Tag: detachment

When Your Best Is Good Enough For You

When Your Best Is Good Enough For You

“The limit does not exist.”

I’m sitting in the last row of a very small community theatre. Actually, it’s a retrofitted abandoned retail space with a very shallow stage and room for about 125 seats. All 125 of these seats are filled once again as the lights go down and the curtain is raised.

Today’s performance? “Mean Girls”, the musical adaptation of the 2004 hit movie. The ensemble is a collection of high school and recent high school grads faithfully bringing the script and songs to life in the cramped space the theatre group calls home.

I’m always inspired watching these kids perform. No fancy stage, no fancy stage props. They show up, always well rehearsed and prepared, and when the curtain rises they become their characters and just give it their all.

I can’t imagine putting yourself in a more vulnerable position, to willingly stand and perform Continue reading “When Your Best Is Good Enough For You” →

The Freedom Of Possibility

The Freedom Of Possibility

It was one of the stupidest decisions I’ve ever made.

Driving home from a late night out in the big city with a few friends. In front of me was a wide open stretch of highway which for some unknown reason inspired me to wonder just how fast my car could actually go. Fueled by a potentially lethal combination of teenage invincibility and alcohol, I pressed the pedal as hard as I could just to see exactly how fast my ’73 Toyota could go.

My experiment was cut short by a rather unsettling noise coming from the rear tires. Apparently the high rate of speed I was traveling at created a great deal of heat causing the retreads on my tires to separate from the tires, which I discovered after stopping to see if I could find where the noise was coming from. I had no idea that was even possible until I held a piece of a tire in my hand. After that experience, I had no intention of ever finding out exactly how fast that car could go.

Things certainly could have easily turned out much differently.

This far more mature and long-sober version of me often ponders a different sort of experiment. What would the outcome be if I pushed myself to my limits. Like, if I gave life all I had to give, Continue reading “The Freedom Of Possibility” →