Surprise(s)!

When I was in university I wrote a lot of papers. And "a lot" may still be an understatement. There were the ones I hated. The ones with such detailed and specific requirements you knew you had to write what a prof. wanted to read. But my favourite ones, and the ones I dreaded the most of all, were the ones with an open-ended topic. Seems easy enough, right? Pick a topic and write about it. Somehow this open-endedness lead me to writing papers about such topics as: A Bottled Water Ban, Heteronormativity and Pop Culture, The Themes In The Films of James Cameron, Reality Television and The Narrative Paradigm, and one I am particularly proud of - a piece of new journalism chronicling online dating.

You can see, even in those few examples they are as diverse as the population of this world itself. Inevitably, days, weeks, months later I would look back and think I should have written about this or that, or something else different. I learnt a lot about many different topics but one lesson that I learnt that seems invaluable and transcends all facets of life is the notion that you can have the greatest idea in the world but if you're unwilling to be flexible it will never work out. Whether you need to change certain parameters or research topics or what be it, sometimes you need to accept the fact that you need to make changes or tweak a certain idea in order for it to be successful.

Almost six months ago I wrote the very first post of this blog. Outlining my idea for what was going to be next in my life. My idea, the next topic - so to say, for my life. And I had to accept and come to terms with the fact about two months ago that I no longer wanted to be in Times Square for New Years Eve - when I do make it there, it won't be with a vehicle and it won't be on a budget. It may not be NYE 2013, but I will make it there. This is just something I know and I have been willing to accept this change in order to make the rest of my "plan" better, or work at all.

On December 23rd, with the help of a few extremely incredible friends, I was able to surprise my family by showing up on their front door step and be home for Christmas - when everyone thought I was in Colorado. That, the reactions, seeing all my friends faces and getting surprised text messages was the best gift I have ever gotten any Christmas. Ten years down the road - that's what I am going to remember.

I know there are many of you out there that literally cringe at peoples' obsession with the sentiment of "new year, new start". But, I say, if that's what people need to justify or inspire making changes in their lives - why not. As 2013 comes to an end I see the lists of the bests, and the worsts, and the most memorable - fill in the blanks. The last five months of my life encompass all of those lists. As I look to the future, the coming weeks when I will decide when I'll be hitting the road again - with eleven states and three provinces left of my list, I couldn't be more grateful for the people that encourage me to keep doing what I'm doing. I couldn't be more grateful that I learnt that lesson, accept the fact that you may need to tweak a certain idea in order for it to be successful.

Whether your idea is travel, relationships, marriage, or a new career, in 2014 just remember, it's okay to make changes, to get stuck, to find a new way to make that idea work, to make it better.

Happy New Year to friends - old and new, family, and anyone that may stumble upon these words. May 2014 be your year to:

"Tell everyone what you want to do and someone will want to help you do it."

- W. Clement Stone

Terry Fox Monument - Thunder Bay, Ont. 

1000 Islands Boat Tour - Ontario

Fredericton, NB

Hopewell Rocks - (outside) Moncton, NB

Anne Of Green Gables House - P.E.I.

St George, ME

Salem, MA 

Fenway Park - Boston, MA

The White House - Washington, D.C.

Gatorland - Kissimmee, FLA 

Disneyworld - Orlando, FLA

Country Music Hall of Fame - Nashville, TN

Johnny Cash Museum - Nashville, TN

St Louis, MO

Graceland - Memphis, TN

Swamp Tour - (outside) New Orleans, LA

Sandra Bullock's House - New Orleans, LA

Moore, OK

Museum of World Treasures

When I was in Wichita, KS I visited, perhaps, the coolest museum I have yet to step foot in - yes, I did just use the words museum and cool in the same sentence. The Museum of World Treasures. While the definition of treasure is subjective, this museum encapsulates this understanding perfectly. As you explore the museums three floors you experience all sorts of amazing treaures. There is piece of The Berlin Wall - and a brief history of it's significance, there are dinosaur skeletons, there are mummies, there are beautifully stunning artifacts from around the globe, and the list continues - and this is only what the first floor has in store. Floor two is dedicated to the history of war in the US and has uniforms, photos, and other artifacts from WWI, WWII, The Vietnam War, The Civil War and then it's all rounded out with a hall of history dedicated to every past President of The United States - each accompanied by an authentic autograph. As you travel to the last floor you're brought full circle into the more contemporary, popular culture influenced treasures - sports memorabilia from the greats like Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali and these are accompanied by great works of literature, and even movie props which include items like (appropriately) the Pitchfork from The Wizard of Oz, and various items that once belonged to Marilyn Monroe. Whatever your definition of treasure may be - whether monetary, historical, or popular influences - this museum was an excellent way to spend the afternoon.

