Happy Birthday, Heather!

I get so excited for my friends when good things happen to them. They are my friends so of course I think they deserve nothing better than the best. Here's the other exciting news.

Most of you either know Heather or know of her because I talk about her so much. She is one of my friends whom I have known for like 26 years. She has been through a lot in her lifetime . . . I won't go into it, but she's been through things in her short lifetime that none of us would even want to fathom. She's a trooper and I respect her and her strength more than almost anyone I know. She's also one of my truest, dearest friends. I call her one of my very best friends. And today, today is her birthday. And I wish her the best birthday ever. Unfortunately zoo things called (she is the head zoo keeper at our zoo) but tomorrow she is having some pampering which she is so deserving of.

Not that her birthday isn't exciting, but I have some news that is even more exciting than cake and candles. Last weekend Heather, her fiance, Lee, and Lee's son went with us to a local water park. We had a blast. (Our boys are the same age.) While there they talked about a house that they really loved. They wanted us to see it. Of course we were more than happy to (and secretly really wanted to see it anyway!).

Here's a picture from the water park -- I love this of them. Cole is on the right. One of Noah's friends whom he likes to get in trouble with. Gotta love boys!

Back up a bit. Heather and Lee are getting married in September. They're living in an apartment right now and really really want a house. Neither have ever lived in a house since they've been "on their own". So this step was a big huge one just to begin the "looking" process. And their goal was to find something before the wedding date.

So we went with them to see the house, and to make a long story short, we loved it (you know, they don't do anything without Val's approval! tee-hee!) and they loved it all over again but even more, and so right then and there they put an offer on it. The guy took it and in just a few weeks they CLOSE on their new house! Talk about a fabulous birthday present. This is going to be quite an exciting year for Heather and Lee. And no one deserves that more than they do.


Happy Birthday, dear wonderful forever-loving friend. I love you!

Happy Day; Today & Always

May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire.

Happy Birthday, Chel! Love you.

Bringing in my birthday Oprah-fied.

Well, I am not feeling all too spiffy with my headache (I had a nurse friend email me and she thinks I have a sinus infection!!) and I have a TON to do work-wise and me-wise before we leave for Chicago tomorrow evening for my birthday getaway!

I don't think I'm going to have time to do my last post before I leave, so I'm going to extend the Val Quiz event until next Wednesday the 19th. The last post will take place probably on Monday evening or Tuesday. Please stay tuned!

Phew! That's a lot of weight taken off my shoulders! Thanks for letting me extend this but it really is only to your advantage, right?!

So yeah, it's my birthday on Sunday. I turn 3-2. As each year passes, I'm having a harder and harder time dealing with it. I know 32 is young, but I just do NOT feel so young anymore. I felt good at 30 still. Lately I've just felt "eh". Maybe it's because of the 31 hours of labor I was in with Maia or the fact that I expend so much energy trying to make my tongue curl in a "U" like both my husband and son can do -- both of whom like to rub it in! :c)

I may get a rejuvenation for life on Monday. Guess where we're going, guess where we're going!? OPRAH! Yes, to see a taping of OPRAH!

And who is going to be on Oprah? Simon Cowell from American Idol!!! Ohmygoodness you just can't get it any better than this!! American Idol is one of my very favorite shows! Hubby and I cannot miss a single episode of it -- ever! (Did you see it last night? I'm sooooo glad David H. is gone!)

I've been trying to get tickets for Oprah for YEARS! So it's a great birthday present. Maybe the BEST birthday present ever. Neil decided he doesn't have to get me anything else even though it is a FREE gift that I, myself, took the time to get! :c) Oprah always talks about how being in her 50's is the best time of her life. Hopefully she'll make me feel not so bad about being in my 30's :c) I can't WAIT.

Have a great weekend, friends! I'm really looking forward to my time away in the Windy City! Thanks for attending my party all week -- I've had the greatest time!

*** update *** before we leave tomorrow, I'm going to the doctor for my headache. After specifically reading about sinus infections, I definitely think this is what it is and I need medications asap. I have to be up to par for Ms. Winfrey!

Happy Birthday Grandma Martha!

Happy Birthday!! Hope it was fabulous!!

Happy Birthday, Papa Bill!

Since I was gone allll day yesterday, I didn't have time to do anything that wasn't Katheryne-Aaron wedding-related, so I'm one day late to say . . . .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PAPA/DAD!!!

