Finding Fantasies in Daily Realities

You know those cheesy, sappy radio and tv commercials that remind you of how special your Mother is and urge you to buy her something special for Mother's Day?? Yeah, well, I write 'em. I'm the Barry Manilow of jewelry store commercials. "I write the spots that make the whole world change the dial. I write the spots that make your Mom smile. " Ok--I'll take my "Fan-ilow" hat off now. You're probably not acutely aware because the barrage of advertising hasn't started yet, but Mother's Day is just around the corner on May 14th. That sounds like a long way away, but not for me. In my job, I have to write the commercials, get them approved by the client (which is usually where my unabashed creativity is squelched), get them produced by actors and then send them on to the proper radio and tv stations---all by the end of this week.

Bottom Line? I hit the ground running this morning with very little time for socializing and reminiscing about my fantasy trip to Boston and New England. I had some hard and fast deadlines to meet. Of course, I spent the entire morning just catching up on work emails. Granted, most of them were "Good Luck" and "Congrats" salutations from friends and family. Believe me, those were way more important to me than the, "Do you have a mock-up of the 1/4 page June ad?" I was immediately back in work mode...training mode...client mode...business mode. It was as if New England was a fantasy that never happened. I suppose our daily realities and issues make those little escapes all the more special.

I tried to write my Mother's Day radio spots with little luck so far. What can you possibly say that hasn't been said? I tend to go the humorous route. "Are you ONE TOUGH MUTHA? Then you deserve..." My clients tend to like the serious route. "Your Mom is like no other and ABC Jewelry Store is like no other." You get my point. In any event, in an attempt to brainstorm these spots and write with an ounce of true sincerity, I started thinking about people in my life that are going through their own trials and what their fantasies might be....These people deserve some recognition.

Like everyone, I have so many people that are battling their own personal harsh realities. Believe me, going back to work from a long vacation isn't one of them. They should all be so lucky. I have a friend who is days away from giving birth to her first child. I have friends who aren't able to conceive even after going through extensive lengths to do so. A friend's sis-in-law suddenly passed away this weekend leaving three teenage children and currently four people in my close circle of friends and family are battling various cancers at different stages. All of them have a history of good health choices. It simply isn't fair.

In writing about what Mom deserves this Mothers Day, I started thinking about what each of these people deserve. They all deserve their own little fantasy world in whatever form they choose. For some, it would be vacation. For others, it would be a healthy child. Still, others simply want a head full of healthy hair and taste buds back that seem to have been destroyed by chemo.

I hope each of them find the fantasies that they seek. I was inspired today by my friend who is battling cancer. He finds his happiness in the simplest of things these days. Keep in mind, this is Texas afterall... :-)

It’s been an interesting week, beginning with re-qualifying for my concealed handgun license last Saturday. It was very important for me to do this because it allows me to legally carry for another five years. Get it? I have to re-qualify every five years. This was for my life after cancer. I had some doubts regarding the state of my health and its effect on my renewal class, like was I going to be too sick to attend the class. I really didn’t want to miss the renewal timeframe because it would have meant that I would have to take a “new” class all over again. Considering that I took that class when the Texas CHL law was first passed back in the 90’s and the fact that I have re-qualified twice since then made me determined to not miss it because of some silly cancer thing.
Part of any CHL class is the range qualification, which has always made me nervous. It consists of timed drills in which you shoot so many shots from such and such a distance within a certain time frame. I’ve always been intimidated by this. This time though as I was beginning to get anxious about my time on the range I had a thought…”what the hell am I nervous about? I’ve got cancer!” I laughed at myself and then proceeded to shoot in the top half of the class and then passed on my written test with flying colors.


Workout:
Run 1 mile from my house to gym
5.25 miles on the elyptical
Run 1 mile back to the house

Core workout--22lb weight bar, ab workout

Nutrition:
6:15am 1/2 w.w. tortilla with PBJ
9:15am cup of kashi with berries and yogurt
1:00pm chicken, brown rice, veggies
4pm carrots
7:30pm 1/2 w.w. tortilla with chicken, spinach and sundried tomatoes...1 glass of wine...diet dr. pepper...2 crackers

6-7 bottles of water (3 with crystal lite mix)