The Power of Fifteen

Today I woke up in one of the nicest ways possible. With a phone call from one of my best friends wishing me a happy birthday. It was totally unexpected. In fact, I was expecting my Mom to call, as she’s done every morning for the last 2 weeks in an effort to help me get my sorry butt out of bed to REV before work. Really. You’d think getting up 15 minutes early wouldn’t be so hard to do. Apparently, for me, the original morning person, it is!

We had a wonderful chat, especially since we haven’t talked in months! I always ask myself, why do I let it go so long between phone calls or emails or letters? It’s a simple and pleasurable enough task, yet I never seem to get around to doing it. Weird. Then Mom called and really, how nice is it to hear Mom saying “Good Morning, I love you” first thing in the morning? [Insert Warm Fuzzies Here] Even though the phone calls took the place of my 15 minutes of exercise, I bounded out of bed in a great mood!

Determined to keep this outlook on the day, I made it to work 10 minutes early. ‘Traffic’ must have been with me today. Only to come in the door to conversations about yesterday’s tragic shootings at Virginia Tech. And the realization that a day that starts so beautifully can change so quickly. I know this already…I’ve had days changed tragically in less than a second myself. Getting the call that my grandfather was dying, getting the call that my aunt was dead…Strange how that one second can feel so heavy and horrible and like the weight of a thousand bricks on you, not coming one by one, but all at once. As if it was always there, you just didn’t notice – or care – before.

And just how suddenly it can change again to the opposite, with a phone call from my sister wishing me a happy birthday. Asking if the ‘package’ my 3 year old niece made for my birthday and helped to mail has arrived. (Must be what that lovely yellow slip I found in my post office box last night is for, that little slip that gives a huge warm ‘someone-thought-of-me-enough-to-send-a-package’ feeling.) Fifteen unexpected minutes out of my morning to chat with my older sister, whom I adore.

So now I’m back to where I was before, with a warm fuzzy in my chest, a smile on my face, and the wonder at the power of fifteen minutes. I think it’s my new favorite number.

They All Fall Down

This past weekend we were supposed to go hiking on Mount Helena. It's my goal to be able to hike to the top (the 1906 trail, the easy one, of course) by summer's end. Well, our plans were postponed on Saturday for a lot of reasons that we really could have overcome. Except. really, we let these little "pebbles" become boulders in our paths. So S and I ended up going to the park (not our normal one) so she could practice gymnastics on the bars (some kind of pull-up twirl-over deal she's trying to master) and I decided this would be the perfect time to tackle my nemesis - The Monkey Bars.

Now, over the last 5 years that my little sister S. and I have been matched, we've gone to the park lots of times. And I've never been able to do more than just dangle from the first rung on the monkey bars. Thanks to working out with the BodyRev, I now have arm strength (and Biceps! Look, Ma, I got Biceps!!!). Which makes me determined to make it all the way across before I die. Which may be sooner than I plan if those darn Monkey Bars have anything to say about it... I thought the stupid thing was higher than it was (like at the park we usually go to). So I climbed up, grabbed the first bar, threw myself forward toward the second bar, and tripped over my own two feet. Seriously. Hu-mil-eee-ate-ing.... Tumbled and rolled and everything. It was rather spectacular, and there was quite an audience. When I first joined S. on the equipment, I was getting not-so-friendly looks from the other adults there. The message was coming through loud and clear "Don't make us look bad by getting up there in front of our kids."

After the 'fall' they all smugly looked at their kids and each other, and that message came through loud and clear as well! I’m sure the next time they go to the playground and their kids whine for them to play, they’ll trot me out as a warning "Remember that one lady who fell off the monkey bars? Now, you wouldn't want that to happen to Mom or Dad, would you?"

Of course, S. just stood there staring at me like I was a lunatic. Probably because once I stopped tumbling, I lay there looking up at the bright blue Montana sky and laughing like a loon. [g]

Hey, it's either laughter or tears, and frankly, I was embarassed enough as it was.

First Thoughts

Not sure why I'm creating this blog, or how many people I'll even let see it. For now, it's just for me. I guess I've been wanting someplace to put the thoughts that go "up my mind" as one of my favorite poets says.