#3. Give someone a shot

I have some very scary things on my summer list: hold a baby alligator, do a flip on a trampoline, watch The Sound of Music. This one, though, takes the cake.

When I mentioned this idea to my friends and asked for suggestions, most came up with practical things like, "You can ride a horse" or "shoot skeet". Not my friend Amy. Her immediate response was, "You can give me a shot!" This is just the way she thinks. It's sort of why I love her.

Amy struggles with a very real and debilitating disease. And while things are slowly getting better, she is forced to take a lot of medication and give herself injections every day. Except yesterday. Yesterday, I got to do it.

Amy showed up around 5:30, having put off her daily 2:00 injection just for me. She dumped what seemed to be an entire doctor's office on my coffee table (she even has her own waste container!) and told me to hurry the hell up. I really thought I'd have some time to warm up to the situation, but Amy said no, we had to do it immediately. Sometimes she's really pushy. ;)

It was really scary!!! I pretended to be brave, but I was sweating my ass off. Especially since I knew Amy was really nervous too. And I won't lie, she had to hold my hand when I inserted the needle. I just didn't think I could do that part with no help.

But I think I did pretty well - no blood, no eruption of medicine back onto her leg. I slapped a Band-Aid on it, wiped the sweat from my brow, and marked #3 off of my list.

This one might not seem like a big deal. But, it was a tangible reminder of what my friend goes through on a daily basis. I will openly admit that I can be very self-centered, worrying about the minute details of a fairly monotonous daily life, complaining about what I have and wishing for what I don't - and often forget how much other people are struggling. Sometimes you have to see something for yourself, be a part of it, touch it with your own hands, for it to take on its most real meaning. Life is real, it's short, and it's not easy for anyone.

2 days down. All summer to go. Stay tuned.

The Omelette

Ahh, summer. I do love summer. No school, no students, no practices, no (for the most part) commitments. Two and a half months off was a deciding factor in the profession I chose, after all. Life is easy this time of year. I wake up when I want, go to sleep when I want, take a shower when I want...

Unfortunately, along with the relative ease of summer life and the general lack of structure inevitably comes...boredom.

And what follows boredom?

Laziness. Sloth. Sluggishness. Lethargy. Alcoholism. Weight gain. Self-loathing. (Do the last three happen to other people?)

So here I am, on the second day of summer vacation, face to face with another day, another 16 hours stretching out before me like a canvas begging to be painted. Please, Amanda, don't leave me blank again today.

And then came the decision that will, hopefully, change my life.

I decided to make an omelette.

I've never made an omelette before. Successfully, at least. I tried once a few years ago but attempted the fold too quickly and it all fell to shit, and I gave up on all things domestic for a while.

But this omelette...this omelette was different. It was made of egg whites. It was accompanied by an e-how article with pithy instructions so that I didn't eff it all up. I was patient. I followed directions. And in the end, it turned out beautifully. It folded. It was cooked through. And as I sat at my breakfast table and admired it, the proverbial light bulb was illuminated and two hours later, here I am, writing this blog.

So everyone has a "Bucket List", 100 things they want to do before they die, etc. I am no exception; there are a million things I still have left to do before the big day comes.

However, those things take time and money. And while I certainly plan to drive a Volvo through the Italian countryside and drink Guinness in Ireland someday, I'm not quite financially able to do that yet. But what I am able to do is think of all the simple things I've never done that don't necessarily cost money, and don't take a lot of time, but are still valuable and inspirational.

So, thanks to three egg whites, a frying pan and a spatula, I have a new and brilliant plan. Every day this summer, I will pick something simple I've never done (ex: rollerblade, watch Casablanca, make a cake from scratch), complete it, and check it off my list. And I plan to blog about each item on the list.

I'm still in the process of coming up with items for the list. I'm about 1/3 of the way through, thanks to some great friends and their creative little brains.

So what do I hope to gain from all this?

1.) Well, first of all, I'm two days into summer and bored as hell. So my practical side tells me that by having a plan, maybe I will gain structure and not weight.

2.) I haven't done a whole lot in my life. I was very shy as a kid and self-conscious, so there are a lot of things I could have done by now and just never did because I didn't like to fail in front of others. So, yeah, while I've traveled to a few fancy places, there are a lot of simple things that other people have done that I just never have. So I hope to gain some pride, I guess you could say.

3.) As I compile my list, I notice that most of these items either require someone else's help, or will be better shared with another person. So not only will I feel proud, and accomplished, and powerful, I hope that, most importantly, I will gain some new, fun, and special memories with those I love the most.

Day 1 down. Here's to: following through, new ideas, being brave, putting yourself out there, and of course, a very special egg-white omelette.