As I approach this momentous milestone in my life I’ve thought back on many memories that have given me so many laughs over the years.  So many stories from different times in my life continue to be told over and over never once thinking; I need new stories.  I turn 30 in exactly 30 days and have decided to share these stories with everybody one at a time.  Some are a bit embarrassing, others are risqué, and some have been known to make people laugh so hard they had to go hunting for their inhalers.  So many of these stories have common themes that I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that my life isn’t as exciting as it may seem since the variety will revolve around a handful of major themes and a few major times in life.  I’ve tried very hard to keep as many names secret but then again, so many of these stories have been told over and over again that the characters are already known.  So here you have 30 vignettes in 30 days until I turn 30.

Lets start with the most recent story; a new story; something I have probably only shared with two or three people.

UNTITLED #1

For the second straight year I’ve travelled to our nation’s capitol to advocate and lobby on behalf of my favorite project in the world; The Hollywood Freeway Central Park.  Last year I stayed with an ex girlfriend who was difficult to stay with for 4 days but still made the trip interesting at times.  The rollercoaster stay was far too much drama for me to want to stay there again this second time around so I decided to stay with my colleagues.  It also would have been quite awkward staying with her again considering she is now living with her fiancé.  Regardless, I extended an invitation for her to come visit me so long as it didn’t conflict with any of the meetings or dinners I had scheduled; In other words, really late at night or really early in the morning.

After a long flight into Dulles and a fairly quick car ride into DC the pressure of our schedule was beginning to become a reality.  After a quick shower and change of clothes I was on the rooftop bar of the W Hotel having cocktails with my colleagues and then we quickly went to a spectacular dinner at Poste in the Hotel Monaco.  After dinner a few of us decided it was far too early for bed seeing as we were all on West Coast time so we hit up Old Ebbitt Grill for a nightcap or 8.  After stumbling a block or so back to the hotel, I set my alarm for 7am and as soon as my face hit the pillow around 2am I was asleep.  Normally 5 hours of sleep are enough for me but I didn’t get 5 hours.

At 5am I get a phone call: “Hey, I’m downstairs. Come get me.”

Really?  The least I could have gotten was a warning. Maybe I don’t stay out so late or maybe I don’t go out at all.  Regardless, I asked for it by saying “…really late at night or really early in the morning. “  Yes, I was excited to see her.  No, I didn’t complain.  We talked for a little bit, tried to catch up on each other’s lives, we laughed, joked and even opened up to each other a little once that comfort level we once shared had returned and then clothes started flying off.

At a little after 7am, my alarm had already gone to snooze twice when her phone rang.  I immediately started laughing because I knew it HAD to be her fiancé wondering why he had just woken up alone.  I had assumed she would ignore the call but instead she shushed me and said, “Shhh.  Its him.” Right as she answered I was yelling out one of my favorite Princess Bride quotes: “HAHA! Your pig fiancé is too late!”

Moral of the story is, Princess Bride can be quoted no matter what life throws your way!