Rainy Day Recess

Huge thunder & intense flickering lightning woke me at 5am!  It's been hard consistent rain, cracking sounds of trees falling & no power for 10 hours since!  15 streets are blocked in my neighborhood alone from trees uprooting & falling across them, power lines entangled.  

It's rainy day recess at the grammar school so I ventured out into the storm to relieve teachers in their classrooms (with a hidden agenda to plug in my laptop).  It was invigorating to dodge fallen tree parts & rushing rivers that engulfed my town's small, dirt rutted roads; I had to re-route 3 times on woodsy side streets.  I was one of the only drivers out & about - I know because I stopped at a 4 way intersection to take a photo of the mess in 3 directions & no one drove by me for minutes.  

At the school, kids begged to go out in the rain, they wanted to feel the feeling of cold rain & blustery wind!  They compared it to poprocks on their faces!!!  It's funny how as we grow up, we become cautious & practical!  

Back at my cold, dark house, it turned out to be a good day to organize all my tax paperwork & I had to eat the ice cream before it melted in my powerless freezer.

Going...Going...Crash

3 day weekends = we're going somewhere.  This time we drove to the Sierra Mountains with a 2 day window for good weather & we nailed it!  Sunny on the drive in, snowing on the drive out.  I thought stuffed animals, role playing, singing & reading wouldn't last 4 hours, but the 3 kids laughed through it all in the back seat with no DVDs.  Their happiness filled me, pure & simple & of course there was intermittent bickering.

We skied all day, breaking once mid-day to build a snowman adjacent chair lift 2.  We ended with a long top to bottom run, envisioning watching t.v. that night together.  But our cabin was the truest sense of the word, no microwave, toaster or t.v.  The only option was to play the games I brought & perform tickle torture, & have fun we DID! 

In the morning the kids collected icicles from ours (& random neighbors) cabins, made snow angels & slipped around the icy areas on-purpose.  We skied again, each chair lift I'd hold my breath that they'd make it, each run down I watched them improve.  I was so giddy & proud!  Until the worst..."MOMMMM... NATE'S HURT BAD!!!!!" exclaimed Zoe.  I sped away from Logan who had needed help up above & found Nate crying loudly.  "It hurts so bad!  It hurts, my knee hurts!!!"  Shit. I held back tears, told him how brave he was. My heart ached horribly, I hadn't been able to protect my baby.  Watching my child in excruciating pain flooded me with uncomfortable emotions & self doubt.

An hour later, iced & splinted in a "to-go" cardboard box, we headed down the mountain.  A stop a taco bell got us all laughing uncontrollably at each others tacos "pooping" out the back side as we crunched into the front side.  "Unless you turn & become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven." -Jesus (Matthew 18:3) is a quote I read daily posted in my bathroom.  I got it, I was in heaven with them right there eating fast food, right then, in our present moment of silliness. 

"What's for dessert?" as they consumed their final bite.  Definitely my kids.

Naked

My small town, although abundant with road & mountain bikers, is not swimmer friendly. There is no lap pool.  So, twice a month I drive 40 minutes & pay to swim in the next big town's lap pool. 
 

Feeling confident, I joined in a "workout lane." I hit my anaerobic threshold pace just to keep up in the warm-up portion, which wasn't a good sign, but I committed to what I started.  I fell behind every 400 yards we swam, my arms ached, I was impressed with their consistent speed, I felt humbled.  In the end, even though I was lapped multiple times, they all socialized with me & hoped I'd come back.  As we walked to the shower room my lack of confidence was about to be trumped by my lack of planning.   I'd forgotten a towel.  I'd have no choice but to pat myself off with some paper towels. 

The great thing about womens shower/locker rooms is that everyone is naked; skin & hair & bones, in front of lots of other naked shapes & sizes.  Naked women make eye contact & smile, maybe it's the endorphins kicking in since we've all just exercised, who knows.  But we were all there to feel cold, invigorated, challenged, exerted, proud, then hungry.  And that may be the main reason I exercise, I love apple fritters.

Road Trip Gems!

Gas stations make me smile.  While the gas is pumping I get to check out the latest gum flavors!  Today I spotted a new Trident...Orange Swirl - creamsicle!!!  Quickly opening it in line I grinned widely -  even the cashier felt my excitetment of trying something new!  Then I started my 3 hour road trip.  For awhile I chewed it slowly, then I played games: how many chews could I do in 1 mile? or in 1 minute?  I made a flat patty with my tongue onto the roof of my mouth, I rolled it into a thin snake, then stretched it over my front 6 teeth.  And it was as good as I'd have hoped - it lasted 2.5 hours & was still really soft.

On the way back home, I stopped again, strategically in a different city.  Different cities & different gas stations have different brands.  THIS station had ANOTHER new gum!  Stride "Mega Mystery" in a tie-dyed package.  It tasted like fruit stripes (no mystery THERE for a gum connaisseur) but sugar FREE (better for the teeth - alrighty!)  It didn't last as long as my Orange Swirl, but it satisfied my goal of finding a new gum at every gas station on my road trips.   Then I grabbed 2 new pieces & chewed both together & THAT was great!  The orange was soft, the mystery one was firm & together it was perfect! 

