Find A Passion

So as I'm lying here in bed staring at the ceiling, I notice a present that I got from my aunt and uncle for Christmas.  It is a decorative piece that has a bunch of inspirational sayings on it.  The first one is find a passion.  As I, for lack of a better word, ponder that saying, my eyes keep wandering around my room. I realize that when I unpacked my room from being in Florida, I created a reflection of the person I have become.  My passions clearly surround me.

When I went to Florida, I went with a broken heart, a craving for adventure, and the desire to meet new people and experience new things.  I went with a feeling of excitement that this was going to be an adventure. That is exactly what I got.  That broken heart healed itself almost immediately.  My adventure was living in a completely different place from where I grew up, having to get around with public transportation. I met many, many knew people.  Most of those people I will probably never see again.  But that doesn't bother me.  Not all the people you meet in life are supposed to stay there forever.  Some are meant to be in your life for a short time to teach you something.  I met one person who I hope will stay in my life forever.  I also experienced new things.  I went to Disney World for the first time ever!!!!  That in itself was a dream come true.  And while I was there I got to experience almost everything that Disney World had to offer.  One of the greatest things I got to experience was making "magical moments" for people there on vacation.  I could spread the joy of Disney, call little girls 'princess', and little boys 'pirate', get paid for it and not seem like a weirdo while doing it.  Although my time there was amazing, I couldn't live there doing the same thing.  That was an experience to have and to be learned from.  I'm glad it's over.  But not because I didn't enjoy it, but because now I can live the life I now want to have.  While I was there I became a different person.  I came home with a heart full of love and hope, a desire to follow my dreams and go to culinary school.  I now have the piece of mind of knowing that I am who I am, I'm crazy and passionate and loving.  And I'm proud of that.  I have an amazing family who will support me in anything I decide to do.  Even if it's something as crazy as moving across the country to go to culinary school.

But I digress, my passions....

When you look around my room you will see a bookcase filled with books from harry potter, to dean koontz, to john grisham, to cookbooks of every shape and size.  I love books.  Always have, always will.  I love the feel of a book, the connection you can have to a character, the inspiration you can pull from almost any book, the possibilities a new book holds to transport you to another time, place, or dimension.  Most of all, I love the awe I get after reading a fantastic book.  And those that I have to sit and think about for hours after reading them? Those are my favorites. I recently found a used bookstore in Monterey that had floor to ceiling shallow bookcases.  I could have just stared at all of those books for hours.  Never pulling any of them off the shelf, just staring.

Another thing you will find are tons of mugs and teacups lining shelves and covering the top of my bookcase.  This passion came from my mother who also collects mugs.  They are mostly disney mugs but some are not.  There's the square one with superman on it from Magic Kingdom where I faced my fears and went on the superman.  Straight up and back down haha.  I have an old-fashioned McDonald's mug from when I worked there.  I have 2 from Hawaii, one with a luau dancer on it and the other that proudly claims it's from Kimo's a restaurant I ate at while vacationing there with my family.   I have one that says supercalifragilisticexpealidocious on it from when I went to go see Mary Poppins on stage with my mom.  I have lots more but there is no need to bore you with all of them, haha.

There are so many other things to see in my room that will give you some insight in to who I am.  The pictures I have up (one of me and my mom when I was little and one of me, my mom and my grandma at disneyland), my many cookbooks displayed for all to see (I collect them), and most important, all of my disney stuff.  I know what my passions are and I couldn't be happier with them.  Most importantly, I think, this is just one room.  Think of how much more I can experience in my life, how many more restaurants I can eat at, how many countries I can visit, and, one day, I'll fill a house with them.  But don't expect me to go running after all those experiences.  If there's one thing I learned, life just happens.  Memories are created on their own.  So for now, I'm going to enjoy the sweetness of doing nothing.

Il dolce far niente.