Say, YES.

While our lives sometimes move at the speed of light, where getting things done and moving onto the next venture is in our mind, we unfortunately forget about the beauty of random. I know I’m always on the go, have things planned out and things that could be if the first things fall through, all while I having a stack of projects and work waiting for me. It is sometimes overwhelming to say the least.

Last Monday (MLK day) I had off from work, it was the only day game of the season for the Hawks and I really wanted to go... I knew I had a bunch of work to do and didn’t have anyone to go with but something reminded me of the movie Yes Man. There is a line in the movie that says “You say No, saying no to life and therefore you are not living, every time an opportunity presents itself you will say, yes.” Now, I know that you can over say yes but if it’s just for the randomness and not to overwhelm yourself with taking on other person/s projects, then yes can make us live in the moment. And that’s exactly what I did!

I playing over and over in my head that I shouldn’t go to the game, work even called seeing if I could take a shift in case someone was sick but they ended up being ok so after posting on fb to see if anyone wanted to go to the game, I called Carmellow. She was already going to the game and had plans to meet up w/ her friends from work and invited me to meet up with them for they had an extra ticket! I jumped in the car but with the MLK parade going on I couldn’t cross over Peachtree and was getting aggravated with the parking situation, so I just pulled over and walked. I got ahold of Carmellow who directed me to their location. I was sent through a claustro-fuck and almost had a mini panic attack but made it to the bar where I met 3 new people and downed a shot of Jager before walking over to Philips Arena. Once at the game my nerves calmed and I started to enjoy myself running into a few familiar faces, taking it as a sign that I was on the right track for the day. The game started out like butterfingers but as it went on the hawks went neck and neck beating out the T-Wolves.

(Photo Thanks: Dyana Bagby and GA Voice)


When the game ended I had every intention of going home to work on a few projects but walking out of the arena my new found friends were all going to continue their festivities and I thought back to the movie... I said to myself “Loren, today is the day you go with the flow and if something presents itself, go for it.” So I walked along having a few interesting conversations and laughs as Carmellow and I were called very attractive Lesbians by a very strait man as we sipped on a Moscow Mule and listened to Disney’s Snow White Heigh Ho, before being dropped off at another bar where we met for dinner and another new friend. As the girls took a smoke break, I got a text from my good ole roommate who I hadn’t seen in over a year saying she had an extra ticket to the Big Freedia concert and would love to catch up and being that “yes” was my word for the day, I dropped everyone off in midtown and made my way over to EAV where I met 2 handfuls of people who were full of life and good energy, making me smile from ear to ear! I was getting pretty tired when Big Freedia walked out and instructed us to work it out and get loose with him before he went on and lets just say it was a nonstop booty shake extravaganza. I met this super cute gay, Michael (pictured next to Big Freedia) and we ended up pairing up and being booty shaking dance partners. Once Big Freedia finally came out to perform he had all his little dancers (us) come up on stage and show the audience what we had learned, sweating, laughing, howling, booty shaking that moment was intoxicating and I didn’t think it could get any better then his last song came on. He looked me in the eyes and pointed to me, I gave him the thumbs up and he shook his head and pulled me on stage (solo) to shake it out with him. As I got on stage the crowd was wild and I thought it’s now or never, I ran across stage stop, dropped and rolled up onto my shoulders kicking my feet into the air and shaking my tush upside down and all I heard was the crowd scream in excitment... looking back and reflecting, it was in that moment and the moment of the whole day, meeting new people and enjoying myself with nothing holding me back that I can honestly say I felt infinite.

So, in the ever fast of our lives, live it, love it, be random and enjoy the unknown... get what you need to get done and then let go and find the beauty of a moment unplanned. Say, YES and see what happens!