A Great Success Story

For my husband.



I believe in us, and I believe in our future together, no matter where it takes us, whether we're working at top studios or at gas stations. I know that no matter what, being together is what matters the most to me, and in whatever we're doing, rooting for each other is always what we do best.

I'm rooting for you.

Love,

Yours Truly

La La Means I Love You

It's a week after my birthday, and I know it's just going to be another couple of weeks before Naveen is coming out here to visit, but it occurs to me that this is the longest we've gone without seeing each other since December of 2006 and early 2007, before I moved to Florida. It took me six months to realize I needed to move from Fort Wayne to Full Sail to be with him there. We've been apart again just over four months, and I wonder how much longer I can take. It's different, now that we're married. Much harder to be apart. It certainly isn't the life we were expecting.

Of course, I don't want to paint such a miserable story. This past week I've been fixated on positive thinking, declaring each day that it's going to be a good day, and not just going through the motions but driving an enthusiastic effort. I can say for sure that it has been helping a lot. My productivity improved slightly from last week, and I simply enjoyed this more - this wonderful thing that I get to do for a living. It is so easy to take it for granted when my heart feels at such a loss, but given some focus, I consider myself fortunate still. Even moments ago, when I was thinking about Naveen - through this past week, I've been fighting thoughts of loneliness with intensely positive mantras - but just now, I let one of those thoughts in, and rather than feeling sadness, I started smiling. I started realizing again how very lucky I am to be with him, about how the happiest feeling I've ever experienced is being loved by him and loving him in return.

Lately, the scariest thought I've had is what I would do without him. Now that we're so far apart, and especially due to some recent events, I am constantly fighting the fear that something could happen to him while I'm away. He drove this weekend four hours to see our families in Fort Wayne and spend time with them, and I had to distract myself from thinking anything bad could happen to him while he was on the road. Especially during these moments, I can't stop thinking about how stupid it is for us to be apart. But he has the strength to remind me how stupid it would be if we gave up on what we've been pushing for our whole lives. We know we have the strength to withstand this burden, even in our first year of marriage, when we should be developing our life together. We are determined people.

Hulu.com is one of those places I go to in the evening to keep me company during dinner, etc. One of the movies they posted over Christmas was "The Family Man" starring Nicholas Cage ("Jack") and Tea Leoni ("Kate"). I remember liking it when it came out, but it has quickly been thrusted into my list of favorite films. I had completely forgotten the storyline since I saw it eight years ago. It is somewhat hard for me to watch, because I can easily identify with Jack, who left the love of his life to boost his career but is allowed a glimpse of what his life might have been if he had given it all up to marry his soulmate instead. Now, unlike Jack, I did marry my soulmate, but then I immediately moved out (for a great job) to Union County New Jersey - a bizarre parallel since this is where Jack and Kate live with their two children, Annie and Jack, and I can't tell you how much my head spins when I consider that.

I know a handful of you might have seen the movie, but here's what I would consider the most romantic three minutes in a movie I've seen in a movie in a very long time:



It is the moment when Jack fully realizes exactly what he gave up to pursue a lucrative career in the fast lane. He watches a tape of him singing a favorite song to Kate, "La La Means I Love You" by the Delfonics. It's Kate's birthday, and the thing that means most to her from him is this song - not a diamond ring, or something expensive - just a song, and seeing in his eyes how much he loves her.

I think when I saw this movie in December of 2000, I probably thought, that was a nice idea for a movie. I didn't know it could be real and I could be living it one day.

Plane Crash In The Hudson

Miracle on the Hudson after plane crash
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news%2Flocal&id=6606410
Thursday, January 15, 2009 | 7:18 PM

Gov't official says 'bird strike' cause of crash
By Scott Curkin; Eyewitness News

NEW YORK (WABC) -- The FAA says all passengers are safe after a US Airways plane crashed into the Hudson River.
Individuals who believe they may have family members on board flight 1549 may call US Airways at 1-800-679-8215 within the United States.
The plane is an Airbus 320, US Airways flight 1549 from LaGuardia to Charlotte. There were 150 passengers on board the flight, along with 5 crew members. The FAA is reporting all passengers made it out of the plane allive. There are minor injuries to the passengers, and one flight attendent suffered a broken leg.
The pilot is identified by his wife as Chesley Burnett Sullenberger III. Sullenberger, 58, described himself in an online professional profile as a 29-year employee of US Airways. He started his own consulting business, Safety Reliability Methods Inc., two years ago.