New Ideas!

Talking to 3 friends about this blog was a huge hit tonight.  I got font color ideas, new title ideas, new theme ideas & content ideas.   I wanted to improve my blog site for their visual enjoyment & also (secretly) in hopes of capturing a few more "followers" (which would make me try harder to write better).  

My brain works best by setting & achieving small goals & trying not to consume too many sweets each night (which I achieved tonight by only eating 3 See's nuts & chews.)  So my goals are to attract 20 blog followers by the end of 2010 & finish eating all the candy in the house & NOT buy any more!

"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."  Edmund Hillary (New Zeland mountain climber and Antarctic explorer famous for being first to successfully climb Mount Everest)

Basketball Present Moments

Tuesdays I teach 30 minutes of P.E. to my daughter's 4th grade class. Today I tried to divide the class into 3 teams. They lined up & I counted off 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3... Instead of 3 groups of 10, 12 Ones stood socializing, 13 Twos and only 5 Threes were together. It's crazy how sneaky & cliquey kids are. With several bullies & a few more emotionally charged classmates, they know who they want on their team. We had to re-line-up & count off 4 times before everyone finally stuck to their numbered team.

After that it was a blast! They cheered passionately for their teammates as they played the basketball drill/game....until one player kicked a basketball too hard into someone's head, then one tripped another resulting in scraped knees & tears, then a bully said to another boy "a girl beat you!!!" which sent him off crying & most the class tattling on the bully for saying it, then a kid pouted & held onto his ball running away which stalled the game & got everyone crazy upset for wasting time. I had to be quick, put out the fires, keep the game going while hopefully teaching a life lesson to the assailants. But they played so well in between incidents, forgot about the drama within seconds - such good role models for me.

Hanging out with kids refreshes me! Interacting with their different personalities keeps my brain in the present moment. And staying present is all I want to do. I came home really happy because a few kids thanked me for coming to play & didn't care that I hadn't showered. And now I love writing about it with my tea & pop tart; it's kind of present moment but kind of reminisent too. Just what I need before bed.

The positivity blog has a list of 8 things to bring you to the present moment.

Flat tire fun!

My boyfriend bought me a motorcycle for my birthday 2 years back, which is in November. This meant learning to ride it.... in the winter. Every time Sean said "let's go for a ride" my first thought was 'it's cold', but I'd agree. That was 2 winters ago. I'm happy to say I LOVE riding it even when my hands are freezing (because leather gloves look cool but aren't fleece lined).

60 degrees & sunny yesterday when we rode our familiar route up highway 1 & back. Side by side we smiled at each other on the single lane road. It was perfect, but damp cold along the ocean. I've done this ride at least 50 times. My mind wondered...how many more times can we ride this stretch... 200? 300? we have the next 10 years living here? But it's never the same ride, ever.

30 minutes into the ride Sean's tire was hissing from a nail puncture. We pulled into Ragged Point, where I photograph weddings & the event coordinator walked by. "We were just talking about you Debbie! Hi Sean!" She helped us park the bike in a safe garage around back. "Are you available to video the grounds for some new marketing next week?" Wow, did I just get a potential job from Sean's bike having a problem?

Then I got to ride Sean home on my motorcycle! It was scary at first - stop signs & merging made me so nervous with the extra weight, I nearly tipped over several times. But by the end I felt good, empowered, exhilarated, giddy from the unexpected adventure of the day.

Life's short, so we had a big bowl of ice cream together in honor of my safe navigation home!

Running

I fled town & immediately felt relaxed as I drove away. My kids went to their dad's for 8 days after Christmas & if I stayed home I would've kept busy for sure, that's what kind of mind occupies my body. I'd have engaged in whatever "thing" was right in front of me: cleaning Christmas mess, purging some the toy room (but not finished it), organizing & filing somethings, facebooking, emailing. But I didn't want to do more of that stuff. I wanted to drive. Driving makes me thankful for my family & friends & I usually call them as I reminisce to catch up & tell them I'm grateful.

I went to visit my dear friend Joan up in Mendocino. She set me up on a running date, a very thoughtful thing to do for me, knowing I love to run & she doesn't. Within a minute of running with her friend, her dog stopped to poop. "Oh man I'm jealous!" She smiled & laughed out loud how her morning coffee hadn't "moved" her yet either.

It reminded me of when I started to run with my marathon training buddy. She was as beautiful a girl as I'd ever been friends with; gorgeous teeth, skin, nails, makeup & hair, wore pearls & beautiful clothing, kept her home & car immaculate. Within a month of 2x weekly running/talking we were hacking, spitting, snorting & farmer johning side by side. The second month as the runs got longer, we were peeing & pooping trail side.

I usually run alone, but having a running buddy reminds me not to judge anyone by their looks.  I gotta go when I gotta go!  And it helps make room for more treats when I get done running!