Signs. I'm not talking about Mel Gibson.

My blog following, as small as it may be, is the greatest audience of all time because I have recently been talking with some of my friends... er... I mean, my fans, and they have been giving me some great topics that they want Stejamoe to speak about. Yes, I just referred to myself in the third person. Its my blog and I can do what I want.

So, last night I spoke with a good friend who is in a bit of a love conundrum and we talked out her predicament. Long story short, she met a great guy who has given her all the initial signs that he's interested, but now is leaving it up to her to make the next move, and that move takes a lot guts and is best accompanied with a vodka tonic. Since my own good relationship is a result of me making both the first AND second move (sans vodka, thank you very much), my advice to her was to tuck her pride in her pocket, go out on a limb and if it went well she would represent all the strong women out there and have a wonderful man in her life, and if it didn't go well, I would be the only person to know and hate the loser guy forever. We ended the conversation with her committing to make the next move and promising that she would keep me updated in regards to whether I would: a) be making a new friend with the wonderful man she would now be dating or b) making a loser guy's life a living Hell with my crafty ways (you mess with my friends, you mess with me, and its just so darn fun to mess with stupid boys' heads).

This morning I get an email from my love conundrummed friend asking me, "do you believe in signs?". (I know that "condrummed" is not a word, but it should be.) She proceeds to tell me that after our female empowering conversation last night, she pondered our discussion, took a deep breath and suddenly experienced various signs that were the equivalent of a vodka tonic, which then inspired her to be the strong, independent woman that she is and make the next move. The success of this move is still to be determined, but in the meantime, she's relying on my fabulous advice (again, its my blog and I can say what I want) and the signs she experienced, which has led to this blog post and questions what are signs and do you believe in them?

What is a sign? I believe a sign can be a hint, a warning or a divine clue that inspires you to make both trivial and difficult decisions. For a trivial example, I've been trying to cut back on Starbucks to both shed a few extra pounds and save a few extra bucks. The other day I received a Starbucks card from my boss and took it as a sign that I should visit my dealer (aka the Starbucks Barista) and buy a mocha because after all, the drink would be free and I considered the gift card to be a hint that I should treat myself to a cup of love.

An example of a more significant sign would be when I ran into my now boyfriend 3.5 years ago when he was just a hot guy who I met only for a moment, never thinking I would see again among 42,000 college students, and took the second random run-in as a sign that I needed to ask him out on a date.

I also think a sign can be an indicator that you made either a good or bad decision. An example for that would be me starting this blog because it wasn't a sign that inspired me to start it - to be honest, I just wanted a creative outlet - but it has been all the positive feedback and all the resulting conversations from my posts that I consider to be a sign to keep investing my time and thoughts into it. Now, if I were to find a horse's head in my bed tonight, I would take that as a sign to STOP blogging.

Do I believe in signs? Sure. Why not? As I mentioned, I relied on a sign to make the first move with my now boyfriend and by doing so, I was able to create my own love filled and promising future. If I didn't take that sign, perhaps the only man in my life would be "Scary Train Boy" (see October 19th 2007 post) and I'd forever regret not going on out a limb and asking that hot guy out. I've relied on signs and gut feelings for a lot of important decisions so I have to pay homage to the concept, but when it comes down to it, a sign is just a more romantic, magical version of an excuse to do something that you want to do, but just need validation for - and there is nothing wrong with that.

I realize that some signs are very freaky, and my good friend who inspired this post has some very valid and strange examples that would justify her signs as being divinely sent, but I don't want these signs she experienced to take away from the fact that she just did a very brave and commendable thing on her own. I think signs are like your dad waiting in the pool with his arms outstretched as the toddler version of yourself takes a deep breath and dives in. In the end, your dad was a sign that you'd be safe, but you still had use your own muscles and bravery to take that leap.

So to my love conundrummed friend - whether you rely on signs, excuses, friendly advice or just your own instinct, never let it diminish the strength of your decision because in the end, sign or no sign, I know you would have made the right choice.

I'm going to take the length of this blog post as a sign to get back to work!