Here's a few pics of the kids with him at Christmas.

Hope you had a really really great day!




If you would like to see more of our pictures from our Christmas, click on this link. (There's hundreds from most of December!)

Happy Birthday, Dad!

It's my dad's birthday today!

Here's dad as a tot. Isn't he cute? Now you can't tell me Noah does not look like his grandpa! (Jenn, you've always been right about what you've always said about Noah!)

Happy Birthday, Dad! I hope you gave yourself a good day with lots of time to catch up on reading, yard work and TV!

Love,
Valerie

Noah and grandpa a few years ago. Both fell asleep on the couch. I love this picture. Noah sure loves his grandpa.

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday to my very best friend in the entire world . . . the daddy to my children. You are the sunshine in my life, and I know, in our children's lives as well. Happy 31st birthday.

Love,
me





p.s. I'm going to miss my water birth this morning, but I'm really excited to say I will still get to photograph tonight this new life coming into the world today . Erin and I are going to go see him/her this evening(she doesn't know what she is having, although I dreamed it will be her 3rd boy) and Neil will then share a birthday with a new little friend of ours :c)

Missy-Poo, I love you!

My baby girl . . . she is a year older today. She is 2.

So many things are reminding me of 2 and 4 years ago, when I was pregant with my little dootles. Not just the fact that it's the week they were born, but because so many of my friends are having their babies or announcing their pregnancies or coming around me with their big ol beautiful bellies.

It's bittersweet because I absolutely loved being pregnant. I loved the kicks that I felt, even the ones that kept me awake at night, and believe it or not, those kicks never ever kept me from sleeping. I slept very well during my pregnancies (except towards the end, of course) and those kicks were theapeutic for me. They kept my heart and soul from worries . . . kept me knowing that my babies were okay. If my babies hadn't kicked and hiccuped like they did inside my belly, I would have gone ballistic.

I loved how I looked being pregnant. I loved being able to show off my belly because for once I felt it was beautiful. I loved the glow I had. I loved how my hair and skin and fingernails were stronger and more radiant. I loved that I got boobs.
Me, about to have my baby, and Jen, 6 months (exactly) behind me, pregnant and beautiful.

Of course there were things that I hated, like the high blood pressure (I was pre-eclampsic with Noah) in both pregnancies, the sciatic nerve pain, the weight gain (over 45 lbs with both my kids!) and my forgetfulness (like forgetting to take the pump nozzle out of my gas tank, then driving away and pulling the hose off the pump and driving over it --- yes, I did that), but I dealt with those things just fine. I love love loved being pregnant. I'd do it again. But I can't. Doctors orders.

So my birth, with Maia, not easy either. I had a doula (Leann, my angel and my forever friend!) and she was amazing. She helped get me through 31 (yes, 31) hours of labor. I went overnight with labor and could have gone into another night, but after a sonogram shortly after my epidural, it showed that probably nothing was going to get Maia's head engaged. She wanted to come out and her heart rate was going down. After 31 hours she was getting tired and I was getting tired. So we (all together) decided to take her by c-section before it became a true emergency again like it was with Mr. Noah.

I was awake this time. Of course my arms were strapped down and what I remember most is that feeling of having to throw up and feeling so very hot and sweaty because of the anesthesia. I remember the nurses saying "go ahead and throw up", but I couldn't. I remember Neil sitting behind my head. I remember the doctor saying "look at that hair" and I remember the nurses all guessing her weight before they pulled her out. (They were guessing 9 lbs and the doctor guessed 8 lbs 13 oz. She ended up being 8 lbs 3 oz.) I remember them bringing my baby girl to me and showing her to me. I could not hold her. I could not see her being cleaned off. I had to go down into recovery. So again, my birth experience sucked, but what could I do? At least she came safely to us and what I did experience was 1,000 times better than what I experienced with Noah.

