much like the elusive white rhino of south africa, i have had an un-gettable get in my life for the past several years. and by that i mean a local celebrity sighting that has yet to be seen. oh sure... we've all been exercising at town lake and passed jake gyllenhaal a time or two... or bumped into matt mcconaughey downtown and wondered how in the world they make him look so tall in the movies. my friend babs hangs with some friday night lights cast member every other night it seems like. and these have made for great stories, water cooler talk, blahblahblah, but in all my comings and goings and stalkings, i have STILL never seen the one shining star of a lady that has mentored and guided me through my post-college adult life like no other.
i'm very clearly talking about kristin "kiki" armstrong. (keeks for short.)
if you aren't familiar, i encourage you to click on the right side of this page where it says "mile markers" and you can write me a thank you note later. i religiously read her runner's world blog before i could even huff around the block. it focuses on running, yes, but it's also about so much more. i promise you her words have gotten me through dozens of days at dead end jobs... hurt feelings... sheer dread at the thought of putting on running shoes... as well as any kind of thought that has entered my head of life having to be a certain way for it to be fulfilling and full of joy. wow. didn't really think i was going to get this deep with this, but it. is. so. true.
go read her blog. go get her books, devos, anything you can get your hands on. here is an article she wrote for glamour, um, four years ago... weird that i still remember some of it verbatim? let's go with no. and you better believe she was on oprah almost immediately after this article was published. the girl knows what she's talking about. not to mention she has a pretty amazing faith and that was on display this weekend when i...
turned a quick corner and almost flattened her in the starbucks parking lot.
it all happened so fast. petikei and i were in a hurry to get to church (but of course there's always time for venti iced black teas) and the parking lot is so cramped and i was turning wide to get into a tight spot and ERRRRRRRRRK. i slammed on my brakes and waved "ohiamsosorry" at this tiny, toned, precious looking lady, carrying a drink carrier full of beverages to her car as she gave me a somewhat stern look (she probably should've given me the finger, but she didn't and well, that's just the type of person she is!) and walked/glided in front of us and got into her car and handed out the drinks to her kiddies- all dressed in their sunday best.
a literal hush fell upon my car as we just watched her and finally said... um... that was kiki. i almost just ran over kiki. should we go talk to her and say sorry in person? should we go tell her how much she means to us? where do you think they are going to church? can you see the twins? she is so pretty! what does that bumper sticker mean on her car? do you think she knows how sorry i am for not paying more attention? can she see us staring?
we waited for them to pull off and then immediately made plans to get to starbucks 5 minutes earlier next week because can you IMAGINE if we would've just been FIVE MINUTES earlier?! but this is good... now we can be prepared. hope she's a hugger.
so as you can see i have finally spotted my unicorn, but i sure do wish it would have been under different circumstances. i like to think she felt the connection between us but had to get to the kids, otherwise we would probably still be at that starbucks, discussing life and love and SB (santa barbara... the bumper sticker).
It's the catch-22 of being a grownup, simultaneously wanting certain things but being scared to death of them at the same time. We have to own whatever is our thing in "orange shorts" and realize that until we are brave enough to acknowledge the desire (for love, for friendship, for a promotion, for a chance at adventure, for a shot at pursuing our dream) we will never, ever have the opportunity to see it blossom in our life. - from the "orange shorts" blog post... one of my faves.
