I’ve now been on the road for 8 days! It seems like a year. I’m starting to see flight attendants that I had earlier in the week and they think I’m a flight attendant that they flew with!
I had a mini melt down today and really started missing my husband and son terribly and also my mom. I was reading the incredible book, “The Secret Lives of Bees” and had a hard time holding back the tears from the book. I finally had to escape to the ladies room after landing to compose myself. I freshened up a bit and felt much better.
The book was such a great read. It was about how women can and do support one another and how the feminine spirit is needed in all of our lives. Women do need women support! I am so fortunate to have many close female friends.
After sunning all day at the pool in Tampa, I landed in freezing Detroit late last night and met up with my good friend Diane Cross, whom I met from the last tour in December. We went out for a late dinner and when my head finally hit the pillow it was about 1am. I was up at 6am so I didn’t get much sleep. I’m sure that’s partly why I was so low on energy today.
The show went well this morning. They had another woman who was doing exactly what I’m doing but she was booked doing Mothers Day gifts. She was an author of 12 or so books which was extremely impressive to me. When I asked her HOW she did that, she replied, “that’s just what I do.” I seem to understand that now that I’ve discovered blogging. I can’t seem to stop. Its like it’s something I was meant to do! It’s a good feeling when you KNOW what you are supposed to do!
I didn’t get to see Tony Trupiano, my old friend from my PR days. He now hosts a 4 hour liberal radio talk show every day and was on the air all morning. We spoke via phone though and I’m hoping to see him next time!
This morning I had a cab driver, Tony, from Poland, drive me around all morning. I have now sent 2 boxes of clothes home so I’m able to shop a little bit more for things that I want along the way. My bags aren’t so heavy anymore! He drove me to get coffee, the drug store and to the airport. The bill was $100 which is so expensive but the time that I’d have to rent a car, return it, fill it with gas and figure out where I was going would COMPLETELY turn me off from a grueling trip like this.
As it is, I feel like I’m living a lot of peoples’ dream, to be doing TV shows all over the US. But when you run into a celebrity on the road and see the incredible treatment that THEY get, you remember that you are just a worker bee on your way up! They get full blown gourmet meals at nearly every stop, limos and 5 star hotels. As a former celebrity agent, I used to set up appearances for many celebrities and I never thought twice about asking for private planes for Charlton Heston, limos for Suzanne Somers, or accommodations on the first floor and also ice cream for Dr. Joyce Brothers. Each celebrity had their own contract rider where their set of requirements were listed. Now that I’m on the road, I completely see how beneficial it is to the performer to be pampered a little bit. It’s grueling to be on the road so much, and anything to make the trip a bit more comfortable is worth it.
I’m now on the plane to Denver and sitting next to a flight attendant, Linda. We had a great chat about life and it felt like a good girlfriend and I were talking. She’s a mom of 7 year old twin girls and travels about 10 days a month as a flight attendant. It is nice to hear how others deal with being away from their kids for so long. Husbands pick up the slack and end up appreciating their wives a lot more for the time that they’re at home.
Tonight or tomorrow I’m getting to see two friends that I hung out with in High school. One is a lawyer in Denver, and the other is an entrepreneur. Both were my good buddies in my junior and senior years in high school. We were always so silly together and I can’t wait to see if we can all be just as ridiculously silly now. A long time has gone by, but I can’t help but feeling like it’ll feel just like yesterday that they were hanging out in my driveway in Winter Park, FL talking about our weekend plans. We had a group of about 15 of us that hung out together. The girls were from the public high school and the guys were from the Catholic high school. I met the guys in my junior year at a Catholic retreat and introduced all of my girlfriends to the guys. From then on, we were a clique and had so many great times. One couple, Todd and Cindy, got married right after college. The rest of us went our separate ways and so it’s going to be great to catch up!
Later: It’s the morning of my Denver appearance. I am sitting in the hotel which is spacious and has a nice sitting area so I’m not having to sit on the desk chair or on the bed. There is no wireless connection so I might head to Starbucks in a bit to check email. I ordered oatmeal for breakfast and am watching CNN.
I had 2 hours in the Chicago airport and enjoyed getting to talk to a wonderful woman Sybil, originally from Jamaica and now lives in the states and is a missionary there. It was wonderful to talk with her and she was a great encourager to me and we promised to stay in touch. She showed me pictures of the darling children in Jamaica and it made me think that one day, Sway, Jeremy and me might do a missionary trip to somewhere exotic to help them.
I spent some good time in the airport calling people and got an offer to MC an event in May back in Charlotte. I called my friend who ran for State Senate and told her that I’d love to MC the event. It’s for a group of Home School Parents. They wanted to know if I had any connection to the home schooling market and I was happy to report – YES! My sister home schooled my niece, my sister in law Karalee home schools all 3 of their kids and my good friend Heather in Charlotte home schools 4 of their 5 kids. I have nothing but good things to say about it, so it’ll be a fun event to work.
(Already wrote about Linda! )
My trip to Denver was short due to a nice nap. I had only had about 4 hours of sleep the night before so I think I recovered by getting about 2 hours on the plane. I also spent some good time talking with Linda, a gorgeous Asian woman who happened to be a flight attendant on my former flight and was now heading home. She and I talked Mommyhood, friendships, and God. I find that nearly everyone has a spiritual life that is alive and well. It seems that the older people get, their spiritual lives become more and more important. I’ve met so many people on the road who are very, very open about how grateful they are to God for their families, living in the US, their many blessings and also rely on Him for help on a daily basis. This has been a really comforting and encouraging to see that others also are relying on their faith in God to get them through. It reminds me of the Jim Carry movie with Morgan Freeman where Jim Carry becomes God for a while. They show all of the hundreds of thousands of prayers that come through on a minute by minute basis. I’ve imagined all of these people that I’m passing in the airport every day, are whispering prayers of thanks, help and survival. I know that I’m one of them, and have recited the Lords prayer about 50 times in addition to my own prayers!
Last night I got to see Matt, my good buddy from High School. It was really fun to catch up. We caught each other up on 20 years apiece! We’ve both had our share of major successes and major disappointments. He’s been happily married to Denise for 20 years, they have 3 great kids and he is a successful partner in a law firm. I was sorry that I didn’t to see Denise but I told Sway this morning that they’d be a fun family to visit if we ever get out to Denver to ski.
Today, Howard, my other friend that lives here from high school is going to swing by the hotel and pick me up to take him to his business so I can meet and go to lunch with he and his wife Susie. Howard was always a good guy and I’m so happy for him too. He’s been happily married for about 20 years too and has 2 teenage boys. Matt told me that Howard and his family are outdoors people so I’m sure they enjoy Colorado and all that it offers.
The conversation of evaluating my life was really rewarding to realize that I’ve accomplished a lot in my life so far. I’m happily married, have a wonderful son, have great relationships with my family and friends and both Sway and I are working on our careers to be able to achieve the balance of freedom and fun that we want. We still have things we want to do, but we are on our way.
Today, I’m seeing Howard and Susie, will work out and then will appear on TV this afternoon between 4-5PM. I don’t leave Denver until nearly 10PM so I will have time to shop a bit or do email or work out.
I’m going to get ready for the day now. I anticipate another wonderful day with friends and a fun appearance in Denver.
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