No-Phone Zone!

Watching a bit of the Oprah show today, I was amazed at how such an issue has evaded our society until now! I have always been an avid texter and can confess am addicted to my Blackberry. My almost 14-year old daughter, (who should have her cell surgically attached to her hand to make things easier!), can attest to that.

However, when both of my children were pleading with me to put my phone down at times when I was driving them to school or sporting events, fighting traffic and cursing I couldn't get the right symbol I wanted to send to the eager texter on the other end of my Smartphone wonder, I realized something: life is too precious to waste over a smiley face and LOL.

Not that I put the phone down right away. It's been a slow progress. It helps being from British Columbia, Canada, where as of January 1st of 2010 everyone in our Province was not only celebrating the New year and perhaps suffering from a few hangovers, but we were also adjusting to a Hands-Free Zone.

It is now illegal to be texting or talking while driving a vehicle in our province; the fine is hefty and the points a driver can accumulate are not worth it. Who wants to lose their license over a cell phone!!???

So, I too, had my AHA moment watching horrendous video of accidents caused by texting and driving, and just by the mere fact of being 'busted' by the police for such a stupid infraction, have put down the phone. Well not down, but away, in my purse, in the back seat (where my ingenious son now has the ability to rifle through it to find gum!)

I hope you all join the pledge, not only for Oprah,(because, really, does she need another big birthday wish?) but for ourselves and for everyone out there who are at the mercy of our driving!

Starting from scratch

Perhaps it is a tired cliche` for my life, some exhausted metaphor, but losing the log-information to my old, abandoned blog tells the tale. Why would I bother looking it anyway? I haven't touched it in years (has it really been years? Yes!), and wouldn't know what to do or say if I found it in the first place. Would I find it sophmoric and unrealistic? Would I be heavily disappointed or almost embarrassed upon reading the words on the page? Who knows. Too late now. So much has happened--and not happened--in the meantime. The sheer abandonment of my old blog tells me I need to shed it all, and start over...from scratch.
Which is exactly what I plan on doing. Once I get over it. The 'scratch' part that is. Who knew it would be so hard to be almost 35 years-old and looking at Square One again? This isn't the first time (and probably won't be the last), however I stare at it with frightened,child-like wonder, thinking to myself: "Where did I go wrong that I'm back at Square One again?" Honestly, it's not that people go wrong. Really, it's shedding the past mistakes and misdemenours of our lives and just going full-speed ahead with new ideas, new theories, and a new attitude.
So why does starting from scratch feel so daunting? Desperate, even?
Who knows, but that's where I am again. And maybe, this time, I will be a bit more dedicated, and dare I say, loyal to this blog.