OK…so out of my mouth came the declaration: “I’m going to sand and stain my deck this weekend”! What followed was an assault by one skeptic (DINO), who insisted I would botch the job! Now, I do admit I am a tad bit accident prone, and I have never EVER done anything like this before in my storied life. However, what I lack in ability I intend to make up in enthusiasm!

 So, shame on you Dino Tripodis! “Tool Time Shawn”, will silence you skeptics -you’ll see! If not, then at least I am bound to help you make $10,000 on “America’s Funniest Videos”. You’re Welcome!

I know, my day is coming soon enough, but alas another person I know is turning 50 this weekend. I am gearing up for another weekend of tactless gifts and crazy fun. This is not an unfamiliar event for me though. There were two 50th celebrations in April, there is another one in June and another one in July. Each one seems like less of a big deal, so I guess that’s a good thing. Thankfully for now, I still have a few years before I join the club…but I would like to pay tribute to the friends and family who have fallen on the sword for me already.  I am hoping by the time my day arrives they will have their minds on something else. That is if they have minds at all! (They know I’m just kidding!)

“Embarrassing” is the only way to explain what happened to me recently. I scrolled through my contacts on my Blackberry to make a call to what I thought was going to be a close friend. Instead, on the other end of the line was a voice I didn’t recognize…saying “Hi Shawn, what a surprise to hear from you!”. Dumb me! I didn’t carefully check who I had actually dialed. The names of the two women were right next to each other in my contact list, but I dialed the wrong one! 

Now, suddenly I was forced to tap dance and make up a reason I would call a casual, long distance, acquaintance I hadn’t spoken with in over a year. I stammered, and eventually spit out something about thinking about sumer and plans and blah…blah…blah… (it is a blur now to be honest!)!

I’m pretty sure she hung up the phone thinking it was the weirdest phone call she had ever gotten. What a dork I was! I couldn’t bring myself to say I misdialed and just make a graceful exit. Have you had this happen? Or, have you ever sent a text to the wrong people with horrible consequences? It happens all too easily now in our technologically advanced world and is likely to continue. So, go to school on me kids! Check the names carefully before you hit send! I definitely flunked contact list dialing 101!

This weekend is The Komen Race for the Cure in downtown Columbus. Each year, I am amazed at the numbers of people that descend on the city with the focus on walking/running/ and raising money to fight breast cancer. Columbus supports this cause even more so than many of the biggest cities in the United States. Already, preregistration numbers are in excess of 40,000 people with many last minute registrants still expected. That is an incredible number! 

So, with all of the support for the event locally, and the national attention these races bring to the cause, why is it then that we still are losing our sisters, mothers, friends, family members, and yes, even men to this insidious disease? I have two aunts who have battled breast cancer and more friends than I care to count. I am sure you know many people as well.  So, what do we do beyond run to raise awareness and money? How about the simplest of gestures: Everyone say a collective prayer that with all of this positive energy being put behind these races across the country, this will be the year that medical science has a breakthrough. Let’s not race…let’s cure!

High school proms are sanctioned school events, so then it would stand to reason that alcohol use would be frowned upon-even deterred. Why then are some parents and students upset with the notion that creating a prom where dinner is catered and dancing follows is a bad thing? Isn’t limiting the time where alcohol could become a dangerous feature to the evening a good plan?

As I recall from my limited memory, I had one prom experience-dinner and all- under one roof, and we all had a good time.  My son’s school doesn’t do that and I wish they would. Not only because the prom is well over $300 when the night’s tally is adjusted, but also because eliminating the separate dinners would create a less segregated and ultimately safer evening,

I realize change is hard at first, but change for the sake of safety is just smart. The kids will adjust if the parents take the lead. Isn’t that what parents are supposed to be doing anyway?

Do you ever have that surreal feeling when you see your life plating out all around you and you are in the front row watching? I have had many doses of this recently…from watching my daughter become a little young lady, to seeing my son as a young man going off to his first prom. When did time pass? I live like many of you on a treadmill of life; hurry to stay ahead is all I can do sometimes! Then, on the rare occassions that I take a look from the outside-in, I see what is passing me by as I am racing to the finish line. I know I juat need to stop and slow down!

Say what you want about John Lennon’s hippie days, but he wrote amazing lyrics and probably the most profound is the line I need to constantly remind myself of: “Life is what happens to you while your busy making other plans”. I need to slow down the planning, do you?