But then I still didn't get to hold her for 2 whole days. Can you imagine? It was really rough. So she remained nameless for 2 days also. They thought she had a severe heart defect. After numerous tests with doctors in Peoria, they found that she has a boot-shaped heart, but nothing that will affect her -- we hope and pray. So they took her off oxygen and the feeding tubes and the heart monitors and we finally, finally, got to hold her.The closest photographic memory I have of either of my children being cleaned up after birth. Then she gets swiped away to Level II :(

And now today, all that is just a memory, but a very strong memory. Another one to make me, and our family, stronger. And future memories I have I hope will be even stronger. She is my 2nd little miracle. She is my baby girl. She is my princess. I love her more than words can say. And today, I wish her a very happy 2nd birthday. I am just amazed at what we have been through to get our children, but I'm even more amazed . . . incredibly blessed . . .just to have them here. It's all been a miracle.

Love you, Missy-Poo. Happy Birthday!

Baby Maia and mommy with grandpa. He passed 1 year ago. We really really miss him.

4 years ago today . . .

. . . a baby boy was born, and his name was Noah.

Noah was born at 10:52 p.m. via true emergency c-section. It was one of the scariest days of my life.

After 10 hours of labor, I had had enough and had an epidural. Just minutes after the epi, Noah's heart rate shot down, around the 40's, and the nurses were concerned. Sometimes all it takes is to turn mamma over on a different side so that she is not laying on important blood vessels, but that did not work for this mamma. It would not come back up for anything and they got very concerned. They called my doctor and he said to take me to emergency "stat" (first time I had ever heard that word in real life). I was starting to freak. Next thing I know I'm being wheeled down the hallways to surgery. After this all I remember is the nurses putting a mask on me and lots of touching going on around my belly. I don't remember anything after this because I was put completely out. Neil was not even allowed in the room. (That's still hard to take knowing he was outside the operating room and not able to be with me or our new baby.) :(

Thankfully, Noah was born healthy, weighing 6 lbs 10 oz. The doctor still reminds me today that he saved Noah's life. He said he's never drove so fast to the hospital before, running numerous red lights. He was there in 6 minutes. (He told me later that he has true emergency c-sections twice a year at most.) The nurses had already began opening me up. Which is why my scarring today is so bad and why my doctor thinks having more children is not a highly recommended thing (and today that's after having had 2 emergency c-sections). My recovery was also quite intense because of the very quick incision to get Noah out. I was to be on bed rest for 6 weeks, never to go in the car or do any exercise. I really couldn't do anything much for the first 4 weeks. It was weeks before I could stand up to take a shower. I had one of those chairs that sit in the shower to take my showers with. It was that painful for me to stand up. But, I really didn't care because I knew how much of a miracle baby Noah was. In more than one way.
Right after I first got to hold my boy. I'm still pretty out of it . . . which is probably apparent.
What a sweet, perfect boy.
And this is daddy changing one of his first ever diapers. Awwww . . .

So many of you know, but many of you do not, that we tried having a baby for 3 years. In that time period I got pregnant 3 times and lost 3 babies. I got OHSS (ovarian hyper stimulation twice and on bed rest for 2 weeks, was on fertility drugs), saw a Reproductive Endocrinologist for 2 years, had numerous tests, attempted IUI twice, among other things. It was the longest 3 years of my life. My first loss was at 12 weeks. And that was the hardest day of my life, hearing the news that my baby was not living. It felt like some dream (nightmare) that I was going to wake up from. Those 3 years were not easy; actually, the hardest thing I have ever been through. And then we had Noah. Another very scary time. My recovery in the "dungeon" all alone was over 2 hours long because I had to wake up from anesthesia and then get my bearing straight. When they finally wheeled me up to my room where my family waited and they handed me my baby all cleaned up (I missed all of that, as did Neil), I remember still being out-of-it, but I was enough "with it" to cry. I was very emotional before I even got to my room because I knew I had had my baby but did not even know what he looked like and they told me he was healthy, but I wanted to see that for myself, and well, the emotions were just more than I could handle.

We knew at 5-1/2 weeks that we were pregnant again by what the u/s showed and the pregnancy seemed to be viable, but we didn't know for certain till we went back for this u/s at 8 weeks, and Alexis was with me for this one. One of the best moments of my life. Look at that HEARTBEAT! (Something I had never ever seen before; it was amazing.)
Me and Nat at a wedding I shot when I was 16 weeks pregnant.
This picture was taken on a polaroid so the quality isn't too spectacular . . but I'm 20 weeks here.
And this was about 2 weeks before I had Noah . . . at the pumpkin patch. How appropriate since I looked like I was carrying one in my shirt!

