Each morning, sipping my coffee, gazing out my window at the river in front of my house, I tell myself to live in the present. It is a calming thought, one of hope, regeneration, and eternal positivism. And I do stay in the zen-like present, at least for that particular moment.

Then it's back to Hello Crazy as soon as I recognize, confront, and subdue all those demons (packing lunches, preparing breakfasts,getting dressed, showing up at work, getting my daughter up and ready for school in a relatively good mood), before I even pour my second cup. Do you ever feel like that?

I'm one of those people whose agenda is pretty full, and it's my own damned fault, so I've decided to love -and live- life to the fullest. Since signing on with OKC, I've changed my self-summary about 3 times, but I'm a woman and that's my prerogative.

Basically, I'm juggling a career (20 years) a daughter (7) and an older house (160) and doing a decidedly great job at all. I also am a runner, I host Fresh Air Fund kids in the summer, I go to the Metropolitan Opera, I have my hunting license (see below for disclaimer), I've owned 2 motorcycles, I'm a voracious reader, learning piano, played trombone in 4th grade, had dinner at the White House, traveled extensively to Russia, Siberia, Europe, South America, the Caribbean, and all over the US. I love meeting people and learning how they got to be where they are. I covet Terri Gross's job.

I'm fiercely independent and capable, but that doesn't mean I don't crave compansionship and pampering once in a while.

Thinking about retirement in a few years...as a chance to head up a second career or a move. Each year, I try to add new things into my life when I know I can fit them in without feeling like I'm just doing them to do it. I am sort of a "been there done that" person; I just like to experience all I can.

Spontaneity, expediency, and efficiency. Hosting a dinner party at the last minute. Classroom teaching. Raising a self-confident daughter. Putting positive spins on negatives.

I can always juggle several conversations with a group of people, I am quick, and I'm tall: Older (or shorter) folks regularly ask me to reach things at the grocery store. I have an uncanny knack for getting to the Six Degrees of Separation thing with new acquaintances. I'm a news reader (NYT, NYer) and listener (NPR and QXR). My bedside table is a MESS.

NB: As a female, I reserve the right to deny ever saying I held these items as favorites at any point in my life!
Books: Favorite book: Catcher in the Rye. Anne Lamott, David Sedaris, Joan Didion, Dickens, all poetry. I can't list all my favorite authors because I have so many.
Movies: High Fidelity, Annie Hall, Spellbound
Music: Desert Island Disks: Stones Some Girls, Clash London Calling, CSNY Deja Vu, Paul Simon's There Goes Rhymin' Simon. I have so many other favorite bands I can't list them all here. I also like classical and most jazz.
Food: I like a Honey Crisp apple best. Really!

Running and exercise
My passport
My daughter's presence
Laughter
Eclectic musical & literary offerings
____________ your name goes here

What people think of me. How do I come across? Am I sincere?
Am I a good mom? And will I ever find someone to come to?

Exhausted. Or, summoning up some energy, I might be hosting pot luck dinner with my daughter, her friends, and other moms. My playroom, my wine, my salad, their pizza, their appetizers. If it's an "alternate weekend" I might be in the city or out with friends. Maybe I'm watching Portlandia. Maybe I'm in bed reading. Maybe folding laundry.

I have a feeling when I went public with my answer about guns, I put off a lot of people. The truth is, I was given a rifle by my now-exhusband around 10 years ago. We went target shooting, and I was good, and I enjoyed it, and I was very responsible and wanted to get good at it (I do this a lot - try something, succeed at my first try, and strive to improve).

Fast forward about 5 years: My ex had a gun safe, and he took the rifle upon our divorce, and I haven't seen it or missed it since. NB: the rifle had nothing to do with our decision to separate.

Honest!

...you, too, seek someone not so much to go out with, but someone to come home to.

...you dare!

jk to that last one, as my daughter would say