Living On The Edge

Step 1: Leave the House.
Step 2: Say Yes.
Step 3: Find your Edge.
Step 4: Live on it

Last Friday I got the urge to go country dancing.  I don’t know where it came from, but there it was, in the front of my brain… “must go dancing, must go dancing, must get your honkey-tonk on.”  And even though I had no one to go with, and had never been to this country bar before, I decided to go anyway.  My thoughts went, approximately, exactly, like this.  “I want to go dancing.  There’s the Saddle Rack I’ve been meaning to check out.  That would be fun.  But I wonder who will go with me.  I’ll text Aaron.  Shit, he’s busy.  Lily is with the kids.  Hmmmmm.  Maybe I’ll go alone.  What if that’s weird?  What if I get there and don’t like it?  What if I have no one to dance with and everyone else does and they just think I’m some loser?  Fuck it.  Whatever, then I can just leave.  But it’s kind of late.  And the bar is kind of far away.  And I could stay here and watch a movie with the puppy.  Yeah that sounds nice.  And I could probably get some writing done.  Yeah, good idea.  But wait…I want to go dancing.  That sounds like fun.  What else am I going to do, really?  I can sit here anytime.  Besides, I am trying to not be on the computer that much.  OK FUCK IT! I’m going.”

So…I put on some hot pink lipstick, my cowboy boots, and got in the car.  Country music station blasted through my speakers the whole drive there, reminding me of times passed where men openly dreamed of taking care of their wives, having several kids running in the yard, and sitting on porches with said family members, looking out over their ranches, watching the sun go down.  Simpler times, that I’m sure still exist in places outside of Oakland, California.

I pull up to the Saddle Rack and my night goes pretty much like this: One man (old enough to be my dad) after another comes up to ask me to dance and teaches me the dance if I don’t know it.  I two-step, I dip, I twirl, I giggle and smile.  Before I can even sit down after the last dance, I find another man coming up to me asking me for the next one.  They are complete gentlemen and I only sit out for three dances total, all night.  And eventually, a young cowboy comes up to me to ask me to dance.  A cutie with light eyes and a big ol cowboy hat.  I say yes, and we dance the rest of the night. And I had an absolute blast.  Best night in a very long time.

Cowboy and I decided to hang out again and during that time, I did things I’ve never done before (and some I hadn’t done since I was a kid), including:

1)     Shooting guns-22 rifle, 12 gauge shotgun, and a 45 handgun (no animals were hurt during this venture)

2)     Driving a quad

3)     Riding on a tractor

4)     Shooting a bow and arrow

5)     Riding dirtbikes (and consequently…my first time riding a motorcycle, ever)

6)     Dipping (as in chewing tobacco)

7)     Dancing the night away TWO nights in a row, learning 7 new dances

8)     Getting my chair pulled out for me before I sit down to eat

9)     Being on the back of a motorcycle when it’s doing a wheelie

10)  Hanging out with goats

11)  Riding in the center seat of a dually truck

I had a blast.  And even though you might think I’m generally an adventurous girl, I don’t view myself that way at all.  Riding the motorcycle scared the shit out of me.  I crashed a couple times, got super embarrassed, had mud all over my face.  But I’m so glad I did it.  I got back on, and tried again.  And it was fun.  And I can’t wait to do it again.

This experience got me thinking about all the times in my life when I didn’t feel like doing something, almost decided not to go somewhere, but went anyway and because I did, my life was changed, or at the very least, I learned something new about myself.  This is one of those times.  I almost turned the cowboy down to hang out again.  Was thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to canceling plans.  But I didn’t, and now my life experience is just a little more rich, I have some new skills, I stretched myself out of my comfort zone, I met a really cool new friend, and I had A LOT of fun.  You can never know just exactly what will come out of doing new things, but you can always count on the fact you’ll come out of it a little bit different.

This post is all about living on your edge.  And I don’t mean that in order to live on the edge, you must live dangerously, or jump out of airplanes, ride motorcycles, or swim with sharks.  Everyone has their own version of an edge and it’s important to find yours.  Nothing cool or interesting ever happens from doing the same thing you’ve always done.  It’s only when we break out of our norm, do things a bit differently, switch up the routine that we meet amazing people, that we learn about ourselves, that we have interesting experiences.  This week, find an edge.  Then go live on it.

And on that note…I’m OFF TO FREAKIN COSTA RICA TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  See you from the other side!

Leave a comment and let me know some of the edges you’re wanting to edge towards. :-)