30 B4 30 Day 25: Plant a Tree

With all of the charities and organizations out there, I believe that the earth should be at the top of the priority list because if we don't save the environment and its creatures, there will be no diseases or hunger to worry about. I have to say though, I am a sucker for charitable causes, which is not a bad thing. I try to help every Keep Art in Schools, Stop Hunger and Cure Cancer organization out there, if I can but I don't have enough money or time to help them all. My husband tells me to just do what I can do so I decided to Plant a Tree to make a contribution to the environment.

During my lunch break, I ran to Home Depot real quick to scoop up an inexpensive tree that I could plant in my parents' backyard. I found the perfect mini Christmas tree and bought it for $8. It is an Alberta Spruce and I nicknamed her Bertie because if you are going to bond with a living thing, it should have a name. When I called my parents to tell them I would be planting a tree at their house today, they laughed and my dad suggested I plant it behind the shed. (They have experienced a lot of my antics over the past 29 years.) Then my mother told me that she had enough trees. I don't think there are enough trees in their yard because it lacks a mini Christmas tree. Who doesn't want a little Christmas tree in their yard? So, after work I drove over for laundry night and took Bertie with me. My mom told me to pick a spot in the back so that the tree had enough space to grow where it would get full sun. I chose a spot to the left of the shed, instead of behind it like my dad suggested. Funny guy. I dug a hole two times the size of the root ball (their term, not mine), shook the tree out of its container and placed it in the hole I had just made. I didn't even get dirty, but wouldn't mind if I did because Bertie deserves it.

Global warming, the polar ice caps and the greenhouse effect are all things I don't know enough about to comment on, but I do know that every time a tree is cut down, another tree should be planted and wild animals should not be brutally slaughtered because a human being just felt like it. However, I do eat meat because people have been surviving for centuries doing so and I do have one leather pocketbook that I got for free. I am not a vegeterian or a tree-hugger, especially not with Bertie because she has needles, but I do know what is right and how to treat things that are in danger. Now, let's just hope that WWF, the Sierra Club and the Ocean Conservancy don't read this submission because I can't afford it.

30 B4 30 Day 24: Ride the Greenport Carousel

Even though I am going to be 30 in several days, I don't consider myself a real adult. I mean, I have a full-time job, I got married two years ago and I pay my bills on time, but when it comes to life, I make a joke of everything (except cancer because that stuff's not funny) and I just want to have fun. To me, growing older only means I have to check a different box on forms and I may have to get more tests at the doctor. Like Peter Pan, I don't want to ever grow up and lose my sense of humor or my sense of adventure. So, today, I decided to Ride the Greenport Carousel to reassert my youth.

The carousel is on the edge of town and it borders the Peconic Bay on one side. The structure is huge with three rows of large horses which cost $2 each to ride. I chose the black horse with the blond mohawk because he seemed like he had a lot of personality. Fortunately for me, my friends share the same youthful attitude that I do because Leslie and Allison rode alongside me. None of us are afraid to have fun, even if it means waiting on line behind 5 year-olds to ride a carousel in the middle of a bayside town. As the horses lifted up, dropped down and circled around for a few minutes, I feel like I really got my two bucks worth.

I have a great family who provided me with a very enjoyable childhood, which is why I think I am trying extend it as long as possible. Walt Disney World is one of my favorite places on earth and I get chills just talking or thinking about it. It is one place on earth where adults and children can laugh and play together. Walt Disney created Disneyland so fathers could have somewhere to go to have fun with their children. Every time my family and I go to Disney, we all have fun together and we range in age from 63 to 29 (I am the youngest). There is no shortage of laughter or good times when we are at Disney, especially when I force everyone to eat an enormous ice cream sundae called the Kitchen Sink or when my dad gets picked to go on stage at the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue and wear a ballerina skirt. Now that I think about it, maybe silliness is genetic because we are all young at heart and we love it.

On the other hand, being a grown up isn't so bad because now I really know when and how to have fun. It is like Pablo Picasso said, "Youth has no age," and I truly believe that. No matter if I am 30 or 80, I am going to do what I can to stay young. What fun is it to get old and cranky anyway? Forget that. I'd rather hula hoop and juggle.