In n Out Burger

Book the Villa, it’s a Sign

/ Deb / 1 Comment

I feel it’s only fair that I fully disclose the Cheese Factor for this post…..it’s fairly significant.  Courtesy of, quite possibly, one of the all time cheesiest songs around: none other than the catchy “Mambo Number Five”.

We traveled last weekend to California for the wedding of a college friend of my husband’s.  Amongst observations of how officially “old” we all are getting,  I found myself feeling reflective of all the times we had shared over the past 20 years….football games, trips, parties, weddings, babies.

At the reception, discussion turned to a trip to France that six of us had taken eleven years ago — long enough to feel like a lifetime — two weddings and five kids ago, between all of us.  We mini-vanned through Paris, Provence, and the French Riviera, drinking wine and butchering the French language at every turn. 

Memories of that trip flooded back to all of us — Gary, the weird fellow American who seemed to be following us in Paris; getting a speeding ticket and having to pay it on the spot; the fabulous dinner in Beynac and the castle tour (in French) that none of us understood, yet we played along, laughing at the tour guide’s jokes when everyone else did.

I don’t remember who said it first:  We all need to go back!  Rent a villa, bring the kids, shop at the farmers market and cook meals in fields of lavender……wouldn’t it be great?   We could see some of the same old sights, drink some great wine, and the kids would have fun too.

The band finished and the inevitable DJ dance music had begun, and then it hit the airwaves:  Mambo Number Five.  This song had haunted us throughout France that fall (and really, where didn’t it haunt everyone that year?).  We heard it everywhere we went, and it has always reminded me of that trip.   The other song of that trip was a catchy little rap tune called “Tomber la Chemise” by the French group Zebda,  but it’s highly unlikely that any of us will hear that song again anytime soon.

I proclaimed it to everyone as a Sign…..a Sign that, YES, we all need to go back!!    Sure, it was a few glasses of wine into the evening, but come on, how often do you hear Mambo Number Five anymore?   And short of hearing the Zebda song, this has GOT to be the Sign!  

I am a big believer in Signs.  I love Signs.  Very rarely do I follow them, though.  Maybe that is part of my problem — it is, after all, about the follow-though.  Otherwise, the Sign loses its significance, and then you convince yourself that it wasn’t really a Sign anyway. 

Everyone (I think) agreed with me, and the coming weeks will determine whether there is any follow-through.   The evening ended with a late night trip to In-n-Out Burger.  What that is a Sign of, I don’t know, but I sure hope the France trip happens.

Deondre the Life Coach

/ Deb / Leave a comment

The song that has been rocking in my head for the past few days is accompanied by a dancing guy in a red track suit, a Kenny G lookalike, and a wrestler with a snake on his shoulders. The SNL skit of the fake TV show “What Up With That?” is hilarious on its own, but doubly hilarious when talked about and improvised all weekend with friends.

We got back from Las Vegas late last night. I should be exhausted, but instead I feel like I have the freshest perspective that I have had in a long while. Was it the cocktails? The gambling? The In-n-Out burger? I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter.

I did a triathlon last summer. I had a mantra that I repeated in my head, throughout: “a clear head, and presence of purpose”. In the water with each stroke, trying not to panic: a clear head, and presence of purpose. As I pedaled my bike, making it closer to the finish, free of any mechanical issues: a clear head, and presence of purpose. It was not until the final mile of the run, when I knew that I was going to finish, that the mantra left my head. At that point, all I could do was grin.

For some reason, that popped into my head today – as a similar refrain, but with a “what up with that” edge. OK, so I need to figure out what I want to do. (What up with that?) And it hasn’t come to me yet on its own. (What up with that?) Or perhaps it has, and I am too scared to make any steps. (What UP with that?)

I love music, but I also love the written word. I think that’s probably why I liked being a lawyer, because lawyering is all about words. Lawyers love to argue over seemingly obvious things such as the meaning of the word “reasonable” (hence volumes of case law on the “reasonable person” standard..…and, even better, in the realm of sexual harassment, the “reasonable woman” standard).

When Bill Clinton (a former lawyer) dumbfounded the nation with his infamous “it depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is” statement, I totally got it. Only lawyers love that kind of statement. Only lawyers hear that statement and say “you know, that’s a good point”.

And that’s the part of being a lawyer that I do miss: the words; the reasoning; getting from point “A” to point “B” via a well-structured argument.

The art of writing has been calling to me for a long time, and I’ve either ignored it, or dismissed it, believing that I had to choose either the law or writing, because my love for both was incompatible. But I now realize that they are, really, one in the same, and that is where I should be.

I am confident that it is possible distill it all down into the perfect career that nestles right into my life. I don’t know yet what that will look like, but I feel like I am on the right path. (What up with THAT?!)

I’m finally starting to feel like I’m out of the water. I’ve racked my bike. Now I just have to put on my running shoes, and get to the grin.