Highlander Romance (a fiction)

Today I went to the Highlander Festival in Radford with my parents. We watched some beefy folks compete in some traditional highland games like caber tossing, hammer throwing and chucking a hay bale (they called it a sheaf) over a high pole. There were two stand outs. A giant redheaded man and a ripped brunette chick. We believe that maybe they are married and in love. This is how I imagine their courtship progressed:

"Hey lass, I've never seen anyone toss a caber like ye"
(tosses her hair and looks tough) "Aye, I be the toughest lady-caber tosser in all of America."
"You're a mighty bonnie lass, want ta get a pint down at the pub?"
(keep in mind, these are Americans, they're just feeling the ancestral vibe from all the caber tossing, that's why they're talking this way.)
"If ye can toss that sheaf 20 feet in the air, I'll go with ye."

Let me tell you, he had no problem tossing that sheaf that high.

"Now will you go to the pub with me?"
"Yes, but don't buy me Guinness. I hate Guinness."
"You are the perfect woman!!"
(the highlanders are Scottish, not Irish)

The rest is history. They now travel together, sharing their love and competing in highland sports. Someday they will have very strong babies.

An Amazing Moment

So, I will confess, this week, I watched "Dancing with the Stars" for the first time. Kelly Osbourne, the foul-mouthed daughter of the famed Ozzie had decided that "Dancing" was a way to become more of a lady and make her parents proud. She really did a lovely job performing the foxtrot, but the show-stopping moment (for a softy like me) was seeing her proud parents just looking completely blown away. Her mom was straight up weeping. Precious.

I just had a moment like that. This weekend Joe and a lot of other poor Newhouse students are working a lot and sleeping very little during the annual (thank God it's only once a year!) Fall Workshop. During this Thursday through Sunday stress-fest the students descend on a town near Syracuse and create photo/multimedia/video stories about whatever they can find. They all hole up in a building (in this case a firehouse) and consume large quantities of caffeine and pizza while editing, capturing, (maybe gently weeping in some cases) and basically working their poor little butts off.

As a way to thank the community they descend upon, there is a "Community Slideshow" where the subjects of the stories, the students and whomever else can come and see some of the work that has been done thus far. We arrived a little late (I was tagging along with Joe and some others working on some more touches for their stories), so I didn't see everything. When we snuck in the photos of the various students were going by. Suddenly, the photos went to videos. Joe had the second video. The audience, who up until this point had been, for the most part, silent aside from a few titters, erupted. People were laughing at all the right moments and just having a great time. And then, when his video ended, the entire audience applauded. Right in the middle of the show. It was amazing. The only time the audience applauded that night, aside from after the show ended, was for my husband's video. I am shamelessly bragging. I get to, I'm his wife. I am so incredibly proud of him, I want everyone to know. It was just so satisfying and overwhelming to hear this audible reaction to the way I feel about my amazing, talented Joe.

Now, I know you all probably have a lot of questions for me like, Sara, what's it like to be married to someone famous? I'll just say, I have always known that wherever Joe was (and is) going in his life would be an adventure. I'm just glad I get to be part of it. Even the bits that include me guarding camera equipment at a high school dance. (Dang, some of those dresses were SHORT.) And from what I can tell, there's gonna be some awesome stuff coming down the pipe.

Hello, My name is Sara and I'm addicted to books.

I just logged onto my library account and apparently all the planets have aligned and I've got 5 book requests heading to my tiny branch for me to pick up. I have never had five books to pick up (with the exception of books for papers- that doesn't count). This is giving me flashbacks of when i was a child and my mom used to set a limit on the number of books I could take out from the library. I kept hearing about books that sounded good and so I would put in a request for it and the number climbed quickly. The library people are going to look at me funny! They're going to raise their eyebrows! (Unless it's the one librarian that likes everything I ever check out. He's a nice man). I'm going to have to read voraciously!