I had a difficult time nursing him. He just did not take to it, but I was adamant to do it and do it for as long as possible even if he wasn't a champ nurser and even if it was painful for me. So I did. For 5-1/2 months. But during that time, Noah was also colic - for 8-1/2 months, and that was a pretty hard time. For both Neil and I. There were many many times I didn't think I was cut out to be a mother and there were times I was asking myself if I should give him back. Nothing seemed to be going "right" and he wasn't an easy baby, and he didn't sleep through the night till he was well over a year. Actually, he was about 2.

As the time passes, I realize how special Noah is. The love I have for him just exceeds what I ever thought I could hold for a child. And having gone through what I did -- the infertility to his birth, almost losing him to Noah's colic-ness -- really honestly did make me stronger. It made me appreciate my husband more. It made me appreciate the gift of parenting and the gift of children and the gift of life. I questioned many times whether I was cut out to be a mother. But there are moments that make me know I was meant to be one, and meant to be one to this amazing little boy.
Our family when Noah was 6 months old.
Mommy and her boy.

Today, as I walked Noah into his school, every kid and teacher in the school was standing there waiting for him to enter, and when he did, all immediately bolted out happy birthday ending with his teacher saying "God gave us a special boy and his name is Noah". That moment reinforced any sort of questions I may have had about my ability to be a mom and be a good mom, because Noah stood there radiating with happiness and smiles. He was proud to be alive and proud to be a birthday boy and it made his mommy very very proud to the point that tears did not stop. It was such a little moment, but it was an overwhelming one. Those feelings, and his appreciation of them singing, made me feel like I'm doing something right raising my boy.

Noah is so incredibly special. I love him so much. He has been the biggest gift and lesson in my life. He makes me so happy and so proud and today I wish my beautiful 4-year old boy, a true gift from Heaven, a very happy birthday.

Love you, baby boy. (And as Noah says "I'm not a baby, I'm NOAH.")

Happy Birthday, Alexis!

Sorry I'm a day late, AJ. I think I slept most of yesterday away, and then when trying to work on some pictures on my desktop it froze up (something that rarely happens on Macs) and I cannot get it to work now. I keep seeing flashing things on my screen, then the fan on the puter gets really loud like it's going to explode. I am beyond stressed, beyond unsure what to do or think. THIS. IS. BAD.

So, that is why I didn't get a chance to call you, or email you or even get on my blog to post anything. But throughout the feeling of losing my sanity, I still did think of you (and I thought of you while in GA, ask Chel!!). I hope you had a great day, dear friend. You know how I feel about you, so I won't post a long blurb here. Happy birthday, my dearest. Love you.

Now can you help me make my desk top work? I am in disbelief as I sit here about to leave on a photo shoot stressed. Lord help me now!

(picture above . . . AJ's 30th surprise b-day thrown by Jamie and I . . . and me, preggie with Maia Lizzy)

Thinking of you today, Alexis.

(please take time to read Alexis's post, also . . .)

Happy Birthday, Allison. xxoo

I have to brag . . .

. . . . about my sis, Michelle. She is not only someone who just married into the same family as I did, but she is also a dear friend . . . a best friend. I would have picked her as a best friend even if we didn't have hubbies who were brothers. We share so much . . . our backgrounds (farm girls . . .small schools . . . close-knit friends and family . . .), we share Lake Sara (who would have thought?!), we share our love of dorky blue-eyed blond-haired skrony guys - oh wait, that's just Neil (hehe). We are almost the same person with the same morals, goals, sensitive feelings, and love for our children . . . life. But yet we aren't the same person and still respect each other for what we each are. I would have picked her out of a million other girls to be my friend, and luckily I got her without even trying, and as a sister! Thanks for the great birthday wishes and posting an entry just for me. What a fabulous belated birthday pressie. I'll take and extension of my birthday any day if that means I no longer have sick kids and can still have some ice cream and cake! (Can I use you as an excuse to go to DQ?) So sorry our sick kids kept us from seeing each other. . . . till next time! And you know we'll be talking to each other soon . . .

(pic above is me, Ashley - our other sister!, and Michelle taken in Hawaii in 2004)

Little surprises.

They say if life hands you lemons, make lemonade, right?! Well, yesterday I did just that. While I couldn't go get a pedicure or go out to eat or go shopping or spend time with friends like I had hoped, I did make the most of the day yesterday.

