Fish Net and Hat Guy

So, the other day we had the pleasure of being in San Diego and we were eating some breakfast at a little Cafe, downtown. We were sitting outside and watching the big city traffic flow here and there and the inner city people walk by. We were particularly enjoying all their frantic pace and our lack of any plan whatsoever - being people who usually are frantically running to and fro the break was wonderful.

Well, there we sat, when all of a sudden my wife (sitting across from me changed her facial experession to this thoughtful, almost questioning, look. My first thought was that I had something on my face - this happens a lot - but then I realized that not only was she not looking at me, but she her head was moving - following something or someone along. There was this faint hope that it was not some really good-looking blond haired, abercrombie-looking 20 year old surfer guy that I would then need to whoop-up a little, just to fight for my woman...but wait, I am getting off track a little - sorry! Her eyes seemed to dart back and forth between whatever was seemingly moving toward us and the street/the cars passing by.

So, I wondered what it was was that had so captured Melissa's attention, but I realized that I couldn't just turn around and gawk, but instead had to wait until whatever it was came into view. And within a few seconds to my left walked past us a yound lady, maybe 20-25 years old with blond hair, a short but nice skirt, fish net stockings and boots. She was actually tastefully dressed Melissa said, but she was not shy nor amish.

Now, obviously, we travel a fair amount and seeing someone dressed like this is not unusual, but the interesting thing was actually not her at all (not not to me either). It was the traffic. Yes, it seemed that most of the drivers in the cars on that street (it was one way coming toward me and in the opposite direction of the young lady)were men; young and old, driving nice cars and beaters and delivery vans. And they seemed to all think she was the best thing to look at on the street! It was interesting to see how traffic slowed down and men's heads turned to observe her. She caused quite a stir! Melissa was really mad at a couple of the guys who she said looked like they were probably married and I got a "You better not look at girls that way when I'm not around" look my way, clear as day! Well, she went her way and there was no traffic accident at her passing by, thankfully, and we went about our day, enjoying having no agenda.

Later in the evening Melissa was kind enough to go with me to Petco park, to see the Padres play the Giants. Before you go and applaud her generosity too much, you should know that the biggest reason that she wanted to go was to enjoy the baseball nachos which are legendary in her mind. I joke, she was excited to be there - she says baseball was made to be seen in person and is too boring to watch in TV - and basically I agree with her. So, we found our parking place and filed into the park with the rest of the crowd and quickly found our seats.

We settled in and found that there were not very many people in our section - not a big deal to us - but kinda wondering if they could smell the midwest on us or something. We enjoyed the game, watching the crowd and enjoying the wonderful, although much chillier than we expected, evening.

Over the course of the game, we noticed a guy, wearing an unusual fishing hat, between us and home plate (which was of course where a great deal of our attention lay). He was small, maybe 5'5" or so and small framed as well, but this in no way dampened his enthusiasm! With each mini-song of the giant baseball park organ he was up and chanting, pumping his fist, doing the wave by himself (and trying to get all those around him involved), and generally being a loyal and true and excited fan. So, as is often the case, we watched both the game and "Hat Guy" and how each would progress through the evening.

In the end the Padres won on a 10th inning homerun by David Eckstein. It was really cool to see a "walk-off" home run to end a game and fireworks and all! But, the progress of "Hat-guy" was equally impressive. Over the course of the game he developed friendships and infected his entire section with his passion. By then end, he had multiple people chatting with him, chanting and cheering with him and I may have even seen them do a mini-wave! They were laughing and having a great time being Padre fans and people - it was really cool...and I am pretty sure they were not drunk - at least not all the way - so their behavior was legit.

So, I wonder if you are now asking, "What is the point of "Fish-Net Girl" and "Hat-Guy"? Well, I would love to tell you.

They both share something really important. They have an attraction about them. There is somethign about them that inspires, the brings out passion (admittedly not necessarily the best type of passion, but nevertheless...)

You see, what I see in American society today is almost all a grit it out, make a living, survive the credit cards, pay the mortgage, get to all the activities, get a little sleep and repeat the next day kind of life. Most people feel like the really important parts of their lives - the fabulous (or Fish-net/Hat Guy) moments of life are actually only a tiny portion of how we spend our time. One time a guy I really respect told me that in American we spend most of our time working so that we can enjoy and invest the rest of our time in what we really value.

This is not how I want my life to be! No offense if your mission is to spend your life like this, but this is not for me. I want to have a life that is filled with fish net and hat guy enthusiasm, with passion, with fire. I want to exemplify meaning and purpose, even if the tasks I am doing in a given day may seem routine (like Padres baseball or walking down the street). I want people to see the way I live and think, I want to cheer like that crazy guy in the hat!

So, how do we begin to get "more" out of life? How do we move past the everyday, grind-it-out mentality of America? Well, we need a huge change in the way we view life - kinda like in Dead Poets Society when the teacher encourages all the students to stand ont he desk and look at the classroom in a different way.

We, at More than more are living more and more like this every day. We are finding ways to see life differently. It is not always fluffy or easy, being different and seeing things differently - but it opens up life and gives such freedom...

We would love to begin sharing this with you!

We will be getting together again this coming Thursday 5/27, 6:45-8:00PM at McAllister Recreation Center in Lafayette - just off 20th ahd Schuyler Ave - free child care, as always. We hope to se you there!