Stock Photos

It is only 9:34 this morning and I feel like I have had the best morning ever. The irony, it was a normal low key morning. Sometimes I crave normalcy, lack of drama, and routine because my life is pretty much a movie--sometimes a drama, sometimes a romantic comedy, sometimes an action movie (well not really but how cool would it be to live in an action movie...as long as there was a good love story weaved in and out)

I digress, so this morning I started my day at 5:45 reading a GREAT email from Sam (aka favorite guy from NZ--thought I would at least give a name...), and met Niki at McConnel for a morning run at 6. Can I just say I LOVE morning runs...there is nothing like a great jog in the morning, especially with a friend. It was so fun to tell Niki the movie that is my life currently. And great to just start off the day feeling healthy!

The best part of mornings for me is how much you can accomplish....I came in from running, got ready, (still smiling from my morning email, by the way), got Raya ready for school, made lunches, made cinnamon toast for the kids, sat down and caught up on blogs (which is always fun!), and then I realized I was pretty hungry from my run. I wanted a bagel, which is my addiction in Redding....but I would have to drive to go get it. Wait, I live in Redding, not LA...this is totally doable. So, just because I could I hopped in my car, listened to a little of my favorite song right now, Viva la Vida, and smiled all the way to Manhattan Bagel (which took me 6 mins to get to!). Why was I smiling? I don't know actually. It is not like my world is in perfect order right now, which is what often makes me smile. It just was one of those morning that made me glad to be alive. Calm, normalcy, everyday activities that I love. I LOVE adventure and crazy movie like experiences, but sometimes I just love the rhythm of not needing anything except to know that I can drive to a bagel shop that reminds me of moments past, or really it just brings me a sense of control because it is familiar. I love familiar. Maybe that is why Redding is such a place of refuge for me. I can sort out my life in a place that is known...a place of routine. It is almost like those stock photo's you can get off the Internet when you need a picture of people, or a sunrises, or a flower. I always wonder who are those people...they have to exist somewhere? They are some one's real friends, a sunrise some where and a flower that someone had to stop and take a picture of...well my life in Redding...that is my stock photos. Everything is always just OKAY in Redding. Even when life is falling apart, life is just okay. When life is great....it is extra great in Redding. When I picture my life in snap shots I picture moments in Redding, I picture people I love who have never been to Redding, in Redding....it is my refuge place I guess.

Today was a stock photo kind of day....now if Sam was taking the pictures of my life there would be perfect lighting and non posed moments that tell the 100's of stories that is my life in Redding. He is an AMAZING photographer. I am pretty sure it pains him to look at my pics...especially because my Americanness comes out in them--HUGE smiles, close up face pictures and posed...kills my Kiwi friends! Too much emotion, too much posed and too much focus on ourselves...love me, love my Americanness :) But since he isn't taking my stock photos quite yet (YAY for Nov....) I will be okay with the photos that my life in Redding produce. Slowed down life, memories on each street I drive, stores that make me smile simply because of the reminiscing that happens when I think of that place with certain friends, places where I struggled through life and conquered huge fears and insecurities, and a feeling that is matched by no other place. I don't think I will ever live full time in Redding, but it will always be the place I come back to for laughs, restoration, sorting my life out, refreshing and a shot in the arm to keep doing life.

Funny how a morning can hold so many thoughts and words, but for me that is why I LOVE mornings. They are the background of my stock photos....because in my head each stock photo of my life is set in the morning...it is the perfect lighting for pictures...I know because I am dating a guy that tells me stuff like that....