Wayne and Rebecca Madsen

This semester is slower than usual. That's a bonus. I get to spend more time with Rebecca; I like that too. We woke up late this morning, and by late I mean that we rolled out of bed at 8:30 and took our time getting ready for school/work. The day has been warm and sunny; short sleeves weather. I didn't have to dress up for work today; I usually have to wear button white shirt and tie, but today, I'm wearing normal clothes. Not only that, but we got donuts. And then, after we did nothing for the morning, some people came around with a huge tray of cookies and milk.

While listening to "Hands Down" by Dashboard Confessional in my car, with the windows down, I realized that I was having a really good day. Maybe it was from the cookies, or the donuts, or the sudden warm sunny weather, but today is an amazing day. It was one of those moments that we, as human beings, just treasure. It's times like driving around in my car on a nice day that just make things melt away.

Here's a list of some of my "euphoric" moments: those good times that just make the world around me and time disappear; when things just slow down and you can enjoy everything.

• Dave Tedesco and I were working on a film project until late, late, late...right around our old neighborhood. It was a perfect night, one where we were doing stuff and didn't care how late it was or what we did: the stars were out and we were having a good time. It was the stuff movies are made of. That's probably why we made a movie of it. (by the way, this happened a lot while filming with Dave)
• I went over to Mckell's house in Provo. He was waiting for someone to come over and drop off some film information for him. He said "I need someone to wrestle." It was a day just like today: beautiful, warm, perfect. We wrestled until we were so exhausted we couldn't do anything but lie in the grass and barely breathe. He told me he couldn't believe how old we had gotten.
• Around Valentine's day, Jen and Emily came over to my apartment because they had nothing better to do. I had just gotten a package from my parents in the mail and we opened it together and ate WAY too much candy. Jen put on the ridiculous valentine heart pijamas my parents mailed me and we took pictures. I don't remember what else we did, but it was a truly wonderful day.
• Summer days at work with Cyrus and Mike always ended in us playing video games on the computers for much longer than we should have. We'd create a local server and play deathmatch Halo for hours. Once, we caught the other guys in the office online playing UT and laughed our heads off.
• Elder Bowen was a stiff missionary and too stressed out for my style. I loved the dude, but our housing situation was horrible (we were being evicted) and couldn't find any place to live, which was a full time operation. This made him even more uptight about things. One day, we were walking around and I made some comment using my Sol Rosenberg voice. He stopped, paused, and then just doubled over laughing. After that, we stayed up late at night laughing about the Jerky Boys and seeing life in a new way. It was good.
• Luna and I drove out to Detroit, without any purpose or aim. We just went driving. And we got to Ellis Isle. And I took lots of pictures. A homeless guy was feeding apples to a deer that was waltzing around the island. And I fed an apple or two to a wild deer. On our way back, Luna said "You're like heroin." It made sense to me and I felt pretty dang good.
• Rebecca and I woke up early on our first day in Hawai'i, so I could go see if there were any sea turtles. At first, I was let down because there weren't any in the tide pools. We walked out onto the volcanic rock, scraped up our feet and waded through the tide pools. I like wading with Rebecca. By the time we were halfway out to the middle, we noticed that there were two sea turtles lying on the center outcropping of rock. We waded right up to them. I have always wanted to be right next to sea turtles. It was so peaceful.
• My freshman year, I lived on the edge of 9th east. I put all my paints out on the balcony, and laid out there, watching the clouds race by and listening to the cars drive by. The sound of cars reminded me of waves. I fell asleep. Good.
• Matt called me up and told me we were going to go listen to Allen Ginsberg read some of his poetry in Ann Arbor. Kevin came along because neither of us were old enough to drive without our parents. And we wouldn't get home until midnight. Kevin didn't have a ticket but he got in for free because he volunteered as an usher. After the show, we asked him to go backstage and see if Allen G. would come out afterwards to sign autographs. Only about 15 people hung around and we kept moving to the back of the line. Eventually, it was just us and him...we sat and talked. Our friend, Coco, cried when she got to face him, in person. I shook hands with history. The next day, I went to get a poetry book signed by Patti Smith, and Allen G. was there. He called me by name and said hello. I couldn't believe it.
• Similar experience. Josh called me up and told me we were going to see Philip Glass at Borders. At this point in time, I wasn't clear on who Philip Glass was. I sat with my sketchbook, waiting for him to walk in. We were on the front row. He wore glasses. At first, I wrote down that I thought he was British. He isn't. I asked him some questions about working with Brian Eno. Josh and I tried to get enough courage to ask him to come with us to lunch. He looked like he was in a hurry, so we didn't. It was still an amazing experience.
• In seattle, Rebecca and I went with Robert and Camille to the Olympic National Forest. On a hike, we went deep into some isolated old growth area with waterfalls. It was more mystical than any place I've ever been. The air itself was rich with the feeling of mythology, history, and beauty. Rebecca and I climbed down to the water and sat under a boulder.
• My 27th birthday. Nothing special about turning 27, but Rebecca made it into the best day. It was perfect weather in Seattle. We went out to eat Greek food. We got to see a Troll under a bridge. We went to Gas Works Park and watched the sun set over the city. We spent the rest of the evening with our good friends. Read about it here, if you want the details.
• Any point in time, when I was with Rebecca and we were at the branch library in Seattle. It was like birthdays and christmas all rolled into one.
• The first day I was in Alabama. Dwayne, Matt and I shared a room. We woke up and did absolutely nothing all day long. We inflated a plastic reindeer. We drove around with the reindeer's head out the window. It took us hours to get out of the bedroom, just from sitting around talking with Rebecca M. Then we went and rode a bike down a very steep hill. I thought I was going to die. And we climbed into caves around her house. A wonderful way to spend spring.
• Road trips with Rebecca. They're long. They're at times, painful. But whether we're driving to Oregon or to Virginia, the hours pass and I reflect on life and the beauty around me. And I get to talk with Rebecca for hours. I like that too.
• There's a couple summer experiences that fall into this category. The summer Rebecca and I spent in Seattle fits this. It seemed like every day was a "euphoric" moment. Also, the 8 months I spent living on my own in Los Altos and all the time I spent with Andrew. The trip we took to Arizona in his 1982 Porsche 944. The late nights we stayed up watching movies and hanging out with Pam and Jeremy. The ice cream eating contest. Santa Cruz. The friends I made in both places slowed down time for me.
• There's a certain time dialation that happens when I go with Jon and Faith to Florence. I can smell it in the air. I can feel it in the sand. I remember the first time Jon, Faith, Rebecca and I went to the coast together. It was like my head was jerked out of reality.
• Listening to Rebecca read Where the Wild Things Are to me. The whole world stops turning for a couple minutes.