Wait... I Think I've Figured It All Out!

For the past several months, I've been searching my soul, looking for answers and on a quest to find what's missing in my life, what everything is all about and otherwise trying to locate some sense out of everything. Truth be told, I never thought that I'd finally figure it out. But let's start at the beginning. It all started out yesterday...

Saturday was a good day. I woke up at 6am, got ready and headed out to downtown Baltimore to help out in the Westside Preakness Parade. I ended up helping with the Baltimore Sun Dog giant balloon which was a lot of fun with a lot of other single volunteers.

We got to meet (in passing) Kyle Boller who's a player with the Ravens, I think.

Afterwards, we all went to the Lexington Market to enjoy a bite to eat and take in some of the live music being played inside.

After bidding my new friends farewell, I walked to M & T Stadium where this year's HFStival was being held.

I was all set to enjoy a day sitting in the shade, relaxing to live music and otherwise enjoying myself. Not too shabby, eh?

Well, within 30 minutes of my arrival, I ran into my favorite bartender (who's completely and utterly nuts, by the way) and her friends. She invited me down with them and I spent the rest of the day with them, drinking beer, making wisecracks and listening to the bands.

Around 9PM, Billy Idol has just wrapped up an amazing set and a thunderstorm starts rolling into Baltimore. Keep in mind that it had been raining for about 3 hours at this point with lightening and thunder in the distance. Many of the diehard fans were still in front of the stage and refusing to quit, even when the bands stopped playing! As the thunderstorm starts headed our way, the officials told Coldplay to hold off and attempted to make everybody evacuate the stadium bowl, ostensibly for our own safety. 30 minutes later, the show continued with Coldplay working the crowd like the masterful artists they are. They were followed by Foo Fighters who were great! Afterwards, four of us headed out to the Sip & Bite in Baltimore, a 24-hour diner well located between the neighborhoods of Fells Point and Canton, for a quick bit to eat and then over to Flip's for more drinks. Now, getting back to why I think I've figured it all out...

Had I stuck with my original plan of just sitting by myself, I probably would have had a good time but nowhere near as good a time as I had with my new friends. Life is more than about living a good life and enjoying yourself. Life is about:

• Connecting with others and sharing experiences with them
• Reaching out and making a difference to somebody
• Discovering who you are by taking chances
• Singing out loud, no matter what anybody else thinks

I think that I'd better start clearing out my calendar of work stuff and start making room for others because it's really less all about me as it is all about us.

Until next time, my friends... Take care of one another and be well.