Weekly Rundown- Happiness.
Hello Everyone! Welcome to the Weekly Rundown, hosted by Kim and Deborah. It’s also Day 21 of NaBloPoMo, hosted by San. It was an exciting week, filled with the anticipation of Thanksgiving and of course the main event, my son’t arrival home from college. I ran four times, and while the mileage was low, I appreciated every single run. Any running is better than no running! And I continued with my month of yoga, doing a Peloton class every day with Denis Morton. Here’s how the week went! Monday Started the week with a 45 minute power yoga class. Tuesday Three mile run in the morning. I’m loving these bright mornings! Later in the day, did a 20 minute power yoga class. Wednesday 45 minute power yoga class in the morning. This was a great class- lots of side planks and half moon poses (hello, glute medius!) Thursday Started the day with a three mile run. 20 minute power yoga class after work. Friday A quick 2.25 mile run in the morning. After work I did a 30 minute power yoga class. Saturday I noticed two things this morning… one was that instead of mixing it up, I had done a power yoga class every day so far this week. The other was that my left hip flexor was slightly… wonky. Not injured! But I could just feel it, and I think it’s from yoga. I did a 30 minute slow flow class for a change. I also felt like I needed something slower because it was an eventful day! After yoga I went to work, and after work got together with friends we haven’t seen in almost a year. AND THEN!!! My son came home!!! He’s home!!! Hugging him was the best feeling in the whole world. He didn’t get in until 9 pm, and then we stayed up late talking. Happiness. Sunday Got up early and did a five mile run before the kids got up. This was the first Sunday in quite a while where I wasn’t sad not to be doing a long run- five miles was just fine. After all the great runs I had this week, this one was a slog. I felt like I was running through molasses, and I also felt my hip flexor. Eep. For that reason, along with the cheesecake revelation, I decided to change up my yoga class. I had planned a hamstring focus but instead did a 20 minute arm focus flow. I think it was a good decision! And now…. off to make waffles! I absolutely love the week of Thanksgiving, and having my son home is an enormous treat. Are you getting excited for Thanksgiving? Anyone else have kids coming home this week?
My Least Favorite Christmas Songs
I have a confession to make… I’ve been secretly listening to Christmas music in my car. On November 1st one of the radio stations started playing Christmas music 24/7. I outwardly agreed with everyone that it was too early, while happily driving around town singing along to “Feliz Navidad.” BUT! I have a few Christmas song “pet peeves.” The first one is… “Last Christmas” by Wham. I’m sorry. Very, very sorry, but I can’t stand this song. I know it’s wildly popular… why??? The lyrics… the melody… it’s just so inane. I don’t think it would irritate me so much if I didn’t hear it all the time. And the last thing we needed was ANOTHER version of it, Taylor Swift. In 2016, George Michael died on Christmas Day, and I briefly felt guilty about trash-talking his stupid Christmas song. I’m sorry he died, but I still strongly dislike this song. “All I Want For Christmas” by Mariah Carey. Once again- sorry. I don’t actually dislike this one as much as “Last Christmas” but it irks me that it’s the most requested Christmas song. I mean… it has a pleasant little melody but other than that it’s nothing special. Once again, I hear this song WAY TOO MUCH. I don’t get it. “The Christmas Shoes” by NewSong. I would actually listen to “Last Christmas” and “All I Want For Christmas” all day rather than have to hear this song once. The lyrics tell the story of a little boy whose mother is dying. He wants to buy her some shoes so she’ll look beautiful “if Mama meets Jesus tonight.” No. Absolutely not. As a mom, I absolutely can’t hear a song about a boy whose mother is dying. My second biggest fear in life is dying and leaving my kids without a mom- and I especially don’t appreciate being reminded of that fear on Christmas. I’ve always said this song should be banned, and maybe enough people agree with me, because I don’t hear it very often anymore. In addition to being banned, I think NewSong should issue an official apology to moms everywhere. But I’ll settle for never hearing it again. How about you- do you have a least favorite Christmas song? Do you like any of the songs I’ve mentioned? What do you think of the shoe song?