Exciting, right? Well the subjective nature of the word treasure got me thinking. And I realized that, really, for the last four and a half months I have begun my own collection of world treasures and, simply put, that's the people like you. Have you ever noticed that the people with the least to spare are usually the ones most willing to give? University/College Students, single-parent families, actors working to bust into the industry, lower-income families - the most selfless ones of all.

You've all read of my incredible time in Florida and the selflessness a single family showed to me. But the acts have never seized to amaze me throughout my entire trip around North America, thus far.

The treasures are the girls that work two jobs while going to countless acting auditions yet still have time to take in a stranger from Winnipeg (where?), Manitoba (where?), Canada (oh!) - and make time to talk, get to know one another, and show her around. The treasures are your fellow travellers, or a new friend from Scotland that, because you're both going the same direction, hops in and makes your lonely journey from Nashville to Austin a fun trip for two, the treasures are a new friend. The treasures are the couple that take you in on one day's notice and without hesitation invite you to join in on their Thanksgiving Dinner and then even give up their bed so that you can get a good nights sleep - while they sleep on the couch. The treasures are a best friend that finishes nursing school and the very next day flies to Oklahoma City to spend her only week off with her friend that she hasn't seen in four months. The treasures are the ones that before even meeting invite you to $3 Martini and Karaoke night at their favourite bar and then give you a key to their house after only knowing you a day. The treasures are the couple that let you sleep on their air mattress, make you feel at home, and invite you back anytime you want. The treasures are the ones that are engaged and planning a wedding yet still make you a member of the family, make you dinner, offer you a drink - without wanting or expecting anything in return.

Have you ever noticed that the ones with the least to spare are the ones with the most to give. Because they understand that it doesn't have to be money. It's about making someone feel welcome, sitting down and having a meaningful conversation with a stranger, or belting out a duet at karaoke only hours after meeting. At the end of this all I won't be rich in money but the memories, the friendships, the people that I have met and the things that I have learnt - I'll be rich.

*On a side note, my next post will be asking you all for monetary donations...just kidding.*

'Tis the season, folks.

Ailie and I on a steam train ride in Austin, TX

Steph and I at the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA Game

Berlin Wall

Scarecrow's Pitchfork, The Wizard of Oz 

Marilyn Monroe Belongings

Babe Ruth and Yogi Berra signed memorabilia

WHY

On September 30th, 2013 I travelled to Monroe, CT. I delivered an open letter to the building the students of Sandy Hook are now going to school after the horrors they had to endure one year ago. On the eve of the one year anniversary I am bombarded on social media of the coverage outlining yet ANOTHER school shooting that happened this afternoon at Arapahoe High School in Colorado - only 10 miles from Columbine, 8 from Aurora. I am reduced to tears. How can this world be so backwards. How can it be that the only way people see the way to end their hurting is by making others hurt? I cannot comprehend it.

It's terrifying. School is supposed to be safe. Moms, dads, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends are supposed to be able to send their loved ones off to class and it is supposed to be a haven. The walls that surround those hallways are supposed to be a safe place. While I am no longer in school I still have so many friends, cousins, and am a surrogate aunt to so many little ones that enter those doors every day with no other expectations than to be safe. I have countless friends that are teachers, or are becoming teachers. School should not be a place we fear to send our friends and family. It should be a safe place. This needs to stop. We need to stop.

Why. Why do these shootings keep happening. Where have we gone wrong that these individuals feel the only way to right the wrongs that they have had done unto them is to do wrong unto others. Today, I am sending love and prayers to all the students, faculty, and families at Arapahoe High School. And in honour of the survivors and in memory of those lives lost at Sandy Hook I am republishing my original post from Newtown.

Moment Of Silence

In 2006 I travelled to Europe with my high school. Of course we visited many of the amazing tourist attractions like The Coliseum, The London Eye, and The Trevi Fountain, to name a few but one stop had us visit the concentration camp in Dachau, Germany. There is a surreal and overwhelming sobering feeling that comes over one when you step into somewhere that carries with it such a tragic, horrific history. For the second time in my life I had that same sobering feeling come over me today.