At least I'm just checking them out form the library and not buying them all. I'm really trying to limit my book buying so that Joe doesn't have to weep bitter tears when we're packing up and moving boxes and boxes of books. They're quite heavy...

Conundrum

I never know how much to say in blogs. Sometimes I wonder- do I get too personal? Say things that no one wants to know or cares about? I worry that I replace my personal journal with these entries and that is something I hope is not true because I find my old journal entries extremely embarrassing more often than not. I wonder...

Thoughts on family

We recently celebrated our 1 year anniversary in Syracuse. I honestly can't remember which day we arrived in Syracuse. I can, however, remember my mild horror as we drove down the slightly decrepit Midler Ave, past what we now call "the scary house", and thinking to myself "Oh my gosh- could it be worse than L.A.?!?" But that was before I got the first glimpse at our cozy little apartment, met our fantastic landlord/neighbor Rich and discovered I was within walking distance of two used bookstores and the library. It's been a good year.

However, the thing I remember most about this time is how I finally was starting to feel like a part of my new family. It's weird to get married and change your name. I felt confused and a little displaced. Here I was living in a place where no one would ever know me as Sara Zeckoski or, for most of our friends, as someone other than Joe's wife.

Even though I'd been hanging around the Blum family for years I'd never been a Blum myself. But after the long hours on the road with my brother-in-laws, Zac and Tim, and stopping at Grandpa Pete and Grandma Sally's house I was finally feeling like a part of the clan. Uncle John eased my fears about getting a job. Aunt Mary took us for a hike. The Lindstroms even stopped in for breakfast and some mocking of Joe's height. It felt good.

I've never been close to my own extended family- in fact, my best friend's extended family felt more like my own (Hi LeDouxs!). I think my parent's have felt bad about this sometimes but I never thought they should. I love my parents and siblings dearly and that is something I treasure. Not everyone has that and I don't remember ever feeling deprived. But I still do enjoy having all these new people in my life. It's exciting and fun.

Recently, Joe's gradfather Pete Blum passed away and we flew out for the funeral. I didn't really know what to expect but I certainly didn't foresee how much I would treasure the time spent with my in-laws on the home turf (aka Wisconsin. if you know Joe then no explanation is needed). Though it was a sad occasion that brought us all together, Grandpa Pete's life is inspiring and I really loved the time spent getting more in touch with the Blum family.

All this to say, sometimes it still feels weird being married. I still think of myself as Sara Zeckoski a lot of the time. But I'm glad to also belong to the Blum clan.

A few questions.

1. Who are these guys?
2. Is this statement the lyrics to a song or is the bad grammar an accident?

Any and all answers accepted.

PS- This was a guy sitting in front of us at the Ben Folds concert.

I meant for this to be awesome

I intended for this, my first post on my new blog to be amazing. No, incredible. It would be clever and fascinating. It would show how awesome and interesting I am and what an intriguing, enviable life I live. It would astonish every reader and draw a thousand subscribers who would wait in breathless anticipation for every new post so that they might read every unique and fascinating thought that I might deign to produce.

However, this is not working out. Too much pressure. Moments keep passing me by that encompass all of the above. First, I was gong to write a clever observation piece about the crowd at the Ra Ra Riot concert I attended at the Westcott in March. BUT I got distracted and never sat down and did it. Which is a shame because there was a girl dressed like a Newsie, I was hit on for the first time in my married life, four teenagers clustered at my feet because I apparently was giving off a sense of safety and several thrashing young men kept trampling my feet.

After this missed opportunity I thought to write on my birthday. But it was jam-packed with fun and I again did not write.

I thought to post about my friend Stephanie and I attending "Waffles for Opera," a completely random event that married (you guessed it) waffles and opera. As a result, I won free tickets for the opera Steph and I are attending today.

Alas, how things slip away.

On the bright side, the ice is broken! My new blog lives! I shall now post without fear or pressure. Happy days lie ahead my friends.