Makes Me Happy

I took this picture today...and it reminds me why I enjoy photography. It's just a flower from a little pot on my porch. The post processing was half accident, half intentional, but I'm pleased with the result.

Simple beauty right outside my own front door. It makes me happy :)

In Your Head

I started running recently...for multiple reasons. One: I was getting really out of shape cardiovascularly. Two: I needed to get out and get some form of exercise outside of daily housework for overall general health. Three: My husband has always been a runner, so it would be a healthy activity we could share. Four: I believe it is good to practice some sort of discipline in our lives, and I had gotten pretty lazy with that.

So I started running a day or two a week a couple months ago. I really had to start from ground zero. I'm not proud to admit it, but I was lucky to make it a quarter mile before I was out of breath and ready to walk. But my husband came out with me and encouraged me on. Run. Walk and catch your breath. Run again. Everyone has to start somewhere. Weeks later, I am still plugging away at it. I have run as much as five miles with little or no walking, but at a slow pace. Most often I go three or four miles, but I keep trying so that eventually it will get easier and easier.

Do you want to know the biggest secret I have learned about running? (At least for me personally) Running is as much of a mental exercise as it is a physical one. Seriously. I'd say it's 50/50. Yeah, I have to be able to get out and move, but I have to decide to move. I have to say to myself, "One foot in front of the other." I set goals in my mind and decide I will achieve them. Sometimes it is one more mile, sometimes it just making it to the next 1/4 mile post. My most successful runs are out with my husband because he runs along side me (making it look easy) and chats away so I forget that my legs feel heavy or that my lungs are working hard. And I can go...so much farther than I thought I could. It sounds silly, but it really was an "ah-ha!" moment for me when I learned that. I have to want to run, and believe that I can in order to push through when my body says it's hard.

So I lace my shoes up, become 'the little engine that could' (I think I can, I think I can) and watch the scenery go by!

A LONG Time Ago...

I subbed at one of the elementary schools today. The first activity on the schedule was for me to work with a fourth grade boy who was preparing to read to kindergarten students. He practiced reading outloud for me, and then I accompanied him to the kindergarten classroom, where a group of four little ones were chosen to hear the story.

The fourth grader lead them (with a solemn air of maturity) out the door and down the hall to the designated reading area. The four kindergarteners bustled and bumped until they settled down in a close group, eager to listen; while the older boy settled off to the side, obviously pleased to be in charge and feeling oh so grown up! He took a deep breath, and with a great air of authority, read the title and author of the book. Then spying a golden award sticker with the year 2003 boldly written across it, he added a sudden improvisation, "and it was made in 2003." (Now, I knew this wasn't necessarily true. Just because it earned an award in 2003, doesn't mean it was written and published that same year. I did not speak up and correct him, however, because I didn't want to spoil his moment of glory!) I cocked my eyebrow at this new piece of information, and quietly waited for him to open the book and begin. But he did not...not before he offered one more insight from his nine years of vast wisdom:

"It was made in 2003," he said, and looking seriously at the faces before him, he added , "and that was a long time ago. A REALLY LONG time ago." 

Then he opened the book, and began his narrative.

And so I began my day at work - charmingly entertained - and chuckling over the fact that what was so long ago to him, was practically yesterday to me!

Solo Weekend

When it comes to facing the weekend without one's spouse, I am willing to bet most people would fall into one of two catagories: those who don't like it because they end up feeling a little (or a lot) lost, and those who look forward to it because they invision sole posession of the remote and absolute authority when it comes to meal time.

I am almost done with a solo weekend myself, and I am relieved tomorrow is reunion day with my spouse. I tried to face the weekend with gusto...renting chick flicks and having a hot chocolate/popcorn/movie marathon. But I have to confess, it was lack lustre. You see, I am used to his job taking him away for a certain amount of time, so I don't feel terribly lost. The first day. But by the second day, well, I am one of those who feels just a little lost. And a LOT lonely.

I made sure to infuse my weekend with people and interaction to help combat that. It did help. I had a chat with my mother-in-law, went to church, and had a fun afternoon attending a birthday party for my friend's daughter. Yet there is a certain gap when the person who walks beside you through life is absent. It reminds you what a special thing it is to be known by someone. What security there is in sharing a daily commitment. And how it should never be taken for granted. Not for a day...or a long weekend :)