Today I visited what is the new Sandy Hook Elementary School in Monroe, CT. The old building in Newtown that saw one of the most horrific events I could ever imagine is no longer in use. As I drove through the community and saw countless mailboxes and fences adorned with green and white ribbons in memory of lives lost and in solidarity, support, of their community it really hit me that this was a community that, to this day, is in mourning and is trying to heal. As I pulled up to the school I never expected to get close to the building or even get inside. There was a barricade with a police officer at the entrance to the parking lot. He checks IDs and does his best to keep his community safe. I pulled up and handed him my letter and asked if he would be able to pass it along to anyone that he thought may need it. Before I drove away he looked me in the eyes, shook my hand, and said such a sincere "thank you", I knew that he was saying much more than thank you for a letter:

To The People of Sandy Hook: The students, the teachers, the parents, the community,

My name is Lauren Ridd, I am twenty-five years old, and I am from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. On December fourteenth, I, like countless others around the globe, watched, and listened, and read as the horrific events unfolded at Sandy Hook Elementary School. And, like countless others, my heart broke.

As an outsider, it is impossible and would be unfair for one to even begin to think or try to understand the horror, the fear, the loss, the pain, and the heartbreak that you have gone through. But, like millions of people in your country, and, undoubtedly, billions all over the world, I feel compassion and empathy, and I can mourn for every loss you have suffered because of that day.

I know I am not the first to say, but your strength, tenacity, and ability to survive – to get up and go to work or school, to carry on with your lives, despite what one could only imagine to be the worst day of your lives, is admirable and inspirational – in every sense of those words. For that, I thank you.

            The unfair loss of innocence and dozens of lives that could have been is one thing that makes your tragedy so, so heartbreaking. The ones that will never know how it feels to kiss a boy for the first time on a warm summer afternoon. The ones that will never get to drive their parents car for the first time – and the ones who, inevitably would crash it. There are the ones that will never be able to get down on one knee and propose to the love of their lives – the ones that will never get to say, “yes.” But what saddens me the most is the ones that will never be pushed or given the chance to figure out what they were meant to do in this world. That, breaks my heart.

            As an outsider that has watched, and listened, and read only being able to imagine what the day was like for your school and community, feeling sad and mournful and angry at the person that caused so much pain is the common reaction. But, know that that day and all that you went through, and all that you continue to go through every day since December Fourteenth, you inspire people around the world.

            Sandy Hook, you may not realize it, but you are the heroes of this world. Your ability to go on with your lives, to walk into another school, to walk into another classroom, to receive thousands upon thousands of letters just like this one from strangers, outsiders, all over the world trying to make sense of the senseless: thank you, Sandy Hook, for being strong, and tenacious, and inspiring.

Stay strong.

Love, support, and admiration,

Lauren Ridd

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Pink Friday

Just over two hours south-east of Oklahoma City in the state of Oklahoma, you'll find the small town of Tishomingo. If you're wondering why this name might sound a little familiar to you, there's good reason. Especially if you're a country music fan. Tishomingo is the place that Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert call home. With a whopping population reaching just over 3000, Tishomingo is one of those towns that you blink, and you'll miss it. I could probably run from one end of Main St to the other in about a minute. And for anyone that knows me, you'll know, running obviously isn't my strong suit.

For these big name stars like Miranda and Blake you'd have to think that any moment of free time that their schedules allow - outside of touring, recording and writing, attending awards shows, and coaching on The Voice, you'd think they would want to spend this time with family. Especially on a holiday like Thanksgiving.

In Tishomingo, OK, Miranda Lambert opened a little boutique on Maint St called The Pink Pistol the day after Thanksgiving last year. While the rest of the country - and apparently even some Canadians, are spending their time fighting it out in the line of every retailer offering even a slight discount on Black Friday, Miranda Lambert is busy coining what she and the rest of Tishomingo has now come to know as Pink Friday.

Sure, there's still the same (fleeting) idea behind Pink Friday as Black Friday - consumerism. However, Pink Friday offers so much more with such a bigger goal in mind. The point isn't to attract everyone that has an extra few hundred dollars to spend (who are these people nowadays anyways). Pink Friday is about helping boost a local economy. Getting people to Tishomingo that may have never come before, for example two girls from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Pink Friday is about helping out animals - Miranda brings her MuttNation to the forefront to help unwanted animals find a new home. This Pink Friday alone, over 30 pets were rescued and found permanent homes thanks to the work of Lambert and her Pink Friday.

