I See What You Meme

As I mentioned previously , Roger and I recently joined the local YMCA.  Our primary impetus was access to exercise equipment so that Roger could rehab from his recent knee surgery.  It has been a good investment, though.  I'm certainly not averse to exercise. I just have trouble making time for it with everything else going on in my life.  It almost always shoots to the bottom of the priority list.  Now I have no excuse. Generally, I don't do a lot of group exercise. On any given day that I visit the Y, I like to get about 45-60 minutes of cardio in while I read the latest selection from my local library and then do a little bit of strength training. My favorite part of joining the Y so far, though, has been regular yoga classes.   I love yoga because everyone gets to set their own pace. The best yoga instructors know how to make adaptations for the less flexible in the class ( Yep. That's me. ) and, when all else fails, it's the most serene 60 mi...

I will admit that I have been distracted. It has been WAY too long since I've blogged and the writing aspect of my life has been swept under the rug, placed on the back burner, pushed to the side, and every other procrastinatory metaphor you might imagine.    Procrastinatory. I thought I had just made that up but apparently some online dictionaries actually recognize it. Who knew? It's not that I haven't thought about writing. I get ideas almost every day.  Some go in my notebook. Some just get locked away into my brain for later use.   In my constant pursuit of balance , I have realized that I can't, unfortunately, do everything I might like in a 24 hour period and that I do need some opportunities to relax or my head will probably explode.   So to recap, here are a few things that have been taking up space in my brain in my life recently. Becoming a parent. Again. Our process towards becoming a Resource Parent with UMFS continues.  We hav...

I have been in vacation mode for the last week and it has been WONDERFUL.  I started my break with a four day retreat camping at Bear Creek Lake State Park .  Roger and I hadn't been camping in almost a decade and we had definitely missed it.  It takes only a few days in the wilderness to remind you of a few important life lessons. Home Sweet Home for just a few days Plan ahead.   Everything takes longer when you're camping.  To get from our campsite to the bathroom, it was a 200 foot walk, uphill . It was definitely not wise to wait until the last minute.  Also, cooking over an open fire takes a while. Don't wait till the last minute to decide that you're ready for some dinner.  There are no microwaves in the great outdoors.   Learn to make do.  When you try to pack light, reduce, reuse, and recycle is the name of the game. Our fast-drying camping towels worked to dry our pots and pans after eating and our bodies after showers. ...

With so much going on this time of year, sometimes it's easy to forget about upcoming days that can send my emotions into a tailspin. Then it hits me in the oddest ways.  I have felt the impending gloom regarding Charlotte's July 9 birthday creeping in slowly and stealthily.  I'm totally fine. And then I'm not.   Losing our daughter would have been challenging regardless of the circumstances but sometimes I think I feel the loss even more profoundly because she almost didn't exist.  I'm not sure how many people know the details of how Charlotte came to find our family.  Don't worry. This isn't some salacious tale of where babies come from .  Our journey to parenthood started with challenges.  Back in 2001, after marriage, grad school, and achieving a sense of stability in our lives, we abandoned the birth control and examined our fertility.  Unfortunately, my body didn't want to cooperate.  By early 2004, I was seeing specialists who del...

This week marks 20 years since I graduated from Spruce Creek High School.  Yes. You read Class of '93. I haven't changed a bit, right? that correctly. Two decades.  I know. I can't believe it either. While you are recovering from that shock, I thought I would share some of the thoughts that have been floating around in my brain as I knew this anniversary approached.   First, a few surprises: I'm not exactly where I thought I might be career-wise.  I thought I would be a music teacher.  I left high school and entered college as a music therapy/music education double major.  Somehow the music ed degree was left behind.  That being said, I still work in education. I guess it's not that much of a stretch. I did, however, think I would do more with math.  I loved math. I still love math. Yeah, I'm that kind of weirdo .  I ended up minoring in math in college, thinking that with the aforementioned music education degree, I would always ...

As the media reeled this week with stories of disaster in Oklahoma, I was especially touched by a story I heard on NPR last Thursday .  The Phillips family knows what it is like to experience loss.  In 1999, they lost their home to another tornado that hit the Moore area.  They rebuilt two miles away only to see their home destroyed by this latest natural disaster.  An aerial view of some of the Moore, Oklahoma destruction. (Source) The entire family is safe and sound. Nobody was hurt. Nobody died. But they have essentially lost everything.  A hall closet filled with linens seems to be the only structure that escaped the scene relatively unscathed.  As I listened to this family speak with cracking voices, you could hear that combination of resilience and sadness that inhabits those who grieve.  Rena Phillips told the NPR reporter, " I ran last time, I'm not running again," she says. "It's like why run? You know I still had a little fear, but God...

Last week, Roger and I had a rare date opportunity so we actually got to see a movie. In the theater.   What a treat! We seized the chance to see the latest Iron Man flick.  It is rare that we miss a superhero movie. Admittedly, some sequels are better than others ( Batman and Robin , anyone?) but it's tough to screw up a good superhero story and the latest crop has had a good track record. Iron Man 3 was no exception. It had just the right balance of action, violence, romance, callbacks to previous films, and hints of what is probably to come in the forthcoming Avengers sequel.  Here is what I didn't expect: apparently Tony Stark and I have a few things in common. No, it's not the endless supply of revenue.  It isn't the supersonic brain that slips into hyperdrive and invents objects that in the "real world" would be worthy of a Nobel Prize. It isn't even his ability to charm the pants (literally) off of most members of the opposite sex.  Our commo...