Not about hating soup...

When I think about Mafalda I remember how much she hates soup and she makes this a big part of her life. Well this post is exactly about the opposite of that :) it's about whales and passion and how like Mafalda having her whale, The Beatles and her passion, her hate for soup...I try to live my life.

Not long ago, OK… who am I kidding, one year and four months ago I wrote something that maybe people didn't understand… I wrote about finding my whale and all last year, that's what I did.

2008 was the year that I rediscovered that we all deserve to be happy in life, actually let me rephrase that… we all need to be passionate about something, whatever it is… some people already have it and don't know it. I was happy but not passionate about things around me, somehow passion got off the tracks.

I know what you're thinking, you are suddenly asking yourself, what am I passionate about? if you are not, then do it!!!! and if you can't think of something, then you are dumb... don't worry, so was I...

You already have passion in your life, I can assure you, if you don't believe me, buy me a drink and I'll prove it to you. You might have forgotten or not allowed it to cover you with all it's sweet, gooey, passionate thingy… if you have a family it's probably your wife or kids, maybe it's your dog, or your car, or your job, or your cat, or food, movies, Lost, food, sex, a hobby, sports, vampires, werewolves, American Idol, chocolate… it doesn't matter what it is, but do me a favor, take more than a second to think about it and let it embrace you... if hasn't come to you yet buy me a drink, seriously, it will be easier.

For me 2009 was the year of embracing my passions and what a year it was, it couldn't have been better, it took my thru paths that I would have never imagined. I thought I was going in for something and I ended up living and experiencing so much more in ways I could have never predicted and it came thru paths that I didn't even know existed.

I rediscovered the love I have for my job, yes, it's time consuming, stressful, not many rewards, but you know what? I love it and it has given me so many opportunities in the past 14 years that I give thanks everyday that I'm lucky to have a job that I love, challenges me everyday and allows me to have the life that I have, while I have fun and spend time with great amazing people.

I stopped wondering what it would be like to learn photography and bought a camera, couple of lessons and kicked the journey and while I'm still in baby steps and I have soooooo much to learn, the best wasn't the OMG I can't believe I took this picture moment, but the friendship I developed with Olivier, kinda of my adopted baby brother… I'm sure if he reads this he'll hate the baby brother part, but whatever, he welcomed me into his life and I miss him, but you know what? he's embracing his passion, his wife :) and I'm sure that will take him thru amazing journeys that he can not yet predict.

All my life I wanted to golf, do I golf now? not really, but at least now I know how really bad I am but you know what else I know? it doesn't matter how bad you are you can still play!!! and while I was doing this, I laughed soooo much, in a way it was like laugh therapy, not only me with me, every time I tried to hit the ball I was laughing with myself how bad I was, but also with Lynn, talking about the cute, no ass, great trainer that we had, who gave me one of the two OMG WTF crazy WOW top moments of the year when he gave me his $1,000 golf club just because… or maybe not… I guess I'll have to find that out in 2010 :) or maybe not, I mean, he seriously has no ass… he sits down with his back!

I got two for the price of one, when I took my Mom to France for the first time, France is my adopted country, I call it my second home even though I've technically never lived there and more importantly for the first time I was able to bring my two families together and the love I have for my Mom and the love I have for Eric and Paquita, the trip was everything I ever thought it would be and more, but what I take with me is the memory of my Mom and my godson embracing each other's persona like if they were family and it took less time than what it would have taken me to microwave popcorn and sit down for the show.

I embraced my inner geekness and went on the journey of a life time, I feel sorry for not having the gift of expressing what it meant to me or how it went, but I started a trip scared of what I had just found out, that I had a heart condition and ended up backstage twice at the American Idol concert in the best season ebbeeeer, might I say, while meeting the most generous people I've ever met. They will be part of what my history is and when I tell the story in 50 years, they will be in it, Charlotte, Drew and Megan… My other OMG WTF crazy WOW moment was when Adam Lambert came out to sing, while I was on front row and suddenly being handed a backstage pass, it was seriously EPIC.

I learned that I love wheat beers and I hate HOP, but guess what? my favorite beer is a hoppy, crispy, ginger beer... so basically all beers deserve a chance... you know what else I learned that I'm attracted to creativity, so I was ready to run away with the chef of a gastropub, because of his amazing food, that is until I learned that he was mean and eccentric, so people please... keep me grounded! I think I've found my second head... you know how they say mean think with two... well, it turns out that also women... except that my second is my stomach :)

I listened to my heart, I don't usually go to the Doctor when I don't feel well, but somebody very special died this year, he was in his 30s, just like me and I realized that I needed to take my health more seriously because I need to live long enough to live my middle life crisis and become a cougar, I mean seriously, what can be more fun that being in my 40s with a 20 something boy toy being passionate with me :) I can settle for a 30 something if it comes to it.

In a way, he saved my life and gave me the most beautiful gift of all, the full awareness of my last 39 years of life in the best possible way, with love from people that I've met, lived, laughed, cried, ate, loved, smiled in all these years, having spoken with them 5min ago or 20 years ago they all came back into my life like a stampede and gave me so much love and care. Kahlil Gibran, the prophet, once said that in the land of spirits there are only beginnings and never endings and he proved himself right...

During this heart journey that I had I learned by the way, why and how we love with our hearts and not with our livers... and how scary life is when you only have your liver to love with... believe me it's not the same.

A little anecdote? while I was lying in bed in the hospital, after a very critical moment, me throwing up, bleeding and the doctors wondering if I was having a stroke, I gave my phone to one of the Doctors and asked her to call a friend to explain what had happened during the procedure, when I gave her my phone and she got ready to dial, she saw the pic on my phone and in the middle of all this crisis her words were… OMG, you know Adam Lambert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, what's it going to be in 2010? well, if you haven't guessed yet, since I already hinted at it… it's the year that I will embrace my middle life crisis and I plan to have soooooooooooooo much fun with it and of course you should know how…. by being passionate about every single moment of it, no matter what it is.

I don't know if I'll write anything this year, although I do plan on taking a creative writing course, part of my finding my whale experiment along with probably: Renewing my finding my whale experience, sky diving, race car driving, jewelry making, yoga, trip to the middle east, spain, nose piercing, more golf, setting up a couple of websites, have a beach vacation, lose some weight, not all of course, after all I have worked too many years in building the body that I have, don't want to throw all those years away… although if I have to keep up with my twenty something boy toy I might have to do the sacrifice, I don't know, I'll see how it goes…

So… you might hear from me in 2010 or you might not, we'll see, but I do promise to come back in a year and tell you how my 40s went…