Recollections.
Cheerleading.
I never had any inclination of becoming a cheerleader. Of my siblings, I only know of one who participated in cheerleading. Sibling number five, a sister.
Instead, I played soccer, basketball, softball, track, and other various sports in lesser quantities. I think my choices were good, given that cheerleading is the sport with the highest risk of serious injuries.
It is true. More than 65% of all serious injuries that happen to girls in high school sports happen in cheerleading. And that is despite the fact that only 3% of female high school athletes in the United States participate in cheerleading.
Human pyramids and getting thrown high into the air never seemed like such a good idea to me. But that is just me.
Michigan.
My first trip to Michigan was for softball. It was during the National Little League tournament during some year of my youth. We went there for the Regionals. To Kalamazoo, Michigan. I don’t remember much about the state. Only the softball. I sure didn’t notice any water.
But as it turns out, the state of Michigan has the biggest proportion of water (41.5% of its total area) of any other state in the U.S. We must have been near water while at those ball diamonds because no resident is more than six miles from any body of water. That’s a lot of water.
Money.
We’ve all used it. We’ve all touched it. Some more than others. I ran a cash register for years in downtown Dayton. Not only that, but I also worked as a bartender. So it doesn’t surprise me to find out that the majority of U.S. dollar bills have been found to be tainted with cocaine.
The numbers are high. More than 90% of those tested were found to have cocaine on them. It is most common to find it on five-dollar bills. Probably because five-dollar bills are the most commonly minted currency in the United States.
Wakey. Wakey.
I rise before dawn. Way before. Some people might call it the middle of the night. And I do this by choice.
The question is. When are you at your best?
Around 25% of the American population are considered “larks,” or morning people. That would be me. Most mornings, I get up around 3 a.m. to start my day.
How about the late hours? There, another 25% are considered “night owls,” or people who are most productive in the late evening. This used to be me in my twenties, thirties, and even some forties.
People who fall in the middle — that other 50% — have greater “daytime” flexibility. (To note. The people who came up with the terms “larks” and “night owls” did not assign a bird name to the daytime people. Those 50%. So I am calling them geese. It is typically during the solid day hours when I see the V of geese in the air. So yeah. Geese. The daytime people. There they go.
And.
There we go. The world keeps spinning, and we keep seeing the things around us. I’m always amazed at how much I do not know. And so I keep trying to learn. And never forget. The early bird gets the worm.
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“I am always in quest of being open to what the universe will bring me.“
— Jill Bolte Taylor
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“Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.”
— Stephen Hawking
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“Believe something and the universe is on its way to being changed. Because you’ve changed, by believing. Once you’ve changed, other things start to follow. Isn’t that the way it works?”
— Diane Duane
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Things I’ve noticed, from cocaine to lots of water.
