Come Together, Right Now

(Family Photo 1994)

Yesterday during lunch I took out my phone to see several texts and messages awaiting me (which NEVER happens, I'm just NOT a phone person)

dad's been in an accident....

hospital....

broken back....

paralyzed.....

Wow. How do you go on after that? How is it that everything can change in a second? Life is powerful. When I left my class to my awesome principal (who took over in a matter of seconds) and rushed to the hospital, shaking, trying to tell myself that everything would be alright..I just thought of my family. I thought of what this would do to my family. We only recently lost my favorite Uncle, a man who has been in my life almost as much as my father has. My dad is now his age. My dad's health isn't that great. What could my family handle?

I rushed into the ER and saw it full of all my loved ones. My nieces and nephews looking scared, my sister April coming to hug me. Audra and her small daughter in her arms. Brooke just recovering from surgery. David with tears in his eyes. LOVE.


SO MUCH LOVE.

(D'Arcy, David, and April...Christmas 1996)

Everything IS alright. The doctors, who told us to prepare for the worst and wouldn't give us details, finally let us know. Bruises and broken ribs. Swelling and tenderness, but spinal cord in tact. He will be alright. My brother-in-law gave my father a priesthood blessing, and it was amazing. And it softened me a bit ( I said a bit!). Once the good news was given, it was like we couldn't leave each other. We just wanted to sit, no where to go, just sit by my father's side and have us all be together.

Now, my family has had it's struggles. A LOT of struggles. It's had problems. It still does. I was wondering if my brother would even come to the hospital because he usually doesn't put family first. But, he was the first one there. All five of us kids got to my mother and father's side within the hour. That's pretty amazing. I wish I could take the time to tell you how beautiful a sight it was. I wish I could let you know the struggles that my family has faced. The heartaches, the fights, the distance, the addictions, the hurt feelings, the misunderstandings, the battles against depression. Often it is as if all five of us children came from different countries and we all speak our own language that none of the others can ever understand. But it is nice to know that in a crisis...we all speak the language of love.

All of us stayed at my parents house last night, late into the evening. Eating dinner together and helping clean house. I found an old photo album from 1996. I was starting my second year of college and found so many fun photos that I scanned a few to put up here. I am STILL in touch with all of these girls. Jenn, Stacey, Emily, Holly.....these memories are for you! They were another family for me for many years.

Lest you doubt my past claims about being the apartment freak at 6 feet tall and the only blonde...here's a photo to prove it. ALL of these girls got engaged or married within two years of this photo. It almost looks like a set of quintuplets and me (right Jenn?) That's Jenn in the plaid skirt.

Yep, Holly and I REALLY did reenact scenes from Jane Austen. This is a scene we would do where I was Emma and Holly was Harriet. It was just an excuse to do my hair big and speak in a British accent...and drink tea. Yep, my cheeks are that red and always will be. It's my curse.

The best girlfriends a girl could have, still are.

So go out, give you family or friends a call. Tell someone you love them. Remember how blessed you are. Look into the eyes of the person next to you and really see them. Slow down. Breath. Live. Dream. Hope. 

New York State of Mind

Sweat. Lots of Sweat.

Stairs. Lots of Stairs.

Sore Muscles.

Laughter. Lots of Laughter.

ABBA. Lots of ABBA.

Agua. Lots of Agua.

This week I spent mostly in Harlem moving Chelle from one walk-up apartment in Harlem to another. In the middle of July. Without much air conditioning. In the middle of July. This might seem like one of the most horrific forms of torture ever put upon a person....but it was actually one of the best weeks I have had all summer. I don't know how to put it all in words, so I will put it in little snippets that stood out in my mind setting this trip apart from the others!


1. On Wednesday Michelle and I saw two Broadway shows. I witnessed history seeing the newly Tony awarded actress, Patti LuPone, sing her heart out in Gypsy (pictured above). Later that night, Miss Flight Attendant herself and I went to see the new play Boeing-Boeing (with the delightful Christine Baranski most recently from Mamma Mia!)



2. No trip is complete without a stop at Magnolia Bakery for the best cupcakes in the WORLD! I am NOT kidding you folks! Michelle and I wandered over to the Sex and the City hot spot that is Carrie Bradshaw's front porch in the series. It's always beautiful to walk along the brownstones of Perry Street in the West Village....perhaps one of my favorite spots in all the city.

3. The very sweet middle aged woman who stopped me on the street and asked if I would sign her petition.
"Well, what's it for?" I inquired.
"It's a petition for equal rights for Vampires."
"Really? Are you a Vampire? Are you being treated unfairly?"
"Yes. Yes."
"What right's don't you have that I enjoy?" (You know me, I don't like inequality for anyone, I just didn't know there were older women out there who believe they are Vampires AND being unfairly treated for it. So, I googled it, and sure enough, there is an Amendment being pushed by the Vampires (who might really just be suffering from Tuberculosis? The symptoms are very similar, the night sweats, the pasty pale skin...etc.)

