First thing: Mission accomplished.

Once my mind is set to something, I am relentless. I took to the thought of renting all of the Die Hard movies. Therefore I set out to scour all of the Blockbusters in WNY for Die Hard, Die Harder and Die Hard with a Vengeance. I never thought it would be that difficult to find some old Bruce Willis movies. It gave *me* a headache! Lol. I just really want to see those movies and I eventually found them, in three different locations. I will have to make sure I get them back to the right store. So one of these days soon, I will be sitting down to a Die Hard marathon. Lol.

Although chilly, the cloudless sunny day encouraged continued playtime outside. Layering in long sleeve shirts, sweatshirt and gloves, I took out a months worth of trash, bounced the basketball against the side of the apartment and walked around the neighborhood. The last of the flowers have died, but the grass is still quite visible. I begin to yearn for some snow. I envision cross country skiing and contemplate heading to Lockport Ski Shop to do some pricing (which I did not do today).

Forward to Dana, (e:pyrcedgrrl) giving me a call, wondering where the hell I have been all day. Apparently I was to give her a call so we could go do something; but the slacker I am got sidetracked. Shortly thereafter we headed out; Buffalo being our default destination (food, Spot, Books, etc)

My favorite place to be (and often still is) is my mind and the creative and intelligent imagination that fuels it.

As a child I imagined having the ability to choose any play environment that I desired. In a matter of moments I could go from running like a cheetah through a jungle to playing in a zoo to scaling mountain sides. Or I'd bounce from Youngstown, NY to Greensboro NC to St. Catherines Ont, where various friends and family lived. Often I would take a trip to some other universe or just travel across the seas; finding adventure and solace in being anywhere but where I was at in that moment.

Another neat trick that I imagined and sometimes desperately wished I could do was visit any season at any moment. If it was too hot and muggy, I could walk across the street to build a snowman. And on cold days, after the 5 millionth snowflake fell, I could go for a swim down the street where it was summer.

Tonight felt something like that.

In 24 miles it went from sunshine and greenery to clouds and a lot of white stuff.

It was amazing!!

I felt the excitement grow as sparse snowflakes quickly turned into a cool sparkling release. Sudden lake effect snow is intense and gorgeous, and as I had yet to see any snow, this was extra special and fun. Especially since just a few miles back, everything was relatively green. Eventually, I might just have to make a move to Buffalo!

We tromped through the snow, giggling and looking around in amazement. I am sure we both looked quite flushed as the gentlemen who seated us at India Gate inquired about our evening adventures. They were in awe that we had not seen any snow as of yet.

So now that I have seen the snow, it can go away.

Nah, I like the snow, the cold (but not icy) weather and all that it encourages; things such as renting movies, drinking hot cocoa, snuggling, napping and slowing down a little bit. I even like driving in it, although not long distances on the highway during rush hour. That can be daunting and anxiety provoking, as there are too many opportunities for bad things to happen. Yuck. Other than that, bring on doing donuts in empty parking lots, throwing snowballs, hopping into snow piles, making my own driving lane and other winter activities. Besides skiing, I really want to go on a sleigh ride. I am not sure if anyone offers such a thing, but I think I would really like it. I think about it every year although I never inquire about it. Maybe this year.

And so, as an adult, I still use my imagination quite a bit. That has gotten me into some trouble, gotten me out of it, and more often than not had led to some memorable fun. I allow myself to get excited over relatively simple things and I am thankful for that. Maybe it is the laid back side of me. I can appreciate the ability to make the most out of a situation/ circumstance..both good and not so good. I can't twitch my nose and make things right, but I can do all that is in my power to make things better; and if I can laugh somewhere along the way, even better. 'Cause you can choose to laugh or cry, right? Then there are times when I can't get beyond the immediate situation and I just close up. It is a coping strategy and a means to deflect what I might really want to do such as scream. My train of thought just jumped to yesterday; as my Thanksgiving day was all jacked up. *shrug*. I care yet I don't; no, it is that I do not have the energy to spare on something that is too messy to sort out. I will have to work on figuring out how to deal with the underlying issue(s). I realize family can grow apart, and when you aren't that close to begin with, it can be hard to connect on any level. phfftt! Do I have the strength and know how to get things to a better place? oy, everyone considers me the strong one in the family. But, I think that will have to be the subject of another post.. trying to formulate my thoughts on this leaves me suddenly delirious. Blah.

Off to dreamland I go :)