Ahhhh....Beverly

She's been with me for a long time......through the good times and the bad times, and she's always brought a smile to my face and oftentimes a smile to others around. I occasionally get some strange looks when we're walking down the street together, but I'm sure it's just jealousy. After all, Beverly's no ordinary woman, in fact, she's no woman at all.......she's my umbrella, of course! That's right, I could be one of the few almost 30 yr old straight men out there with a child size umbrella that looks like a Bee! What can I say? I have an attachment to an umbrella.

I bought Beverly in Cape Town, South Africa after not needing an umbrella for almost two months of my travels! I was in Egypt for a month and anything north of South Africa is pretty much dry land during the winter season. So, it wasn't until hitting Cape Town until I saw ran. When it actually started raining, I ducked into a department store along with my friend Zach and Flo and we all came out with little child size umbrellas with different animals. Zach had Phyllis the Frog, Flo had Leslie the Ladybug, and I bought Beverly the Bee. The umbrellas got such a wonderful reaction, that I decided to hang on to Beverly throughout the rest of my trip. She was a great travel companion and was always there when I needed her.

Sure, some people laugh at me for hanging on to her all this time, but when you've been through all that we have, you just can't give up on each other. I made the mistake of trying another, but that didn't work out and Beverly was there to take me back. That's loyalty right there!

Ahhhhh....Beverly! Where would I be without you? Probably soaking wet in the midst of the remnants of Hurricane Faye's as she blows through the DC area.....that's where!

More later.....

Back to work!

So, it's been a week back in the workforce and I can't help but think.......what have I done? I'm sure it's like buyer's remorse but I did have that thought this morning of.....I'm going to be doing this for the next 30 years?! I'll tell you, it's tough to adjust to waking up early every morning to get dressed to go to work. I'm sure I'll fall back into the rhythm of the working life, but for now.....there have been a lot of trips to the Starbucks and the coffee machine!

More later.....

Hi ho, hi ho.....it's off to work I go?

Amazingly enough, after a year and three months, it's time for me to head back to work. Gone are the mid-day naps, matinees, afternoon runs and lounging around at Starbucks to do some reading and writing on a nice day. Gone are the flip-flops and t-shirts. Gone are days of sleeping in because.....hey, what did I have to wake up for?

Am I excited or nervous? Actually, not at all.......I'm ready. It's time for me to get back into the work force and get back into the flow of what most people call a 'normal life.'

More later......