Natasha Bedingfield @ MindSay

I dedicate this to lauralew .  I love you.  We love you.  Please feel better.

Peace.  A.G.

Sunday I found myself following my traditional-routine-when-there-is-nothing-planned-for-that-day.  Ahh.  Such luxury.

 

I was wrapped in a jacket (experience has taught me the AC in this place is particularly fierce), curled up in a wooden booth, the friendly cashier having startled me out of my inner world to clean away my dish, when this song came on.

 

I happened to be in the middle of this book.

 

It made me giggle. [I would have actually laughed, but I respected the families/couples having their Sunday dinner around me.  Besides, I get enough odd looks as it is].

 

Perhaps it is a sign?

 

But this will be my last traditional-routine-when-there-aren't-any-plans for awhile.  My weekends are gradually being booked.

 

Which reminds me -- my newly married friend and her husband are having a house-warming party the weekend after next.  I am unable to go, but I must ring her up and ask if there's another weekend that will work.  I'm happy for my busy schedule.  It means that I'll be able to enjoy just her instead of also having to be polite to the rest of the family (her sister-in-law and sister-in-law's husband are having their house-warming on the same weekend.  They, in fact, are moving into the same neighborhood.  Five houses down).

 

For the first time in my life (at least that I'm aware of), there are some people who dislike me for just being me.  Even though I'm aware of the cattiness of women, it wasn't until the wedding that I truly understood how catty we can be -- when my friend's mother-in-law and sister-in-law were all sweetness'n'light to my face, yet I just knew they disliked me.

 

Why?  Because my friend chose me instead of the sister to be Maid of Honor.  A sister she'd only met once, I add, whereas we've been good friends for nigh-on a dozen years.  Not to mention that we have a standing joke that if she leaves her new husband, we all know who she'll marry.  Yeah, me.  It's funny, especially when you know us (she's conservative Catholic, I'm peppy Protestant -- not to mention that we're both straight).

 

Then again, I was surprised people didn't assume I was a lesbian (maybe they did?), because apparently the one question a Maid of Honor is asked by random strangers at all wedding festivities (after the introductory "so how do you know the bride?"), is "so are you married/engaged/seeing someone" or various forms of "will you be next down the aisle?"

 

It went beyond annoying after the first dozen times, to highly amusing after the second dozen.  Especially when the next question was typically, "so what do you do?"  It wasn't until the other bridesmaid pointed out the inflection of the last word that it began to amuse.  Especially since the other bridesmaid didn't get the first question, and scared off all others by the second (having recently graduated with a master's in international security).

 

Maybe that's why I've ended up chuckling my way through the aforementioned book, finding there, between the covers, a wonderful description of who I am and how I function.

 

Or not.  Maybe I'm just weird.

 

I did give myself an extra twenty minutes of sleep this morning, plus two hearty cups of tea, in order that I will be alert enough to enjoy tonight's late-night margaritas and taquitos.

 

Yeah, baby.  It's Thursday.

 

 

Oh.  Yeah.  I didn't actually get asked the title question, but we now have a running joke about it, especially since it seemed the mother-of-the-groom believed that every single person "past a certain age" (18, I'm thinking) might be called to the priesthood/nunnery.  Except her daughter, of course -- she wants grandchildren.  But yes, she did ask her son if wasn't sure he wasn't meant to be a priest -- after he told her he was engaged to my friend.  And you wonder why we don't exactly get along?

this is my one of my absolute favorite songs. no matter how many times i hear it on the radio, i never tire of it. the song is called 'Unwritten' by Natasha Beddingfield. she has some other pretty good songs, but this one has just stuck to me. it's not the whole thing, because it repeats a lot, but you get the point of what it's saying.

I am unwritten,
Can't read my mind
I'm undefined
I'm just beginning
The pen's in my hand
Ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

I break tradition
Sometimes my tries
Are outside the lines
We've been conditioned
To not make mistakes
But I can't live that way

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten...

ahhh.... i love it! it's probably not as cool just looking at the words as it is hearing the song. however, i have found that most of the songs i like, i like them because the words mean something to me, not just because of the tune. i like songs that do any of these:
-make me cry
-make me smile
-make me laugh
-have some sort of sentimental value
-stand out, or are different than other songs
-aren't overplayed (except this song)
-have to do with something i've experienced before
but my favorite songs are the ones that i can listen to and feel the exact same way as the singer does and relate to every word of the song at that given time. since a lot of songs have to do with the life of adults and not really teenagers, it's hard to find songs like that. also, since my mood changes frequently, it's pure coinsidence when a song like that comes on. sometime's it's a little scary, but that's what i like about it. i never know what's gonna happen next. so i guess even my own life is "unwritten."

"Unwritten"

 

I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined
I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned

 

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your innovations
Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

 

I break tradition, sometimes my tries, are outside the lines
We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can't live that way

 

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inner visions
Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

 

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

 

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inner visions
Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

 

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten

 

-------------------

 

-- Natasha Bedingfield

I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined
I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Oh, oh, oh

I break tradition, sometimes my tries, are outside the lines
We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can't live that way

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten

Oh, yeah, yeah