Welcome and Why

Hello friends!  Yes, I am blogging.  Here I am.  I have wanted to do this for a long time, but just haven't felt a pull as to what I should be blogging about.  So, here I am.

After lots of thought, and consultation with other bloggers (looking at you, KM), I think I finally have found some clarity.  Any of you who know me know that I think a lot, I plan a lot, I look forward a lot.  So that's what this blog is about.  My goals, dreams, plans.

One event tipped me into finally setting this thing into motion.  January 1st was the 5 year anniversary of the death of one of my very good friends.  I went to Savannah; I laid carnations on her grave like I have done many times before.  And this time, for the first time, I smiled while I cried.  And as I drove away, I laughed.  That evening I went to her parents house for a party.  I ate oysters, drank champagne, and watched the way her parents (who I now consider my bonus parents) have embraced their life.  I thought about Jenn.  I thought about the way that she lived.  Living doesn't even seem like enough of a word for this girl.  Delight, flourish, relish, savor.  Those are better words for how she went about her 19 years on earth.

Five years ago, I thought about how I would take that spirit of Jenn's and put it to work in my own life.  I was always a little too guarded, a little too safe.  Spontaneous would be the last word you would use to describe me.   So now, I reflect on how I am doing with that concept.  I give myself a C+.  Average.  I decided it's time to take a more active step to living my life.  I don't just want to live.  I want to delight in it, flourish as a person, relish my experiences, and savor my relationships.  That's what you are going to find chronicled on this blog.

Here's what you will see coming up on These Cherry Streets (sounds like a soap!).  I am working on a list: 30 before 30.  30 large things that I want to accomplish in the next 4 years.  Big dreams and amazing experiences.  I am also going to post on my one word theme for 2011.  It's been two weeks into the new year and this word has already challenged me.  I will share my experiences: funny, ridiculous, failed, and flawed.

So, follow me.  I am counting on you to help me on this trip.


Belt it out in my car song of the week:

Love it will not betray you
Dismay or enslave you, it will set you free
Be more like the man you were made to be
There is a design, an alignment, a cry
Of my heart to see,
The beauty of love as it was made to be
 -"Sigh No More" Mumford & Sons