Life

A few weeks ago we took a little vacation, ok a longer than expected vacation. For me a vacation is getting away for 2 or 3 days but Debbie likes longer vacations which as long as I have a computer handy is fine with me.

We headed up towards the mountains in Sedona Arizona which is really beautiful with trees and mountains and I really like it there. After the 3rd or 4th day I was ready to get back to work. The freedom of a few days off really did wonders for me. I had 25 new ideas of things I wanted to do.

Something I did though really made me think about things. I hiked up to the top of Cathedral Rock. This overweight city boy and any sort of hiking do not go hand and hand to say the least. While it wasn't exactly mountain climbing it was a tough hike that took me over an hour and a half to get to the top. They have a little trail and this was the easiest part.

The views were amazing! Half of the trip I hiked with a wedding photographer from LA who kept wishing he could do a bridal shoot up on top of the mountain. He was out of shape like me so it was a battle to see if we could both make it. The video is a little rough since I tripped over a cactus while filming but you can see the view from both sides really well if you watch the whole thing.

While on the top of the mountain I didn't care about work, all the red-tape paperwork that has come with the flood. I was just able to take some time and do something that was out of my comfort zone.

While hiking the mountain I had a question in the back of my mind the whole time. “How was I going to get down?” Instead of listening to the little voice in my head telling me to stop I kept going. Today I am so glad I did otherwise I would be beating myself up for not going to the top.

Taking the hard road doesn't always work but you never know until you step out of your comfort zone and try something new.

The other day I was riding my bike to the store when I turned the corner and there was a kid standing there with a sign. The sign wasn't well written for me to see as it was in pencil and it was a sunny day. I was on the other side of the street so I couldn't stop without darting into traffic. On my way back I purposely went back on that side of the street to see what the sign said.

As I approached I still couldn't see the sign so I yelled to the kid. “What does your sign say?” He ran towards me like I was the first person to stop and take an interest.

He says “I am selling Crystals!” With that I see a little table set up in the driveway of next house with a few kids sitting around a bunch of rocks. I pull up to the table wondering where these kids parents are since I think they are a little young to be by themselves.

I ask the kid how much and he had them set up in rows of 25 cents, 50 cents or 75 cents, as he is pointing to the “Crystals” which are really rocks from his front yard. I tell him to pick out the prettiest ones because my girlfriend likes “Crystals”.  All of a sudden I have 3 kids picking and choosing the best ones to sell me. They pick out 3 of the 25 cent ones. I whip out a dollar and tell them I will take 4 since they are so helpful.

You would of thought I gave them a million dollars! They all had huge smiles on their face. I could tell I was their first sale and probably their only sale. I tell the kid with the sign that he needs a better one. I almost fell over when he told me “We don't have the resources to go to Staples”.

If you see kids selling rocks or lemonade or whatever give them a little boost. For all we know that kid will be the next president of a rock mine or the president of Staples.

I came home and gave Debbie the rocks and told her the story.  The look on her face was priceless when I came in announcing I bought something for her and took rocks out of my pocket.

Can't tell you how much it means to me that the last tweet that Rexanne did was a retweet of something I posted. This Tweet is exactly a year old today.

Affiliate Summit and Shareasale ThinkTank – vinnyohare.com/affiliate-summ…

— Rexanne Mancini (@Rexanne) May 21, 2012

 

She was such a lovely woman that made everyone around them a better person. I would like to think that she is in a better place laughing that she was mentioned in this post. Although it has been almost a year since we lost Rexanne it is amazing how many times she pops up online. I get a reminder of her almost every two to three weeks or so. One of her email accounts was hacked and it sends email every once in a while. I smile every time I get a spam email from Rexanne. I think it is her way telling me to get off the computer and go out and have fun.

She also makes appearances on Facebook when I go to invite people to like a page or something since she is still in my friends list. She will also pop up on sponsored stories if she had liked a page in the past. Once again it makes me smile. I am sure I am not the only one of her friends that this happens to.

Thanks Rexanne for making me smile more often, Miss you!