6 Months to the day...

*I started this post earlier in the week...didn't even realize the "anniversary" was coming up. But six months ago yesterday, I was standing on the wing of an airplane in the Hudson River. They say "all in time." I guess "they" are right.

I can't tell you how many times I've told the story. People always say "I bet your sick of telling this story...but tell me the story." Truth is, I never minded at all - I think because I didn't think there was much of a story there. The event is such a blur, really. I felt worse for my friends and family at home who were watching it, not being able to really KNOW that I was okay. When I got home, after the exhaustion and recovering from a bad, bad cold I filed the whole experience away like I typically do. I put it in a case where I could look at it, but not really touch it or feel it - like it's very own shadowbox. I have a habit of doing that with things that I don't really know how to process. But recently, I have taken the shadow box down off the shelf, opened it up and starting sorting through the contents.

A month or so ago I was at the office, busy with whatever it is that keeps me busy there and I got a call from the NTSB on my cell phone. The girl that was sitting next to me for roughly 4 minutes of what was supposed to be our flight from NYC to Charlotte was looking for me. They asked my permission to give her my contact info. Of course I agreed. I had not talked to one single person from that flight - no crew, no passengers. NO one. I got an email from her about an hour later, asking if she could call me. I had no clue what she would want to talk about...but I told her "of course." We talked for an hour and a half.

She filled me in on all the passengers, all of their reunions, their stories...they had a Yahoo Group online where everyone virtually "gets together" pretty frequently. And then we talked about that day - how she got out of the plane, how I got out of the plane, where we both ended up, etc., etc...etc. And it felt GREAT. We laughed about the minutes before we hit the water, her asking me "Land or water? Land or water? LAND OR WATER?" We shared our stories about calling our husbands. We discussed how our families dealt/are dealing with it. I felt like I had known her forever.

Once I made contact with her and with the group online I learned that a book is being published. "Miracle on the Hudson" will be released in November of this year. The "group" has formed an LLC for such situations...and I joined. I did my interview with one of the writers two weeks ago. And again, told my version of what happened that day. Only - the extended version. Only - it was different. She was pressing me, digging a bit and I was forced to really get my hands messy in the whole experience.

What I learned was, I am REALLY okay with all of it. I mean it when I say that I feel humbled. I had to delve into all of "what have you changed about your life/do you think or feel or believe differently than you did before" questions. And even after reliving every detail, down to how I got out the door of the plane and who gave me socks at the ferry terminal - that is what I am. Humbled. (I'm glad - since it's tattooed on my body now.) Life really has gotten so much easier since I realized that I am not the supreme ruler of the universe. I do NOT have control of every situation. And consequently, the universe is not out to get me. That was not a bad thing that happened to me on January 15, 2009. It was a BEAUTIFUL gift of opportunity. I have learned to let go of a lot of worry and fret and anxiety about why things happen - or don't happen - the way they are supposed to. And I have realized they DO work out like they are supposed to, I just may not have planned them them that way.

In all of the research online about the writers of this book I have found a lot of info and pictures of Flight 1549. And still, after all the processing, the one thing that makes me get weepy and sad...are pictures like this one. The plane in the water. I hate seeing her there, knowing she held up - and held us up - then had such a slow and cold and painful demise. Even as I type it I realize how weird it sounds...then again, I'm the same girl that hugs my shoes.

RIP, big ol' jet airliner. And thank you.

Tell 'Em That it's Human Nature...

With all the buzz about Michael Jackson going on, I'd like to share my thoughts. Agree or disagree - to each his own. But here, I get to speak my mind.

It's sad. Period. His life is sad, his death is sad. He never had a childhood of playing in parks or running through sprinklers or going to junior high dances or getting acne or trying out for the track team and making it or trying out for anything and NOT making it. He didn't learn how to build relationships or chose what he believed in or experience the difficult times that give us all character. Maybe I ignored all the hubbub when he was on trial, but where were all of these people then? Where was Brooke Shields standing up for his character then, where were his peeps? I'm not a huge fan of Al Sharpton, but the point he made to Michael's children was pretty poignant..."There was nothing strange about your daddy, it was strange what your daddy had to deal with." Who else on this planet has been through as much fame, publicity, ridicule, prosecution? No one that I can think of in my lifetime...

WE did that to Michael Jackson. We watched the good and the bad, we talked about it in coffee shops, we either made or entertained jokes about his life...HIS life.

I don't know that much about him. I know I loved the Jackson 5 as a kid. I tried to memorize the dance from Thriller. I cleaned my parents house for my allowance to his music. I believe that he was a generous man. I believe he tried to do good...searching for something that was real to him - and that he tried to recreate the childhood that he missed out on. What is reality to us is NOT reality to our neighbor.

