the summer of spontaneity

If you know us, or if you don't, you should know that spontaneity isn't the first word most would use to describe the way we live. We just aren't spontaneous people. I (Laura) am a list person; my desk (and whole apartment for that matter) is covered with lists and post-its. I am a planner. Stephen, on the other hand, while not an avid list-maker, is all about the meticulous, carefully calculated decision making. At the grocery store, he calculates which size is the better deal by dividing price by ounce in his head in order to make the most cost-effective decision.

That said, we have made not one, but two, rather large spontaneous decisions this summer. The first being our puppy, Mia. July 3rd, a random summer Saturday, a dog wandered around our parking lot. When attempting to contact his or her owner using tag information, we got the "ding ding ding this number is not longer in service" message. Stephen commented, "Well, we may have ourselves a dog." My response was, "Wait, really? I want to get the dog I want though! Can we get one?" Now, please know that I am not heartless. I would have kept that dog and loved it well, but I also wanted to get a puppy of our own, so when the little Yorkie ran off with purpose towards a different apartment, we let him go. This led to a quick internet search, a speedy trip to the bank and an immediate drive off to Dallas to pick up our new Chiweenie puppy. We named our 2.4 lb black and white puppy Mia. She fits right in with our family because she has a little sass to her.

Spontaneous decision numero dos: trip to Vegas. Las Vegas may not be quite as cute or soft as baby Mia, but it certainly was a spontaneous decision to jet off for a last-minute vacation. It was an average Friday afternoon. As Stephen and I sat in our respective seats in our living room (Stephen on his lay-z-boy and I on the couch) we thought out loud about our weekend plans and the upcoming school year. We toyed around with the idea of going to Choctaw, OK since Stephen had been itching to play some poker. Instead, we looked up some flights on Expedia.com and found a great deal on a trip to Las Vegas, leaving at 7 am the next morning. This led to a quick hotel reservation, a phone call to Mia's babysitters (my parents), and another speedy trip to the bank and an almost-immediate drive off to Austin where our flight was to leave from the next morning. We had a great time in the wild city, which was actually tamer than we expected (in a good way.)

We enjoyed our jaunt in the world of spontaneity and encourage anyone to try it, especially if it goes against your nature. It's thrilling and surprising, and you really won't regret it. We intend to have more spontaneous adventures, even if that is a bit of an oxymoron--we're planners, what can we say?