your face is red!" Thanks for that.).

Anyway, the reason I'm telling you that is because this week after I'd watched those first programs I mentioned, I realized that I'd rather be average than to be known for something horrible that happened to me that was out of my control. I'm happy that God made me who I am. I could've been born with a condition that caused a tumor to grow on my face, but I wasn't. I could've been born to horrible parents, but I wasn't. I could have a mental condition that causes me to be a hoarder, but I wasn't (ok, some of my friends do think I keep WAY too many things, but it's not to THAT extent). On the flip side, I could've been born with the acting ability of Halle Berry, but I wasn't. I could've been born with the creative talent of Vera Wang, but I wasn't. God made me Fiona Borne for a reason.

I just wanted to publicly thank God for making me average. And I'm really ok with that.

Compliment ... followed by a diss ... followed by another diss ... followed by a compliment!

Have you seen this site?

http://urlai.com/Default.aspx

If you type in your blog name, it'll give you an analysis about your blog. Here's what it said about mine a week ago.

Text analysis
bornetotravel.blogspot.com is probably written by a female somewhere between 18-25 years old. (Nice!) The writing style is personal and upset most of the time. (What? Wait a second! Am I upset most of the time?)

Then, a week later, after I've blogged about JB, it said this:

http://urlai.com/url/bornetotravel.blogspot.com

All of a sudden I'm 13 - 17 years old and I'm happy most of the time! Yup, must've been the post about JB. I wonder how it rates your blog so quickly? It must look at most commonly used words or something like that. Oh well. I'm not putting too much stock in it. I thought it was kinda funny.