I wake up yesterday morning...it's April 23. That date seems significant...yet it takes me a few minutes to remember why.
It was on this day, 13 years ago, I took the plunge.
It was a marriage that lasted nearly a decade, and came to an end a few years ago...one from which my three awesome kids were born.
So later that afternoon, I'm speaking to my ex-hubby...a basketball coach... on the phone about the kids, when I blurt out, 'happy anniversary!'
....I'm wondering the appropriateness of this spontaneous comment...but what else do you say? Do you remember? Acknowlege? Celebrate the fact that at one time you were committed to someone who you loved and loved you?
My gut feeling, is yes.
We took a sec to reminiesce about that day...how we decided to tie the knot on a Tuesday and by that Saturday, we were married.
How he limped down the aisle after getting injured on the basketball court the day before...so painful he ended up in a wheelchair later that night before the celebrations ended....and, bless his heart....NBA playoffs were of course, going on at the time...so a big screen was not far away at any point of our special night.
Any surprise we are not still together???? (I write this with a smile)
Bottom line, I'm sure a lot of people may be able to relate to this perhaps-awkward moment...but life moves us along and when we look back to who we were and decisions we made in the past to where we are now, hopefully we've grown and have many good thoughts to remember about relationships, along with the differences we share.
This month I celebrate another anniversary....it's been a whole year since my current guy and I have been dating. Happy Anniversary!

Posted by Heather Moore at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

At what age do we reach the top of the hill??? You know...the moments preceeding the black day where we are officially 'over' it?
I'm still climbing, I think, but the air is definitely getting thinner up here, if you know what I mean.
Yes, I have a birthday coming up.
It's Monday.
I'm wondering if my new biological number still falls under the 'mid-30's' age range. It's seems to be debatable.
So now, simple things I always took for granted.... such as knees that bend.... I'm starting to appreciate more and more.
I heard on a fashion segment the other day...'if you're over 35, you have no business wearing short skirts...just above the knee is your new length.' Ouch!
Oh, and the UVA rays I happily soaked up on Huntington Beach in the late 80's...are coming back to haunt me...the effects of radiation showing up 20 years later...just when I'm trying to hold it all together....darnit!
But the good news here...besides the latest laser technologies and beauty treatments, and age-defying this-and-that....is hopefully I've reached a point where I'm good with myself...thankful for my family, friends, the good genes my folks passed down...and a great job working with good people. (Having a younger boyfriend doesn't hurt, either)
In two days we go high-def...which could mean high-stress if you focus on the fact that viewers will be able to see every freckle, wrinkle and pore.
But what you see is what you get...a closer look and hopefully a better picture of who we are...in more ways than one!

Posted by Heather Moore at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Okay...so last we chatted my big guy had just gotten his permit, and was doing his best to give me a heart attack during mother/son driver's training.
Fast forward three months, through the formal driver's training classes (with the books and the guy who teaches you how to parallel park, etc...) to this past weekend, where Rocky took part in a program called Driver's Edge.
It's a story I've covered for 3-TV the past couple of years, where professional Indy racecar drivers volunteer their time to help teenagers learn how to control their cars under hazardous situations, likely to come up while they're out there on the road.
It's kind of an MTV-style approach...cool music, talented professional drivers, usually donated BMW's and livesaving information.... presented to teens in a way that's fun, yet hits home when they're feeling invincible behind the wheel.
Following the national program in Vegas, then here in Phoenix...I was so excited this year when my own son was old enough to attend...this past Saturday in southern California.
Needless to say, Rock learned a lot. He was like a sponge, soaking up how to perform a quick lane-change if he needed to...understanding how ABS brakes work on the skid pad...knowing what to do if his car starts to spin out and loose traction. He also listened closely as the California Highway Patrol officer talked about citable offenses...and had the kids try to walk a line with goggles simulating someone who is drunk....no control! They looked under the hood, learned all the necessary fluids, mirror positions, and hand placement on the wheel...
There were taped testimonials of kids critically injured, barely able to tell their story from their hospital beds about the guilt of surviving a crash their friends did not....each of them saying the same exact words...they never thought it could happen to them.
After four hours, Rocky walked away and was so impressed by the program, he thanked the instructors...and me, for taking him.
I know this won't make him the best driver ever...but definitely more aware...and more confident, because knowledge is power.
It's still scary...but every little bit of training and education we can give our kids before giving them the green light to hit the streets, I believes gives us, as parents, a little more comfort handing them the keys and letting go.
Hoping someday soon, this type of hands-on program is a requirement for all young drivers....and, it's free! To learn more....visit driversedge.org.

Posted by Heather Moore at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

To all the parents who have taught or are teaching their firstborn to drive...I feel you!

Continue reading "Rocky Road" »

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Jake and Lola.

These beautiful doggies are the two newest additions at home....and every single day, they've managed to find their way into numerous conversations, tricky situations...and dig their way deeper into our hearts.

Continue reading "Gotta Love 'Em!" »

Posted by Heather Moore at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am sooooo lucky!!

On my way home from southern California last weekend (where my kids and I watched a nail-biter of a football game, as my USC Trojans barely got by ASU) my plane from Burbank to Phoenix was delayed....as usual.

Continue reading "Lucky in Sin City...not what you think!" »

Posted by Heather Moore at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's just after 5am. Bedtime for those of us on the lateshift is generally around midnight or later. No, I'm hardly ever up this early. Can't sleep, not sure why.
Yesterday was my official day to begin my blogging adventures -- It was also September 11. The newsroom, needless to say, was a busy one.
There were stories of reflection to tell, of tributes, and of memories from locals who had been there...then there's the father who can't let go of his daughter, who was coming home after graduating college and never made it...
The heartbreaking details five years later, still bringing tears to a lot of eyes, including the choked-up anchor who has to keep the show moving by reading the next story...no time to really be sad and break down. I know the feeling.
We heard a lot of answers to 'Where were you that day?'...from the President to the governor to several network personalities...a question that forces all of us to go back to that Tuesday morning on a day no one really can forget.
I was an early morning field reporter at the time in Sacramento...two blocks from California's state capitol. I was usually in the station by 2:30 am, then out the door to report live from a scene. That day, for some reason, my story kept me inside the station. My first inkling something was wrong, was a producer screaming for master control to take CNN's liveshot of a smoking World Trade Center tower...it was just before 6am.
As the morning crew watched, and tried to piece together information for the anchors...something about a possible plane hitting the building....we witnessed the second plane hit as it happened.
At that moment, our hearts hit the floor, as somehow we knew this would be a day like no other...the implications greater than we all knew in that split second.
Of course, like many networks, we stayed on CNN for the better part of the day. In the meantime, every available news crew was called in and sent out to get umpteen angles of the story...what did this mean 3,000 miles away... for the capital of the fifth largest economy in the world? Were the dams, power plants, nearby landmark bridges in San Francisco and even local malls at risk?
My photographer and I were sent to hotel lobbies, the laundry mat, and nearby gyms...to get reaction from early risers who stopped everything they were doing and were now glued to the television sets.
Some were crying, most were in total disbelief, but no one could turn away, not even for a second. It was with a couple of older men at a raquetball club, we learned the Pentagon had been hit....they immediately likened what was going on to the cowardly attack on Pearl Harbor....one of them had been there.
In the newsroom five years later...the challenge of re-telling this still-unbelievable story.
Meaningfully looking back, and forward....with a respectful amount of reflection and emotion, but not going overboard...being redundant or trite.
I don't know if we will ever feel like we do this story or the thousands who died, justice...but we continue to try...and we will never forget.
No use going back to bed now...I'm up.

Posted by Heather Moore at 6:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)