4. The young Jewish man who stopped me on the streets of Harlem to ask:
"Are you a Jew?" (um, you guys have seen me right, I look like I just got off the boat from Bavaria!)
"Um, no. But for the right man I'd convert."

5. The other man in Times Square who asked me, "What part of Germany are you from?" (Seriously, a lot of random men asked me a lot of random things on this trip.) I mean, I wasn't wearing the traditional fanny pack and sneakers that set so many Americans apart, but neither was I holding a bratwurst and beer stein in my hand....What ever happened to traditional pick up lines?

6. The evangelist who pointed to the only white girl on the streets of Harlem and yelled, "You there, White Girl, you are a RACIST!!!!!!"

7. Taking in the view from a quiet seat that I discovered years ago and people watching in Union Square Park

8. My quarterly trip to Sephora...which I fully believe is a bit of heaven on earth.


9. Laughing, shopping, singing to Mamma Mia soundtrack, driving through Jersey City, going to a late showing of Batman at the Harlem Movie theater, eating Vegan dumplings, and a million other fun moments I had with my friend Michelle!

10. Hopping on the subway at the same time as a Mariachi band heading for work and having them seriously come and stand around me and serenade me with a song. My face went bright red, but it was one of the most adorable moments of my life.


My life is simply magical.

A Decade Ago

OK, forget the bad perm (I never permed again!!), forget the ugly, ill-fitting jeans, forget the extra twenty-five pounds (alright, it was probably thirty!) I packed on while living there, forget those terrible white tennis shoes I had to buy on the air base in Ramstein, Germany....forget the fact that I NEVER wore make-up or did my hair much and let's just take a look at where I was a decade ago.

Do you have that one place in the world that no matter where you go or what you see, you just never tire of returning there? For me that place, as cliche as it may sound, is Paris. I don't know if I can explain in words just what the City of Lights means for me. I think it holds a lot of childhood dreams, it's the place of romance, it's the place of possibilities.

Ten years ago I boarded my first plane, yes my very first plane, and I flew to Paris. I was moving there. I was going to live there, I was going to speak the language, I was going to get out of Utah, I was going to explore every nook and cranny of Europe and I was going to do it for a whole year.

I left everything behind...three days after my 20th birthday, I just packed a bag and moved. My parents had never had a kid like me, they weren't sure what to do, but they trusted me and they let me leave the nest and fly....and from that one year, from that one year of making my big dream come true, I knew that no matter what I put my mind to, I could make it happen.

For me Paris was the catalyst to everything great I have since accomplished in my life.

So, I took out the old photo album, all weathered and worn and thought I would give you guys a little peak....

Again, sorry about the jeans, they really are bad! Also, the photos tend to be a bit fuzzy, if you click on them to enlarge a bit, they are better.

The Musee Rodin was one of my most favorite places to go and...well, you guessed it: think.
My best friend Holly came to spend the June month with me, this is us, almost exactly ten years ago to the date. We are over by St. Eustache (near Chatelet les Halles, for those of you who know the city). She now has been married for 9 years and has her fifth child on the way! What a decade can bring...
My first day in Italy, I had heard rumor that these little fountains along the road were safe to drink from, so I did. Right to my left was the place where Caesar was murdered...oh Brutus!!
This is the group of au pairs, Anna and Amber along with the sister of the family I nannied for. We stayed with her in Ramstein. Here we are eating fresh apple strudel after visiting the schloss at Heidelberg.
Anna and myself, along with our major crush, Tim. He was from Italy, his family owned olive groves in Pisa, he spoke fluent Italian, French, English and bits and pieces of other languages. Plus he was a fashionable 28 years old, a grown man to all of us then. He used to hang out with us quite often, I think because all four of us completely adored him....he was one of my very first major crushes! Thank goodness you always got to greet people in France with a kiss on both cheeks.
Holly, myself, Anna, and Amber taking in the view along the Seine. You can see the full 80s Rocker effect of my perm when you compare it to the picture below, which was pre-perm.
Our first midnight ferry to England, you can see the white cliffs of Dover just behind us....well, you can't because it was three o'clock in the morning, but they were there.
Emily and I taking the two boys (Andrew and Zachary) that I nannied to the Chateau Chantilly (as seen in James Bond). Chantilly is also the French word for whip cream, it is very fitting for this frothy, creamy palace. We flew kites quite often and took packed lunches everywhere we went!
How I would usually eat my baguettes! --OK, not really, I put them on a plate and added tomatoes and cheese like a good French girl should. This picture was just for dramatic emphasis on how much I LOVE baguettes!! Those extra pounds were WORTH it.
My forest, the French, they know how to use an apostrophe!!


AND THE BEST NEWS? I GET TO GO BACK IN NOVEMBER. HUZZAH!!!!