I love you!!!!

I've decided that I love you.  I love you for reading this sentence.  I love you for reading this one as well.  I love mountain dew, lasagna, Blue Moon, my blackberry, windy summer nights, horror films, The Breakfast Club, The Royal Tenenbaums and the Clash.  I also love long car rides, slow cashiers, slow drivers, the waitress that forgot my mayonnaise and the way that my shirt wrinkles after I've ironed it for 20 minutes.  I've hated these things in the past but today I'm grateful that they are in my life and that I'm alive to have them happen. 

Within the last 24 hours, I found out there were two shootings in my hometown that took the lives of people I once knew.  Then in a separate instance, a childhood friend of mine was shot and is in I.C.U.  Now if you've read any of the previous blogs, I thank you immensely.  If you read them and took something from them, you'll realize I like to paint things with a humorous brush and don't wax poetic on things that are too political, too religious or too serious.   The point of writing blogs for me is to shed light on the silly things that cross my mind.   This whole ordeal crossed my mind and has stayed and isn't going anywhere anytime soon.  Aside from the sorrow I feel for the friends and families of the affected, I gained perspective on my own life and realized what we all should.  Life is short and certainly not guaranteed. 

So today I decided to really take a hard look at what's important in my life and who matters the most.  I found it to be a long list which I'm grateful for.  And it's a good thing.  I have a lot to be thankful for and have some lifelong friends that have dealt with my silliness for years.  My family is the best.  No contest.  I'm alive, breathing and walking.  I even have gas in my tank and also in my butt.  (Sorry..had to throw that in there).  So I implore you to look at your life and be thankful for all you have.  I also think we should not want what we don't have but rather want what we already have. 

No matter how piss poor you think your life is, someone out there would gladly trade theirs.   If any of this comes across as wishy washy or cliche, I offer no apologies.  Writing with no regrets today feels damn good and isn't that what life is all about?  Feeling good about what you do and what you have?  If not, get your head out of your ass and look around.  The world waits for no one and time flies by.  As Stephen Stills once sang, "Love the ones you're with".   Gotta go.  Just saw the cleaning lady.  She needs a hug.