Exciting Things?

Josh asked me today what's the most exciting thing I've ever done in my life. I had to think about it. I've done some fun things. I've gone places I've loved. But exciting? Hmmmm....

I told him giving birth was a pretty exciting experience. I'd have to say that is the most exciting experience a person can have. When my first child was born, they held him up for me to see and the first thing I thought was "Oh my God, it's a baby!" As if I hadn't known that before he emerged. But somehow it wasn't real, that this was going to be a brand spanking new human being.

But other than that, which billions of women before me have done, I can't think of anything really exciting that I've done. It was exciting to talk to Rush Limbaugh one time when I called his show. It was exciting when I ran into Joey Porter at the mall at the moment I was buying his jersey for my nephew, and he was kind enough to sign it for me. It was exciting flying to Europe alone after college. It was exciting to see Switzerland. It's sort of exciting to ride a roller coaster. It was kind of exciting to go parasailing.

But none of these sounds exciting when I think about it. What would be exciting, really? To go bungy jumping, or better yet, to jump out of plane? I'm not going to do either of those things. For something to be exciting does it have to be dangerous?

I think it would be exciting to have my book published. That of course is my goal. I don't want the kind of excitement that brings fear. I want the kind of excitement that brings joy.

So I guess I've had four exciting thrilling experiences. The births of my four sons. Welcoming these new little people into my life. Having my life exponentially improve with the arrival of each. That's a hard concept to explain to Josh, who's only 11.