Fire-N-Ice

I am a zoo registrar. Cue the blank looks and simple nods of appreciation while secretly they think “I have no idea what that means”. Most people don’t know what that is, I didn’t. I remember vividly the day I learned what it was and decided that I was going to be that person, come hell or high water. It was my first semester in community college. I had enrolled in the Zoo keeping Technology program because I didn’t want to work in the domestic pets’ veterinary field anymore but I didn’t exactly want to be a zookeeper either. I thought maybe I could get into ambassador animals or education, maybe something in the administrative offices. I was sitting in my Intro to Zoo Careers class and our instructor introduced Randy Barker, registrar of Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Here was a bear of a man with a larger than life personality. I thought to myself, what the heck is a registrar and why hadn’t I heard of it? My head was full of gobs and gobs of animal/zoo related facts and trivia. He introduc...

There has been a trend taking shape over the last few years on social media of people posting for the entire month of November what they are thankful for. They post something new every single day that they are thankful for. I started participating the first year I found out about it but as often happens, it slowly fizzled out after about a week. Life got busy, things came up and I found myself forgetting to do it. It became a task or chore and suddenly it was difficult to find something to post that I was thankful about that sounded both wise and sentimental. My human nature took over and as ashamed as I am to admit, I felt like I had to compete with people to have the best "thankful" post. So I stopped posting. I think it's great that people are taking time to stop and think about what they are thankful for but should it really be limited to only one month a year? I've grown and changed a lot since turning 40 and the biggest thing I have learned is to stop wanting ...

Life continues to be a never ending journey of experiences and learning. I thought, more than once, that I would figure it all out if I just reached this goal or got that job or made it to this age but you know what? You really never figure it out. You have AHA moments where you think you did and as soon as you decide you're done something comes along and shows you that you were completely and utterly wrong about it. Fourteen years ago I decided to accept Jesus into my heart and become a Christian. I sincerely believed it would fill the gap in my life, I would be whole again. I would be able to be a better role model for my son. I would attract the perfect, godly man because I was finally a part of something, I was in their clique and they had to accept me. It worked, or so it seemed, for a long time. I got married, my kids were happy. I had a wonderful husband who was the epitome of good and clean and godly. He prayed all the time for everyone, he never cursed, he was Mr. Goody-t...