I have been watching all the news coverage of South Cobb High School’s Marching Band and their travels to Washington DC to participate in the inaugural parade.

I am jealous of them, but not for the obvious reason.  It is not because they are going to be a part of history and because they are experiencing something that only a few people in the world will be a part of.  I am jealous because of their genuine excitement, youthful enthusiasm, and untainted optimism about the experience.

I have been very blessed in my life to experience and be a part of countless fantastic things … from the superficial (spending the weekend at Diddy’s house on Long Island) to the meaningful (organizing the delivery of 500,000 handwritten letters to our military) to the random (asking Jennifer Nettles to call my father.)  I have had a fantastic life filled with fantastic experiences.

The downside of that is how numb I have become.  How I seem to have lost a lot of excitement for doing things that are new and cool.

In short, it takes a lot to impress me these days.

And I do not like that.

I want to find a way to recapture joy and excitement for things that are special.  I realize that my jobs in radio have provided me with many blessings and access that others do not have.  And I feel that I am almost doing myself a disservice when I experience these blessings without enough ‘passion.’  In 2009, I would really love to find a way to ’seize the day.’  To appreciate the cool things and the little things that happen in my life.  To have the same look on my face that I saw on the face of one of the SCHS girls as she looked out the window of their bus at Washington DC.  To realize that almost every experience is a moment that should be treasured, and to not simply go through the motions and let those moments pass by.

I need to find a way to become a South Cobb High School student in my own world.  I think it is going to be much harder done than written.  Wish me luck.