Early “Runfessions”
Here we are at Day 19 of NaBloPoMo! I know, I know- it’s too early for runfessions. But I have a few, and I’m not sure I’ll be doing a runfession post next Friday. Maybe I’ll be doing a post about my Turkey Trot, where I recap how I set a PR and won my age group while wearing an incredible homemade tofu costume. Ahem… which brings me to my first runfession. I felt pretty good on my run this morning. I started thinking… Hmmm! I’m in a new age group now…. maybe I can run a little faster than I thought… you never know… why don’t I throw in a few strides… I could even sneak in a speed workout this week… NO! NO! NO! I knew this would happen. I’ve never been a fan of running races just for the fun of it. If I’m going to pay the money, I want to train, have a goal, and run as fast as I can. Otherwise I might as well stay home and run my usual route. I have to wrap my head around the concept of just running, not racing, this race. The truth is, a Turkey Trot isn’t a great place to have a time goal, because it’s so crowded (with people having FUN). If I try to run fast and hurt my foot again, I’ll be in RUNNING JAIL. No one wants that. My next runfession goes back to a previous post, where I questioned how people could go for a run and then go about their day in their sweaty running clothes. Well, today I became one of those people. I finished my run and didn’t have time to shower before taking my daughter to school. THEN, I had to stop at the post office to mail a package. I was so uncomfortable- my clothes were all wet, and the AC in the post office made me cold. I may be smiling, but what I’m really thinking is “Please get me home so I can shower!” The last runfession is really a strength-fession (what? Is there such a thing?). My daughter’s school band had a cheesecake fundraiser, which was one of my least favorite things ever. I don’t even eat them, and yet I was harassing my coworkers to buy cheesecakes. Somehow we managed to sell thirteen, and yesterday I went to the school to pick them up. Did you know frozen cheesecakes are heavy? They had my thirteen cheesecakes packed in a large box, and when I picked it up I exclaimed “Oof!” They told me that someone could come with a cart to help me, but I’m’ used to carrying my own things so I declined and headed out the door. That box weighed a ton! No wonder cheesecake is so fattening! Halfway to the parking lot I had to put the box down and rest, and a woman offered to help me. She was not a body builder- she just looked like a regular person. She picked up the box, exclaimed “Oh, this isn’t so heavy!” and proceeded to carry it to my car for me. Well… all joking aside, that did not feel good. Maybe I’ve been slacking on my upper body work a little too much! On the other hand, carrying that box halfway to my car, and then from my car into the house, gave me a rush of endorphins. Time to check out some upper body strength classes. Well, that’s it for now! Do you have any early runfessions? Do you like cheesecake? Ever had to sell it for a school fundraiser?
Take Nothing Personally
Hello and welcome to… Thursday. Seriously, it’s Thursday again? I wrote about my issues with Thursdays in this post, where I determined not to wish the day away, and this one, where I was reminded that it’s important to have a sense of humor. This week, I’ve been thinking about my number one coping strategy for life. In order to explain how I got to this point, I have to tell you about my dad. I know people often complain about their parents, but my dad was truly one of the most difficult people in the world. He was hard to communicate with, said all sorts of weird and inappropriate things, and would unexpectedly become angry and defensive. A “conversation” with my dad was more like a lecture- he could tell you all about Charlie Parker or Abraham Lincoln- or an interview. If he saw me with a book (which I avoided as much as possible, trying to slink around with my books unnoticed) he would ask for the title, the main character, the plot and- my favorite- the theme of the book. If the book was on the lighter side, he would suggest that I read something more challenging. Here’s an example of an inappropriate comment. I was in my early twenties and had just broken up with a boyfriend. My dad said “I just can’t believe you broke up with Andy!” I asked why he was so surprised and he said “Well, I always thought Andy would break up with you!” OH? And why is that? His response: “Because Andy was so good looking.” I mean… who says that? Out loud? To their daughter? Another time I told him what I had decided on for a career and he said “Oh well… you can always get married.” I could go on and on, but you get the idea. As you can imagine, I grew up with a lot of anger towards him. And guilt. It was confusing- every book and movie seemed to show loving father-daughter relationships. Even when daughters were fighting with their dads, it still seemed like they were communicating in a way that my dad and I just couldn’t. Every once in a while I would try to get past our adversarial relationship and have a real heart-to-heart talk with him, but the only way I can explain it is, if the line of communication was like a chain between us, there was a link mysteriously missing. This went on for almost his whole life. Then one day, when my dad was in his eighties, I read an article about someone with Asperger’s Syndrome. This person sounded almost identical to my dad, and I literally felt a chill going down my spine. Suddenly all the pieces fell into place. Of course my dad would never have known he had Asperger’s, because it wasn’t a diagnosed condition until he was well into his adult years. But it was clear to me that’s what he had, and I realized how frustrating his life must have been, how he must have struggled with all his relationships, and wondered why everyone always got so angry with him. Most importantly, I realized that none of his “terrible” comments ever had anything to do with me at all- it had always been about him, and his inability to communicate properly. There was nothing for me to be angry about, because he truly couldn’t help it. From that day on, I felt like I was living in a parallel reality. My dad would say something strange to me, and I could imagine my old reaction, what I would have said back and how it would turn out, but I could also see things in this completely new light, where he was doing his best with the limitations he had. Since I didn’t take it personally, I didn’t get angry, and when I stopped being angry with him, he became less antagonistic towards me as well. I only had my dad for one more year after that, but for that year we were the closest we had ever been. We weren’t truly close- there was still that missing link in the chain that was never going to change- but the way I would describe it is, it felt like we were on the same team for the first time, instead of fighting against each other. If I could navigate through one of the most difficult relationships imaginable to a satisfying outcome, I feel like I can handle anything that my boss, co-workers, or challenging clients can throw my way. The truth is that nothing is personal against us- other people are all grappling with their own issues, and whatever they say to us is all about them. Life is so much easier when you realize that. Julie Piatt once said, “The most difficult relationship of your life is also the most important.” From my dad, I learned to take nothing personally. After all the years of arguing, anger, and hurt feelings, my dad would be astonished- and pleased, I’m pretty sure- if he knew that my relationship with him was the most important, in the end. Do you have a difficult person in your life? Which relationship do you think is your most important one?