It is ALIVE

I’m a little behind the times for the Reverb10 thing, so I’m doing Day 3 today:
December 3 – Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors). (Author: Ali Edwards)

I had just jumped off the New York City double-decker tour bus across from the Staten Island Ferry landing. It was a hot, early August day, the sun shining silver across the sky. 50 other bloggers and I had been on the tour, slip-sliding around in pools of sweat on the plastic seats for about two hours.

This was our first and only stop of the day. All of us steamy, wilted bloggers dashed across the street into the coolth of an air-conditioned Starbucks, where we stood in long lines, first for the bathroom and then for icy drinks. The staff there was obviously used to this tour-bus-unloading drill, because they handled the sudden crowd with clocklike efficiency and utter boredom.

It was the first moment of the trip that I realized I could take Red Stapler photos and that I was with two of my favorite bloggers on earth.

I handed my stapler to Donna from So Cal Mom and Deb from I Obsess and they began goofing around, laughing echoing off the walls, joyful at having empty bladders, air conditioning, cool drinks and togetherness.

That, my friends, was a moment where I felt fully alive.