Bank of America and Wells Fargo said they had employees on the plane. Charlotte is a major banking center.
Air Traffic Control reports the plane, after takeoff reached 3,000 feet before heading towards the river. The plane had reached a speed of 178 mph.
"TSA is monitoring the situation involving US Airways flight 1549. At this point, there is no indication that this is a security-related incident. TSA will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates if appropriate."
The plane went down near 48th Street. The plane took off from LaGuardia at 3:26 p.m.
President Bush released the following statement:

"My Administration is coordinating with State and local officials to respond to this afternoon's plane crash in New York City. We continue to monitor the situation. Laura and I are inspired by the skill and heroism of the flight crew as well as the dedication and selflessness of the emergency responders and volunteers who rescued passengers from the icy waters of the Hudson. We send our thoughts and prayers to all involved in the accident."
Passenger Jeff Kolodjay of Norwalk, Conn., said he heard an explosion two or three minutes into the flight, looked out the left side of the Airbus 320 and saw one of the engines on fire.
"The captain said, 'Brace for impact because we're going down,"' Kolodjay said. He said passengers put their heads in their laps and started saying prayers. He said the plane hit the water pretty hard, but he was fine.
"It was intense. It was intense. You've got to give it to the pilot. He made a hell of a landing," Kolodjay said.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an experienced pilot, said he had spoken with the pilot and a passenger who claimed to be the last one off the plane.
"It would appear that the pilot did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river, and then making sure everybody got out," the mayor said at a news conference.
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Bloomberg said most of the rescued were picked up right away and put on police, Coast Guard and ferry boats. Police divers did have to rescue a few people from underwater, he said.
Gov. David Paterson described the emergency landing as a tragedy averted.
"We had a miracle on 34th Street. I believe now we have had a miracle on the Hudson," he said.
Government officials say the plane's two engines went down after a flock of birds struck the plane. Witnesses say it appeared the plane made a controlled landing. "It was just unbelievable how this plane landed," said one witness.
The Federal Aviation Administration says there were about 65,000 bird strikes to civil aircraft in the United States from 1990 to 2005, or about one for every 10,000 flights.
"They literally just choke out the engine and it quits," said Joe Mazzone, a retired Delta Air Lines pilot. He said air traffic control towers routinely alert pilots if there are birds in the area.
ABC News learned 30 seconds after the pilot was handed off from the tower to the next controllers he reported two bird strikes and he wanted to return to LaGuardia.
"You never prepare for anything like this," said one survivor.
The plane, which was over New Jersey at the time, was ordered to return to LaGuardia. The pilot saw Teterboro airport outside of the plane, but obviously never made it.
According to authorities, the Airbus pilot was in communication with the tower, reported that he was having trouble controlling the plane, then looped around once, giving the passengers time to prepare for the impact, one senior airport police official said. He then went off the radar and put the plane down on the river.
One witness says he saw flames coming from the number one engine
Ferries rescued passengers, some who were seen standing on the wings of the plane.
US Airways CEO Doug Parker confirmed that 150 passengers, three flight attendants and two pilots were on board the jetliner.
Joe Mazzone, a retired Delta Air Lines pilot, said it is not unusual for birds to strike planes. In fact, he said, when planes get ready to take off, if there are birds in the area, the tower will alert the crew.
"They literally just choke out the engine and it quits," Mazzone said.
An emergency room doctor from St. Vincent's told Eyewitness News about the rescued air passengers.
"It's a bad day to have this happen. much like the DC crash in the 1980's this is a bad combination of cold air, cold water and wind." He said.
Because of the crash all ferry service is suspended between their 39th terminal in NYC and their Weehawken terminal, across the river in NJ.
"There is no information at this time to indicate that this is a security-related incident," Homeland Security spokeswoman Laura Keehner said. "We continue to closely monitor the situation which at present is focused on search and rescue."
The plane was submerged in the icy waters up to the windows, and rescue crews had opened the door and were pulling passengers in yellow life vests from the plane.
The plane was quickly submerged about 30 minutes after the crash.
Twenty-seven years ago this week, an Air Florida plane bound for Tampa crashed into the Potomac River after hitting a bridge just after takeoff from Washington National Airport. The crash on Jan. 13, 1982, killed 78 people including four people in their cars on the bridge. Five people on the plane survived.
On Dec. 20, a Continental Airlines plane veered off a runway and slid into a snowy field at the Denver airport, injuring 38 people. That was the first major crash of a commercial airliner in the United States since Aug. 27, 2006, when 49 people were killed after a Comair jetliner mistakenly took off from the wrong runway in Lexington, Ky.

In Memory

We love you Becky. I know poetry has helped you cope with things in the past, so I thought I'd share something I wrote tonight. We love you so much and we're so very sorry. We're all here for you.
Love always, Laura

**

For Brianne


There is a girl not far from here
Her life a work of art
At times she paints with colors bright
And now and then the dark

A daughter, sister, and a wife
Important as all three
But when I think about her life
It's who she is to me

She is the loyal trusted one
In her I could confide
My second wind, my guiding sun
With her I found my pride

Her voice is now inside me here
And though the room spins round
She tells me not to let my fear
Or sadness take me down

She wants me to keep in my mind
No matter if I cry
There's friendship out there I will find
She just wants me to try

She knows there's no replacement
For the bond she sought to give
We long for her embracement
But she longs for us to live


There is a girl not far from here
Though now we are apart
For my best friend I shed a tear
I hold her in my heart.

**