We are curious folk, us humans. RIP MJ.

The Summer of Learning

I took my second spanish lesson tonight. I hope I'm doing this right...seems like it's way too easy for learning a second language. I did have three years of spanish in high school (a long, long time ago) but I only seem to remember bolsa, pescado, escucheme, digame and Pepita (my Spanish class name - which I believe translates to "seed" - that our teach picked out for me). While the escucheme (listen to me) and digame (tell me) seem pretty usable now, bolsa (purse) remains burned in my memory only because my dear friend had her purse stolen in spanish class and kept screaming it to the teacher..."Mi Bolsa! Mi Bolsa!" And pescado...well, you see, "perch" was our little group's word for "chill," or "cool it." If someone was rambling on about something (say, someone who was screaming about her bolsa in spanish class) we would tell them to "perch" (as in a bird perched in a tree - there was a super sweet hand gesture that went along with it simulating a branch, or how one might hold a parakeet on their finger). But everything had to be in spanish for that hour. When we asked our teacher what the word for perch was, she assumed we were talking about the fish. So she told us pescado. It took us three years to figure out that we were telling each other to fish rather than to perch. Needless to say, what remains with me from those three years of spanish is rather limited. Hence...Rosetta Stone.

I also finally learned how to use picnik. My sisters in luv have been using it forever, hence their uber cool photos with fuzzy edges and rounded corners and vintage stirrings. My first project is what you see above...and I'm SOOOO PROUD! To think, I've been struggling through photoshop, etc for a while now - and BLAM. Picnik came along. I have visions of Christmas cards, invitations...PHUN with PHOTOS!

And finally on the learning front - I did NOT take the spinning class as promised, but I did wii Active last night for the first time - and I'm soooooore. Wrongfully sore. I thought I was in better shape than to let some electronic robotron thingymajig whoop up on me - but I was wrong. Biceps - sore. Quads - sore. Abs - sore. Like...I had gone to the gym. Only without the drive across town and on my own schedule. I'm not saying it's a replacement work out, but it will be my new "on call."

Well, the sun is down here so that means it's only about 98 outside - prime time for an evening stroll to get the mail. Sweet dreams, friends.

Hello. I'd Like to Introduce Myself...

Hi. You may not remember me. I've been AWOL for a while. My name is Robin Schoepf...and our life is good.

In a nutshell, here are some things you may or may not know.

1.) Joel and I celebrated our two year anniversary on May 5. He, like the sweetheart that he is, looked up the traditional anniversary gift for numero dos and bought me three cotton blouses. He knows me so well. I'm breaking them out on the cruise!

2.) We are going on a cruise in a couple of weeks. Not a true blue vacation cruise - he has to work. But it's a week away from this insane heat and 7 days with him rather than without.

3.) We moved! There is no more life for us on common street...now it's oak forest. New blog title suggestions welcome.

4.) Joel is gone for 6 weeks (approximately). Don't panic...I get to see him on the cruise and I'm meeting them in Idaho (see Idaho) but this house is going to miss him. (I mean...this household).

5.) Speaking of "numero dos" (ahem...refer to numbero uno) I am doing the Rosetta Stone Spanish Lessons. Well...I've done one (uno). Yesterday (ayer). I learned "manzana," "bebe," "come" and "boligrafo." I have yet to try and use apple, drink, eat and pen in one sentence. I think I would scare some fluent spanish speakers into "duerme" (or would that be duermen??). Needless to say, I have a ways to go.

6.) My sis-in-luv has inspired me to get back to the gym and try a spinning class...um, tomorrow. ;-)

7.) We are officially Godparents. Brayden Weiland DeBruin was born last Monday. He looks just like his Daddy, Bert...only without all the ink. (Yet.) Mom Angela and big sis Taylor are all doing great and we are so honored. Maybe instead of studying spanish, we should be looking up how to be hip and cool Godparents. Cuz we all know he'll be a hip and cool kid!

And quite possibly, the item that may (or may not) have had the greatest influence on our lives since the last blog...

8.) BLUEBELL ICE CREAM HAS A NEW FLAVOR!!! BLACKBERRY COBBLER!!! IT'S DELICIOUS!!! PLEASE TAKE THE CAPS AND EXCLAMATION POINTS SERIOUSLY...IT'S THAT GOOD!!!

That should get us all caught up. I still like long walks on the beach, the smell of fresh cut grass and going barefoot when possible...

...and Bluebell's Blackberry Cobbler Ice Cream.

I think I'll go get some. You should too.

Barefooted.