Almost six years ago, I traveled to Whidbey Island for the first time to participate in a writing circle of strangers. That week, I made some dear friends who picked me up when I was hurting and helped me to work through some of the pain. Last week, three of those women – Bridget, Janis and Lynn – traveled to Texas to spend nearly six days in the hill country with me. For five nights, we stayed in an old rock house on property owned by my parents and previously occupied only by cows. They opted not to leave the house except on Sunday, when we ventured to the LBJ Ranch. Mostly, we wrote and talked. Continue reading
Category Archives: Intentionality
At a Crossroads.
Not too long ago, I was feeling my age. Then I was temporarily out of commission. Now I’m at a crossroads of sorts. Something in me is changing. I have less patience for what I do not care to do. I have less patience for things that feel unproductive to me. And I have less patience with my own willingness at times to be less than whole-hearted in whatever I am doing. I feel like my moments matter, and I do not want to waste them. Continue reading
Temporarily Out of Commission.
In the last two months, I’ve started half a dozen blogs and then gotten distracted. That’s what time has been like lately. I’m not complaining because I love almost everything I am getting to do right now, but I am tired. And today I’m only able to write because my body brought me to a grinding halt over the weekend. Continue reading
Choosing to Feel Well.
Last month I tipped the scale at a number I didn’t think I would ever see again, so I made a decision to go hard core in February paying attention to what I ate. For ten days, I had nothing but fruit, vegetables, water, tofu, coffee, and tea. No bread. No rice. No added sugar. No sweets. And while it was hard from a planning standpoint, it wasn’t actually all that hard. And I felt great. Then the last twenty-four hours happened. Continue reading
A People-full January 3.
I made a quick trip to Minneapolis for a memorial, and it turned into one of my favorite days of late. I flew up the morning of January 3 and flew back the morning of January 4. It was bitter cold the entire time, but the whole trip was a sweet adventure from beginning to end. Continue reading
New Year 2018.
After a pretty rough November and December, 2017 ended quite nicely. I finally got around to all the cleaning and purging I normally like to do at the turn of the year. I organized the coat closet, the bathroom closet, the kitchen pantry, and the closet that houses the washer and dryer. I cleaned the floors and vacuumed and put fresh sheets on the beds. And I decluttered a bit, mostly cleaning off the counter in the kitchen where photos, papers, and miscellaneous items tend to collect. I could not have asked for a better end to the year, except perhaps that I wish I hadn’t gotten a cold. That I could have done without.
Out of Gas.
I ran out of gas today. I don’t mean that my energy fizzled and I took a nap or that I went running and couldn’t take another step. I mean that I ran out of gas driving down the highway. After a fun Green Bean Casserole Run and a lovely visit with two of my Kilimanjaro friends, I was driving home, and my car suddenly lost power. I could feel it coasting, so I turned on my hazards and navigated over to the right in the hopes that I could get to the shoulder before the car died completely. I did, but just barely. My driver side tires were pretty much on the line on the side of the road, so I crawled out the passenger side door and called for help. Then I waited. For over an hour, I waited. Continue reading
Enough.
I’m tired. I can’t watch anything more about the election. I can barely look at my Facebook feed. There’s too much anger and hatred being thrown around. Even posts in support of a candidate are full of vitriol and sarcasm. Have we as a nation always been this angry, and I’m just seeing it for the first time? Or has something changed in how we conduct ourselves in a presidential election? I don’t know the answer to that, but I’m done. For the next three weeks, I’m turning it all off. I will vote, but I can’t watch this circus-like hate show any more. Continue reading
Countdown to Wisconsin.
Three weeks from today, Dave and I will fly to Madison so that I can race Ironman Wisconsin on September 11. I printed the Athlete Guide today. It’s super exciting stuff. It seems like not that long ago that I was in Wisconsin acting as a sherpa for Jeanie and supporting other friends, and now it’s suddenly my turn. Will I be ready? Continue reading
On Not Racing.
In January of this year, I proclaimed my race schedule for 2015 and declared, “There will be no skipping races in 2015.” As it turns out, I should have said, “There will be no winning the lottery in 2015,” because the exact opposite has happened. Since the 3M Half Marathon, I’ve done nothing but skip races. I skipped the Austin Marathon because of a calf injury. I skipped Cowtown for the same reason. (That race was actually cancelled due to weather, but still, I had made the decision to skip it before it was cancelled, so I count it as a skip in my book.) One day of my MS 150 was cancelled due to heavy rains. I didn’t even sign up for the St. George 70.3 because Dave and I ended up planning a trip to Roatan the weekend before that race. Even my Wicked Wine Run 5K didn’t happen because of the weird storms we’ve been having, and when the race was rescheduled, I had hurt my hip and had to skip it. And now I won’t be racing Coeur d’Alene either because that injury is lingering. I don’t know what’s going on. Continue reading
