The event I have been preparing for over the past several months is finally here.

My Big Grand Canyon Adventure!

Here is a snapshot of what I will be doing while the rest of you go about your day to day lives (suckas!).

Day 1 – Drive 390 miles to North Rim – Stay at a humble lodge and take my last hot water shower for five days.

Day 2 – Backpack 6.8 miles down from the North Rim. Try not to trip over my feet and plummet to my death. Arrive at the Cottonwood Campground. Take Ambien and sleep under the stars.

Day 3 – Backpack 7.4 miles. Try not to die from heat exhaustion or passing pack mule farts. Arrive at the bottom of the Grand Freaking Canyon and stay at the Bright Angel campground by the Colorado River. Take another Ambien and pass out under the stars.

Day 4 – LAYOVER DAY! Smaller day hikes to waterfalls and drinking at the Phantom Ranch. Yes, there is a place that serves booze in the Grand Canyon.

Day 5 – Backpack 4.7 miles, this time uphill. Camp at Indian Gardens campground. See amazing waterfalls!

Day 6 – Wake up at 4am to hike the rest of thef way out of the canyon, 4.6 miles straight up, before the sun makes it nearly unbearable. Emerge on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, celebrate by going to brunch and having a shot of whiskey. Take a 6 hour shuttle ride back to the North Rim. Drive 80 miles to Kanab. Take a much needed/deserved hot hot shower.

Day 7 – Drive 310 miles back to home. Arrive home sore, sunburned, and feeling victorious!

Blogfully yours,

Summer

Grand Canyon 2011, Hiking, Vacations

Welcome to summer school, class. Today we have our favorite substitute, Professor Dean (self-proclaimed dating expert), here to impart his wisdom on remembering only the good, or vice-versa, only the bad of relationships once they have ended.

There is power in editing.

Most great pieces of art, be them film, music or acrylic-on-canvas, require some careful refinement before they become great.

So it is with relationships. Past relationships, that is.

Have you ever looked back nostalgically on what you once thought was a “bad” relationship, only to find yourself wishing for the good times you just can’t get out of your head? That is because our minds–in their remarkable power to mess with us–have a tendency to cut the boring scenes, minimize the bad scenes, and really highlight the best moments.

Just like the trailer for Thor.

Now, if you’re single, this isn’t such a big problem. Sure, it may cause you to get back together with this person until you realize that the sequels are just as bad as the original and that they will never get better (except, of course, in the case of Fast and Furious–I hear they really got it right by #5).

The bigger problem occurs when you start comparing your current relationship with your former relationship: Your current relationship is uncut Reality TV. It includes the mundane moments, the hard times, the unscripted, unedited, live, always-on footage. And, even worse, the Greener Grass Syndrome often can cause your brain to screw up the most recent editing while you have full and complete access to the relationship–making you somehow compound the bad and minimize the good.

Don’t trust it.

Don’t walk out of the movie you’re watching just because the trailer of a different movie looks better than what you’re watching now.

More than likely, you’ll be wishing for a refund.

Summer School

Mother’s Day dinner at my parents house is always interesting. Being the only non-mom at the table never works to my benefit. I help my Dad cook, I do the dishes and when we play cards and my mother tells us that we need to “let a mom win”, I play along.

I’d like to think that being the mom to a bitchy kitty should count for something. Maybe not the same level as being allowed to win at playing cards, but you know, something. I have kept this creature alive for seven years after all. My Dad did try to make me feel like I was part of the lucky “mom group” but it backfired horribly.

Dad – “Happy Mother’s Day. Your cat is lucky to have you.”

Mom – “Yes she is. Nobody else could love that cat. If you died we would never find anyone to adopt her.”

Me – “If I died YOU guys would adopt her.”

Mom, Dad, and sister in unison -”Noooooooo.”

Mom – “She wouldn’t be happy here. She never warms up to anyone. Face it she is pure evil. You just better stay healthy and not die.”

Me – “Um, she would be happier living here than being put down.”

Mom – “Now how do you know that? I’m sure kitty heaven is quite nice. She actually might prefer that to living here.”

Yes, happy Mother’s Day to me indeed. I can’t imagine my parents ever saying that about one of their human grandchildren. Apparently being a cat-mother counts for exactly squat.  But on the bright side, if I die at least I know my cat will soon be coming to keep me company.

Blogfully yours,

Summer

Bitch kitty

In April, I had the pleasure of meeting and touring the state with one of the most amazing women I have ever met, Terrie Hall. I should preface by saying that it was my job as an advertising account executive for our state’s anti-tobacco account, to help recruit her, pay her, and take her around the state to spread the word of the dangers of using tobacco to teenage kids. However, I never, in a million year, expected how much I would grow to absolutely love this woman.

Terrie is a Laryngectomee (you can’t even imagine how long it has taken me to remember the correct way to spell that). Meaning Terrie had to have her voice box removed due to cancer. Cancer caused from smoking.