When both my kids were sleeping, which rarely ever happens anymore, I made myself a big bowl of chocolate frozen yogurt, piled on top of two broken up Girl Scout Thin Mints (my fave!) topped with Hershey's chocolate syrup and dark chocolate Easter M&M's. Mmmmm . . . it was yummy, and here is that treat, now gone gone in my tummy tummy tum.

Then at the end of that pleasant mommy time with no children throwing up or needing me, my mom called, asked if she could come by and brought me a hot much-needed Vanilla Latte (non-fat of course to compliment the dessert I had right before that) from Starbucks. She had also brought me a wonderfully smelling tangerine candle and some treats for my kids. (Thanks so much, mom! You're the best!) By the end of the afternoon, I had had 3 of my favorite tasty treats - ice cream, Starbucks coffee, and Diet Dr. Pepper. I was happy. Who could honestly ask for more?!

I also got a great treat in my tulips that have been sitting not bloomed for a week now on my table. Well, yesterday they began to open (see pic above) and wow they are beautiful!! Added another smile to my day. Nothing much more exciting (to me) than flowers blooming with a surprise of color and freshness. I so love flowers.

And then, I had a couple phone calls or text messages from friends wishing me a happy birthday - Kristin, Katie, Heather, Jamie & Alexis, and birthday cards and emails from a handful of people as well (Thanks, everyone, for remembering me!) And when Neil got home from picking up Noah's prescription last night, he also brought home two bouquets of flowers for me and a bottle of wine. What a great hubby. I'm so incredibly lucky.

So, in the mist of mommyhood trials and set backs, there are happy endings. So, Happy Birthday to me, and Happy St. Patty's Day to everyone!

I think we are on the mend. Everyone is sleeping (yes, it's 1:00 in the afternoon - we didn't get much sleep last night!) and so I'm enjoying another peaceful quiet moment. Sure, I wish I were in Columbus shopping with Alexis, but hey, it could be worse. I'm just thankful we didn't have a hospital visit last night or this moring. It really started to look like we were heading that route. We still have to cross our fingers where Maia is concerned, but so far, so good. Phew.

One of the secrets of life is to make stepping-stones out of stumbling blocks.
-Jack Penn

Adversity is another way to measure the greatness of individuals. I never had a crisis that didn't make me stronger.
-Lou Holtz

Happy Birthday to me. (Not.)

I should be in the car right now driving Noah and myself to Ohio to see our dearest friends. But I am not. And that is because Noah is sick. Yep, he is sick. Puking his guts out sick. Started throwing up about 2 a.m. and still is now at 9:20. Can't keep down Children's Pepto, water or Pedialyte. Has nothing in his system so he keeps throwing up foamy goo. He has a slight fever, too. Maia is fine, thank God.

This sucks. Really really badly. Alexis has already left and is past Virginia. She can't turn back now. I have never felt so disappointed before. Makes me cry. I feel so bad for my baby boy, but I also feel bad for Alexis and Sami. I keep praying this this will be over in a couple hours so that we can still leave. I was so so so looking forward to this time for AJ & I, and also for Noah & Sami. They deserve this time, so do we, and it's not going to happen very often when they live in North Carolina and she has to travel through and around mountains to get anywhere west of her.

Time to go clean up more goo. Happy happy birthday to me.

Edited in purple pedialyte color in lieu of my baby boy to say: we are definitely not going. Kept throwing up all morning, took a bath, then threw up again. Fever of 100. He is now sleeping curled up on the floor. Alexis is so so so understanding (why would I think any differently??) and said to promise her to go out tonight for dinner or go get a pedicure for my birthday. She is even making me check in so she knows what I did. I have a feeling I won't do anything. I will feel badly for Neil to come directly home from work, then take care of two kids, one being sick, and then send me off for some fun. I actually think I would rather be here parked on the couch watching my basketball games (gooo Illini . . . go Saluki's!) . . . but of course only with a glass of wine in hand, or better yet, a margarita. That will make all things peachy-keen. Almost.

Have fun without me, AJ. Will miss you guys. Already do.

Off to Columbus, Ohio!

