I'm so excited...

that I just can't take it. So many exciting things, but where to start? We had an incredible Thanksgiving with Mom and Dad. Not too much cooking, but FABULOUS food (yes, Melissa, I may just start on publishing my cookbook of incredible eats), and so many laughs. We watched "The Greatest Game Ever Played" and Dad loved it, just like I thought he might. Mom and Dad got to play Wii bowling with the older kids, while the way older kids (Steve and I) and Billy slept. I made goopy rolls the next morning (ah - dreamy ...), worked with Dad on his super-fabulous memoir we're co-writing, then headed back to Fargo. We missed the horrible accident by Jamestown by about 2 minutes. Everyone in the car prayed for the victims, I breathed deeply for about a minute and wiped away some tears, then kept on our way. I think that was one of the best Thanksgivings ever. A friend sent me an e-mail the other day, and it said, "You go through your life thinking it's all little things, then when you get to the end of your life you realize it was the little things that were the big things," and I think I finally understand that. My family is the most important thing to me in my whole life, and loving them and taking care of them is what I want to do. I wouldn't change a thing.

BUT... I ran into a friend yesterday whose daughter-in-law is a well-published writer who's coming to Fargo for Christmas. She asked what I was working on and I told her about Dad's book of memoir. "Okay," she said, "that's it, then. I'll have her call you when she's here and you two can get together and talk about your work." I don't know, but it feels magical. Just to get to talk to another writer, maybe get some ideas about how to network, or who to contact - it just feels good.

Combine that excitement with the sheer excitement of this whole book project - I've already spent over 200 hours on it, and expect to log another 500, at least. I'm in the middle of transcribing 130 letters Dad wrote Mom during the years of 1942-45 while he was at West Point and she at Wellesley. It's an unbelievable love story, and combined with Dad's narrative, we're weaving together a story of his life, as told through his letters, photos, and other memorabilia. So much richness, creativity, and excitement - I can already see the finished book in my head, and it's just beautiful.

I met with Bill Lucas today to talk about turning my final channel on my latest meditation CD into a mini-movie. The track is called "Just Breathe" and we both seem to have the same vision. His son Tucker is a filmmaker, and hopefully wants to get on board, as well. We're just in talking stages, but again, the eery part is that I see it already done, and it gives me shivers just to think about it. What I want to convey with the piece is to inspire people to believe in the unlimited possibilities of their lives and of themselves. The weirdest part for me? Bill looks just like I envision my Higher Self, Sam, to look like, so of course he'd play Sam in the movie. I'll keep you posted as talks continue...

Anything else? That's probably it, although I probably WILL start thinking about putting together a cookbook of all of THEE bestest recipes in my whole life. So it's a one-shot deal, as I blow it all putting 100% of them into one book, but whenever I think of it, I get really excited. I already typed them and put them into spiral bound notebooks for my kids - it's called "Susie's Yum Yums" but I'd probably tweak that name a little bit. So, it's exciting all over, as I continue to see double my client load, and bask in the glory that is my current life of living EXACTLY as I want to live. It's all a hazy miracle sometimes, it seems. But if it's a dream, I just don't want to ever wake up. But I have the distinct feeling that I'm the butterfly dreaming I'm a woman, not a woman dreaming I'm a butterfly. And so I fly ...