Living your dreams...ticking things off your list!

It's been nearly a month since I last blogged, not that nothing has been happening rather quite the opposite, so much that I don't quite know where to start, begin or relate.  Since I last wrote I have had contact from a few great friends who shared wonderful news of achieving some wonderful things in their lives and I feel so blessed to have their influence in my life.  Whether it is having the courage to set up an organisation to assist others; publishing in your field of expertise or stepping up to the opportunities presented to you and pursuing it to achieve your dreams, this year has been one for pivotal points in people's lives, including mine.  So many great examples in my life, it is hard not to be inspired...thanks to all the Angela's, Nona's, Susan's, Melissa's and Dorinda's in my life...you ladies rock!

My vantage point view

Anyway, I am still in New York and on my last week of the program...Where has all the time gone???  My days are numbered in the Big Apple and between you and me, I am not sorry.  It has been wonderful, but I am looking forward to returning to my old humdrum life in the burbs.  This old girl has struggled to keep up with the tempo of life here and a bit of normality will be wonderful (if there is such a thing!).


The past weekend I have been able to do some of the big ticks on my list of things to do while in NY.  It has been great!

Snoopy!

BYO Ladder

It started with Thanksgiving and there is no other way to experience Thanksgiving if you are in NY than to attend Macy's Parade.  How mad do you have to be? Mad enough to stand for 3 hours in 5 degrees (c) balancing on a fence outside the Dakota Hotel (the site where John Lennon was shot) so you can get a glimpse of the passing parade and get some photo's of the big balloons.  They estimate about 3.5 million people go to watch the parade.  I figure I was not alone in my madness!  Some, from years of habitual parade attending, have worked out ways to get a good view amongst the mass crowds and this may mean bringing your own ladder, or in extreme cases arriving 3 hours earlier (6 am) and camping out for your favourite spot.  We could tell when a big balloon was heading towards our spot, because of the cheering of the crowd.  It was a great atmosphere and a big tick off my list of things to do.  In the evening a group of us went had Thanksgiving dinner at a Latin restaurant.  Not the traditional turkey and cranberry, but very yummy.  
Continuing in on my weekend of ticking the list, on Friday morning Margaret (my sister) and I embarked on a road trip.  I believed I experienced another type of madness, particularly for someone who normally drives on the opposite side of the road and there had been forecasts of snow.  This whole journey was to puruse the biggest experience on my list of "to do's" while over here. 
Our first real stop in our adventurous weekend was at a place called Scaneateles.  Talk about a postcard stop, the town sits on one a lake of the same name.  As we entered this little township it started snowing and the magic of it all was they were having a Charles Dickens festival focused on "A Christmas Carol" with the characters dressed in period costume wondering the streets.  You could not have planned it better if you had tried.  ( I have been trying to upload some photo's but it is not working!!!)  It was a true winter snow scene and experience.  My  anxiety did increase however, about the possibility of driving in the snow, this ended up being unwarranted despite all the weather forcasts indicating otherwise.  A real blessing!  Waking up the next day the car was blanketed in snow then that was the end of the snow show.  A bit disappointing from one perspective, but ever so grateful from a driving point of view. 
The next day I was able to put the big tick on my list.  
Northwest of NYC is an area called the Finger Lakes district and nestled within the district is a small town called Palmyra.  To those of us who belong to the Mormon faith, Palmyra has a special significance in the history of our church, because it was here we believe Joseph Smith, the first prophet of our church was visited by God and Jesus Christ and received the guidance to eventually establish the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints several years later. (http://www.mormon.org/joseph-smith/ ) Joseph grew up on a farm at Palmyra with his family till he was married.  So for me, it was a spiritual pilgrimage to see and understand the circumstances of these events.  
It was so cold and windy the day I visited the historical sites, I think I was the only one silly enough to brave the weather and ended up with a personlised tour of the Smith farm for my efforts.  The Scared Grove where Joseph prayed was one of the most peaceful places I have been in my life.  As I pondered the circumstances surrounding the events of the restoration of the gospel, I gained a deeper appreciation of those who have sacraficed so much, to enable us today to experience the blessings of the gospel in our lives.  I do not believe Joseph Smith would have endured the persecution and eventual martydom if he did not know for a surety of the things which he experienced.  I too have felt this surety on some level, and their are certain things I cannot deny experiencing the influence of the spirit when I read the scriptures and know of their truthfulness.  Or feeling the influence and guidance of the Heavenly Father in my life.  I don't understand all things, but what I do know, I find great strength and peace in my life.

We had hoped to get up to Niagra Falls over the weekend as well, however the amount of driving we had already done, made too pooped to push on.  It was a wonderful weekend and thankful to my sister for coming with me even though our beliefs are different.  The scariest part of driving over the weekend was returning to New York City and having to navigate through city traffic with yellow cabs driving as wildly as they normally do.  I was happy to hand over the keys back to the rental company.  Amazingly for me, the car did not encounter any mishaps.  My track record for rental cars is horrific, I always seem to have a little bingle not necessarily invloving other cars, but scratching, knocking off a side mirror etc... It was a big sigh of relief  to make it through the weekend unscathed!