Rest of today I will be packing packing packing! I hate packing but I love this reason why! I am driving with Noah to Columbus, Ohio to see Alexis & Sami! She lives in North Carolina now, but her family is from the Columbus area, so we are meeting her and Sami there (her mom taking her older two, Chris and Em, for the weekend) Friday late afternoon! Plans are to stay in a hotel with a pool right next to awesome shopping . . . oh my goodness this is going to be so much fun! Hoping to shop till we drop (of course, two things we do so very well together) as long as Sam and Noah can stand us to (!), eat (oh wait, another thing we do really well together), gab (oh wait, still another!), and then of course all the fun things we have planned for Noah and Sami (Jack Hanna's zoo, CEC . . .).

It's also my birthday tomorrow (happy birthday to me!), and I'll be driving most of that day, but I can deal. We bought a portable DVD player for Noah and I have a few new games for him, too, and I have my ipod and my new Regina Spektor CD, so I am anticipating a good drive. Except (now this is crazy and what are the chances?!) that both the U of I and Southern Illinois (SIU) are playing in the NCAA basketball tourney which is in no other than Columbus, Ohio! So the traffic might be really really awful. Hoping not, but I'm going into it thinking the worst. On the flip-side, I don't really mind all that much because I like these people. They could be fellow alum! (I went to SIU and this is huge huge huge for them because 1 -I/they think they could go really really far and 2 - if SIU wins their game and U of I also wins their game, they would play each other! And really, that game would be in SIU's favor, and how freaking exciting would that be if they did win?!?!) So . . . I have to pack orange and blue and maroon and white in lieu of both my teams!

Well, "see" you all next week, . . . gooooo Illini!! . . . . and gooooo Saluki's!! . . . and . . . . happy 31st to me! (I also cannot forget my birthday hospital buddy, Jamie! We were born on the same day in the same hospital! My dear friend, Amberley - also 31, also shares the day and so does my friend, Randy - 30!! Happy Birthday, all of you!!! Love ya!) Well, off to patching a tire, getting my oil changed, cleaning out my car, & buying a few groceries. (You didn't know I had that motivation, did you?) See you, Brad, Chel & Ella on Monday! (They are coming home for the weekend, but Monday we get to spend the day with them. Have a safe trip to Illinois!)

Thought to end:
Life is what we make it.
Always has been, always will be.
-Grandma Moses

Rent on Tour 2007

Disclosure: This is in no way to make Alexis hate me any more (hehehe).

I had the amazing opportunity to see Rent on tour last night with my mom for my birthday. It was AMAZING. I cannot even describe in words how great it was. If you haven't seen the movie, I urge you to, and then go out and see the production live. You will want to see it again. I do. (It's coming to Chicago this spring - anyone in?)

We had dinner before with big yummy margaritas and it was really fun. Then off to the production we went. Saw all the cool tour buses which made me really wanted to jump on one but then I probably wouldn't have gotten to see the play. But they had two tour buses and 4 semi trucks for the equipment. Wow, that's a lot. How fun it would be just to sneak on really quick and see what a tour bus is like, or to even be a fly on the wall? How fun.

So the performance, like I said, was absolutely amazing. If you don't know about Rent, you should go find out about it. This website has all the latest like photos of the current Broadway cast, the on tour cast, the tour schedule and even the history of Rent.

I think my two favorite performers from this cast were Declan (who played Roger - he is from the UK and he is amazing). Declan has a CD out and I really really really want to go out and buy it now. He has a really astonishing voice and I'm going to be on the search for it this coming weekend!


Here he is (Declan) in an actual performance of "Glory". I looooove this song.

My other fave was Melvin Bell who played Angel. He gave such a great performance as well . . . funny, adorable, so . . . cross-dresser fabulous! My mom's favorite was Krystal Brown's, who played Mimi in her "Please Take Me" performance. (She was played by Rosario Dawson in the original.) She was so amazing also. It's just so hard to pick a favorite scene. It was all just that great.

The stage before Rent began.

Mom and me!

One of my favorite scenes when the cast sang "Seasons of Love".

Seasons of Love being sung by the original cast in a 10 year anniversary concert

To end, one of my favorite lines from "Another Day" . . . I think it's a great life lesson, and really, the way we must look at every single day in our own lives . . .

There's only this
Forget regret
Or life is yours to miss
No other road
No other way
No day but today

Okay, so that was a lot about Rent, I know, but I do think it goes above and beyond any other Broadway (off or on) that I have seen (Phantom of the Opera, Vagina Monologues, Rocky Horror Picture Show, & Miss Saigon)!