My Day as a Runner

I’ve been reading up on the couch to 5-K program on the internet and decided I’d start walking, jogging, then running. If I stick with it, maybe I’ll run a marathon in a year or so. Even now, I can feel the glee as I cross the finish line.
Yesterday I actually got outside. I stretched first, then walked, then jogged. I jogged slowly at first, concentrating on my form because I want to look like those people on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine. I figure I’d pick up the speed later. Are we done yet? Is it time to go home? What do you mean I’ve just gone a quarter of a mile?! Tell my lungs that! Tell my knees we’ve still got a long way to go. Tell my heart that it’s got to keep beating – just not out of my chest. And for goodness sakes, pick my uterus up off the ground. It fell out on the last turn.
Why did I think this was a good idea? Maybe I’ll just buy the cute running outfits and sip on chocolate protein drinks instead.

That Just Ain't Right

My twin sister and I were raised in the big city. My sister moved to the farm two and a half years ago. Farm life is hard. When I visit, things happen and I think, “that just ain’t right”, but my sister has come to accept these things as normal. For example, little frogs jump onto the sliding glass door and stay there. They have figured out that at certain times of the day flies will see the glass doors as water and fly into them. The frogs will grab these flies and gobble them up. All they have to do is sit on the door and supper comes to them. That just ain’t right.
Last time I visited she had a list of things she needed help with that we could do together. One thing was for us to go to the hardware store and pick up a utility cart that fits behind the 4-wheeler to haul stuff. We took her pickup truck to the store and they loaded it up for us. When we got home we couldn’t figure out how to get the cart out of the back of the pickup as we had no lift. I can’t go into details, let’s just say we got that cart down onto the ground without having to call for emergency services, even though bruises and scrapes were involved. That just ain’t right.
I went to visit my sister this week. We were driving the truck around the property and came across an old abandoned 15 x 4 metal wire fence panel. It was warped and mangled and needed to be moved to the “trash pile”. There is a hole dug on purpose somewhere on the property and they dump things in the hole that will be eventually buried for eternity. We thought it would be a great idea to move this fence panel to the trash pile. But this panel was three times longer than the truck bed and we didn’t have rope to drag it or tie downs to keep it in the truck. So we put it in the back of the truck sideways so at least 5 feet of fence hung over both sides the truck. We drove only a few feet before the darn thing fell off. So we went to plan B. I crawled up into the bed of the truck and sat on the fence panel. Then it occurred to me that if the wire panel fell off the truck, so would I. My sister and I were laughing so hard as she drove to the trash pile, dodging trees and farm equipment by mere inches. That just ain’t right.

Family Reunion Drama

My 11 year old nephew was playing with his 5 year old cousin. He was joking around and started to fake cry. She thought she hurt his feelings, so she began to cry for real. Outright sob. No amount of reasoning on my nephew’s part, telling her he was all right calmed her. She ran into her mother’s arms to be consoled. My brother just put his head in his hands and shook his head. Then, ever so gently said to my nephew, “Son, let this be a lesson to you… little girls are different than little boys.”
I'd like to add that big girls are different than big boys as well. And when big girls cry, remember to bring the dark chocolate.

I Brake For Chocolate

It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged. Writer’s block, or more likely sheer laziness and apathy on my part. I’ll make stuff up and back date some entries soon to make it look like I never took a break. But good news: attended the family reunion this past weekend in Seattle and had so much fun. I’ll write more about that when I get more time; but for now, I’ll just mention one of my favorite things…
My brother and family bought me a t-shirt while in Seattle that says, “Give me all your chocolate and nobody gets hurt.” Love it!