As I rant and rave about how amazing I think the whole thing is some of you might be thinking its time to stop reading. Of course Lauren is going to be impressed by this. She's a Miranda Lambert fan. And of course it's easy for a celebrity with lots of money to put on such events. Well, yeah I am a huge Miranda and Blake fan. And yes, they do have money and celebrity working in their favour but I admire the amount of pride that these two take in their home town and how they use their platform, their power, for good.

On top of organizing a (what I am calling) street festival for the residents of Tishomingo to celebrate Pink Friday, it draws people in from all over the state of Oklahoma, and as I have proven, even outside the country. Pink Friday works because it's a celebration - it's free, it gives people an excuse to get out and connect with one another (some may start their Christmas shopping), and others, like me, travel hundreds of miles just so that they can say they have shopped at Miranda Lambert's Pink Pistol. But with shopping, people, and free live music - a free concert by Neal McCoy with an unscripted duet by Neal and Miranda, who wouldn't want to be a part of this celebration.

I am already trying to figure out how I am going to afford heading back to Tishomingo for the 3rd Annual Pink Friday in 2014 AND which of my friends will make the excursion with me.

Thank you to the reigning Royal Couple of Country Music - Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert for continuing to use their power for good.

One Moore Broken Heart

There's this inevitable feeling that comes after a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina or a tragedy like the shooting at Sandy Hook. The inevitable what ifs one asks themselves. What if she was sick that day? What if I had been running late? What if I had just taken that warning on the news more seriously?

What if.

This past Tuesday I visited Moore, Oklahoma. For those of you that may not be aware, on May 20th, 2013, Moore, OK was devastated by a tornado that lasted 39 minutes, touched down for 17 miles, and was 1.3 miles wide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Moore_tornado). For people like myself that live in a place that has never seen a disaster like a tornado or hurricane, 1.3 miles wide - 2.1 km for all my Canadians, that's unthinkable.

I wanted to visit Moore. Mostly because seeing is believing and I want to try and understand what this community has gone through. Step into their community and see what they saw. I started by looking up the Moore Tornado online and in order to find an exact location that I could punch into my GPS I looked at an aerial map that came up as a result of my search. I threw in the only address I could see and was on my way.

As I pulled into Moore, I could see the main road is now lined with brand new, beautifully built shops like Target and dining options like McDonalds. I was starting to second-guess that I was in the right spot. But then the GPS told me to take a right. And I did. Within seconds I was driving past houses that had clearly been completely rebuilt in the last six and a half months. Then I passed one that had not been touched since the damage struck. Then I begun passing what looked like empty lots. But after closer inspection, you realized that the only thing that survived of these lots were the drive ways. The 20 feet or so of concrete that once directed a family into their home, was all that survived the destruction.

Then the GPS said to take a left. What I turned into hit me like nothing I've ever felt before. I had pulled up to what had, prior to May 20th, 2013, been Plaza Towers Elementary School. If it wasn't for the sign bolted into the ground, I wouldn't have known it's name. But the memorial that sit upon the grass, left to what was once the drive-way entrance to the school lets you know that a school once stood here.

Seven crosses. Seven piles of toys, flowers, cards, and trinkets. To mark seven lives lost. Seven children. Ripped from seven families. Accompanied by two flags. Attached to the fence behind each cross is a piece written by a member of each of the seven families that lost a child on May 20, 2013. They tell of who their children were - the one with the big heart, the one that was proud of being taller than her big sister, the one that asked for extra lunch money so that he could buy items for his friends that may not have a lunch, and the one that wouldn't get to celebrate her upcoming birthday. Seven re-tellings of lives lost that can be summarized as nothing short of heartbreaking.

Then I come back to the messages of what if. Seven families that struggled on that day on what to do. One mom wrote of the decision of whether to risk going out in the storm to pick up her daughters from school - but chose not to at the risk of making her girls orphans. A what if that is absolutely haunting.

As the foundation gets replaced and the walls, one by one, are (rather rapidly) rebuilt around Plaza Towers Elementary School, these seven families stand together with a message: SOS - Shelter Our Schools. What if? What if Plaza Towers Elementary School had had a proper storm shelter in place?

They don't want this to ever be another what if. And they are taking action.

To these seven families, the sixteen others that lost their lives, the hundreds that were injured, and those who lost it all - my thoughts and admiration are with you, for how you have come together to over come such devastation that, to someone like me - from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada - is absolutely unimaginable.