Another Twist of Fate

Another strange and sad turn occurred on the 26th. My Brother-in-law's long time friend took his own life along with his brother. Life can be strange sometime. Turn around and hug the person sitting next to you.

Four Years

Thing 1: " Is today July 26?". Thing 2: "Yes". Today is July 26, 2009. Four years ago today, on a hot, muggy July day, I buried my father. It's been four very long years. I'm not saying that they've been bad years, but they just feel long. When I look at the boys, it seems like time has flown by. They are 8 and 9 now, when did that happen? But when I think of the last time I saw my father, when I realize it was only four years ago, I can't help but think that it's been more like ten or fifteen years. Why is that? Why is it that happy, fun things seem to zip by in the blink of an eye, but those moments that hurt they seem to take forever to move away from. Some very special people remembered the day he passed and got in touch with me, they just remembered and let me know they were thinking of me. How lucky am I to have people like that in my life. I didn't have to post it and go looking for them. They came to me.

In a circle of life kind of moment, today is my brother and sister in-law's 6th wedding anniversary. It was also the bridal shower for my cousin. Had my Mom still been here, she would have been there with me. It just occurred to me, actually, that every girl sitting at that table had her mother sitting at the table with us. How about that. It also would have been my Mom's birthday today. Doc and I recently went to an anniversary party for my cousin's parents. Her mom was my Mom's first cousin. It was the first function I had been to that my parents should have attended. That was harder than I thought it was going to be. Life goes on though. We keep loved ones in our hearts, and meet new people and make new memories. If you are missing someone today, embrace his or her memory and look to make new memories with the people who surround you.

We Now Return to the Regularly Scheduled Programming

Okay, so I will no longer be writing about my running here. I started another blog dedicated to that. So now we go back to your regular programming. As soon as I get back from my cousin's bridal shower. Happy Sunday to ya!!

How's the running going?

Oh I am so glad you asked. It's at a standstill for the moment, work and a cold got in the way this week, but on any given day I can give a thousand excuses for not running. I am envious of the people that can say, I'm gonna start running, and by God they do and do it very well. I am considering going out on my own just to prove to myself that I can do it on my own. It's such a mental sport. If you can't get out of your brain, you aren't going to make it. And I'm all up in my brain, so it's hard and I have zero ambition to push myself. I have a hard time with my breathing right now and I can slow down to get myself back together, but you know what, it sucks seeing everyone pull so far away from me. Waaaaah, I know, poor me. Let's get the violins out. So I will buck up and push through my little slump. When I look at the fact that never in 36 years, did I ever really try to run, I'm doing ok. When I look at it realistically, I'm really am doing great. One thing you can be you never have to worry about with me, is over training. I tend to err on the side of not training, which makes training a little difficult. I did run/walk another race in addition to our Gaspee Day 5k (34:39, thank you very much). A four mile one (48:30, ouch)....it was a beautiful day out, I started and finished the race, so all is well.

I guess I can see how people get into marathons. This is how I see it happening. You run a 5k, and then a four mile race comes up, if you can do 3.1, you can do four, right? Then you see a 10k, well if you did 4 then how hard is it to do 6? Then you see a 10 mile, then a half marathon and so on. I can see how it can happen, though I don't see it biting me in that way. I'll do what I can when I can. I'll set goals and do my best to reach them. I'll call myself crazy every time I run, and feel happy when the run is over. I'll do it because I tend to quit, and dammit, I need to finish what I start for once. I think I need to put Stewart Smalley on my ipod. "You're good enough, you're fast enough, and doggone it, you can run!"

New Camera

So I got a new camera. Nothing fancy just a huge step up from what we had and I am love, love, LOVING it! So I will be sharing some photos here along the way.

Turbo and his new buddy
A bee on lavender
A little bug on a daylily
The handsome Turbo and JJ

The Summer that Almost Isn't

It's July, did you know that? It doesn't really seem like it. We usually skip Spring and kind of jump right into summer, but it seems that we may just move from Spring into Fall this year. It's very gloomy, and I suppose this is what Seattle is like, but I don't know, and if I'm wrong, don't get all sensitive and correct my weather assumptions, it's just what I'm thinking. Someday I'll make it to Seattle and see whether I am wrong or right on this. Anyway, it's gloomy, but maybe finding a silver lining is the way to get through this. We don't have a drought up here right now. I remember seeing news reports about the drought in Georgia last year. They had water access one hour a day. One hour a day. My dishwasher runs longer than that. Can you imagine having water for one hour. How do you prioritize the use? Shower? Laundry? Dishes? Cook? So, I'll take the rain, because I'd rather have a few hours of sun and all the water I can use than have many bright sunny days and no water to use. A few years ago I may have felt differently, but we're fortunate that this is the problem, and not something much more atrocious.

Thing 2 feels a bit differently. Summer storms are not his forte. We've seen quite the increase in his anxiety and the past two days have been pretty rough on him. Despite the pandemonium he creates when we have a thunder storms, I do still love them. Maybe someday he will too. I remember hating them when I was young, so maybe he'll grow out of his fear. I hope so, because they can be relaxing if you let them be.

So keep your wits about ye...brighter days are ahead. And hopefully no lack of water in our supplies.