Terrie now speaks with the aide of a voice prosthesis.

When I met Terrie at the airport for the first time we hugged. After six months of planning it felt like we already knew each other. She had asked me in one of her emails what she should pack. I replied to pack as much as she wanted and we would sort through it together when she got here. When I went to grab her bags I quickly found out that she took me up on my offer.

Not being used to large luggage and having never spent any time with someone who has a physical handicap, I decided that we should just muscle the two 50lb bags, carry on, and laptop bag to the car.

I know. I’m an insensitive jerk, right?

We hadn’t gone more than 20 feet and poor Terrie was out of breath. I can’t even tell you how horribly embarrassed I was. But Terrie, after catching her breath and seeing my look of panic, just smiled at me sweetly and said, “Just another day in the life of a Laryngectomee. Do you think we can get one of those baggage cart things?”

Our first stop after leaving the airport was to pick up my counterpart on the anti-tobacco account, Adam (or Mr. Bramwell as I like to call him). Not being under any tight time constraints to drive to our first destination of Price Utah, we stopped for lunch.

Adam and I had a million questions for Terrie and she told us that we had her permission to ask her anything we wanted. Throughout the next five days I found out Terrie’s life story, one amazing story after another. But it was at that first lunch together that I found out something that would change me forever. Terrie told us she had something she wanted us to know. The doctors found three more areas of cancer in her body and she was going in to find out what the treatment regime was going to be the day after she returned from her trip to Utah.

Terrie is a ten time cancer survivor already. Ten. TEN!

How in the name of all that is right in the world could this woman who I had already fallen in love with in less than an hour, possibly be subjected to more cancer?

I cried.

She told us that she didn’t mention it to us before because she didn’t want us to think she wasn’t well enough to come out here.

Terrie is tough as nails.

Then she told us that it was okay because she was lucky. They caught it early and she has really good doctors and it will probably just be more chemo, but not the really bad type, she normally doesn’t loose her hair, just her eye lashes, sometimes.

She said all of this with a straight face and 100% sincerity. That is the type of person Terrie is. The most amazing optimist that ever existed in the history of the world. Ever.

Outside of touring the state giving presentations to Jr High and High Schools, our secondary purpose for bringing Terrie from her home in North Carolina to Utah was to film her for both an ad campaign and the creation of an educational DVD. I work in advertising as I said, but I am on the planning/strategy/client relations/management of projects side of things. So when my agencies creative director asked me if I would be the one to interview Terrie, it was a huge honor on multiple levels.

When I told Terrie that I would be the one to interview her she was both excited and relieved. I asked her if she wouldn’t mind discussing some of the questions over dinner with a glass (or two) of wine. It was just the two of us and I have to say it was one of my favorite nights. I had my exclusive one on one with a woman who daily continued to blow me away with her strength, personality, ginormous heart, gumption and love. She made me cry, again, and I fell even more in love with her.

And that was just my second night with her.

In the five and a half days Terrie was here she spoke at eleven schools, was featured on every local TV news channel, local newspapers, and was on “Good Things Utah,” one of our early morning talk shows, and in between that she was filmed, photographed, and adored by all. Through it all she never once complained. Never once acted put out or tired. She was a trooper. Her energy kept me going.

At one of the photo shoots I asked the photographer to take a picture of the three of us. I was able to get it printed and framed to give to her as a surprise goodbye gift.

When it came time to say goodbye I was devastated. I’m not going to lie, I was a blubbering fool walking her to the check-point at the airport. I didn’t want my new friend to leave. Work had never been so much fun and I have never been so uplifted by one person. I didn’t know I could form a bond with someone so quickly and I didn’t want our time together to end.

Terrie text me from the plane, from her layover stop, and finally when she got home.

We continue to text daily. She asks me about my dates and rubs it in my face that it is sunny and 80+ degrees in North Carolina while it is still snowing here in Utah. I ask her about her daughters wedding and we laugh together through the distance.

I miss her incredibly but I am so proud of the work we were able to accomplish in her short time here. After every school presentation she gave, dozens of kids would come up to her and to give her a hug or tell her how much her story had impacted them. And now we have a whole campaign and will be able to share her story with even more of the world.

Filming was emotional. It effected all of us, from the camera, lights, sound, make-up and production crew to, of course, our star Terrie. Here is the 30 second television commercial.

Terrie Hall 30 sec TV

Want to see more?

You can view all of  Terrie’s TV commercials on our TRUTH Against Tobacco YouTube channel.

You can view her full presentation from the TRUTH Against Tobacco website.

And you can view the rest of some of my pictures with Terrie from my Flickr account.

One last thing, before taking Terrie to the airport, I HAD to take her to my favorite place – the mountains. She shared so much beauty with me, I felt it was only fair to share some back.

Blogfully yours,

Summer

Lessons Learned, Loved One(s), Story Time