Living la vida loca

I can check ice skating off my list now.  Been there, done that. 

Paul got off work early and joined me for my birthday skating adventure.  It was a little scary I have to say.   I calculated it had been 15 years since I was in ice skates.  It was one of the kids' birthday parties at the Tandy Center in downdown Fort Worth.  That place no longer exists.  So, it had been awhile. 

We headed out around noon.  We both were determined.  Gonna do it.  Blood thinners be damned.  Back surgery?  Hernia?  We laughed.  Nothing could stop us.  We were unstoppable. 

We parked and wasting no time, speed walked to our destination: the ice rink inside The Parks Mall.  A short ride down the escalater, I turned right and Paul kept walking straight.

"Paul!" (no answer, he is still walking)
"Paul!" (louder, still nothing)
"Stick!!"  Paul turns and looks at me.
"It's this way"  My dear, dear husband is sometimes directionally challenged.

Eighteen dollars later we are putting on our skates.  They feel unnatural.  Stiff.  Paul laces up my skates.  Sweet.  It brings back Northern memories.  Now all that stands between us and this great experiment... I mean adventure, is the Zamboni machine now cleaning the ice.  We walk gingerly toward the rink. 

Doors open.  Paul is inside, he's on the rink which looks like marble flooring coated with thin layer of water.  I walk on blades, lifting my right foot over the door jam.  Left foot follows.  That's when it hits me.  I am ice skating!!!  I used to live on ice rinks.  Even just before we moved to Texas, there was a rink at a neighborhood park where I would skate as often as possible.  It's liberating.  It's almost like flying. Unencumbered by mere feet. 

Back to reality, I head for the side railing and begin to ice shuffle.  We begin our circular trip around the ice rink.  It takes a few minutes to get my brain and feet synchronized.  I imagine my brain working madly to access memory data.  Then it just clicked!  I was skating, for real.  Paul was attempting to get me to slow down.  Ha!  Not possible.  I was skating.  I thought I heard him call my name but it was too late.  I was skating!

I must have been an impressive sight because just ahead of me I see this little boy, around 6, pointing at me.  I wave back.  Then he speaks.

"You're going the wrong way!!"

Oh.  Apparently, there's a right way and a wrong way to circle the rink.  I thank the lad and turn around.  There's Paul shaking his head.  Ok, so I, too, can be directionally challenged.

The adventure felt like forever.  Forever fun.  Forever exciting.  Forever familiar.  In truth, forever was more like 30 minutes.  By the third rotation we could feel the back of our thighs and calves.  By the fourth rotation, muscle cramps were beginning to hold our feet hostage.  Paul's back began to object soon after.  We agreed on one more rotation, then called it quits.

It was an experience we both will not soon forget.  For real.  The next day, we still could feel it.

I still loved every second of the experience.  It took me back.  It shook my memory base in a good way.  For that, it was worth it.  Way, way worth it.

Nur Mut!

I want to go ice skating on my birthday Wednesday but my fear is it will turn out like one of those Gieco commercials.  Is it a good idea for an overweight, middle aged woman on blood thinners to ice skate if she hasn't gone ice skating in 20 years?  My fear is I will twist an ankle, fall and break just about anything.  When the Rod Sterling character asks the question, "Is it a good idea..." what follows is always a bad idea. My favorite is the one that asks: Is it a good idea for a drill sergeant to be a therapist?  The drill sergeant mocks his crying patient, telling him to go mamby pamby land, then throws a box of tissues at him and calls him a jack wagon.  Very funny.

I think I'm gonna try.  I want to be more brave (braver?) this coming year.  Other things I'd like to do ares paintball and ride a horse.  

It's getting to be that stage of life where I look back at what I accomplished and calculate what's left to do, divide that by ... I don't really do math.  All I know is that I need to multiply my efforts.  And that will take courage.  So that's why I need to be more brave - grammatically correct or not.

So my rallying cry this year will be Nur Mut, the German words for Be Brave.  I took German in high school and college. Not a useful language, I know.  If I had taken Spanish, then my rallying cry would be valiente, which translates into courageous.  I am more confident with the German.  Frankly, I am intimidated by Spanish language.  It's so fast and I am so slow ... anyway.  So, I am pretty sure I am going to try the ice skating.  Parks Mall on Wednesday.  Wish me luck!  No.  Wish me to be brave!

Thanksgiving 2010

Kindred spirits.



John teases Addie.  That's a glove he put on her head.

We had our Thanksgiving gathering on Friday and were especially grateful this year to have these guests join us: my Arlington boss Maggie and her daughter Gina, who was visiting from San Diego; our adopted daughter Alyssa, who was visiting from Denver; and one of Paul's former interns, Alana.
Despite the cold, almost everyone participated in the first annual Thanksgiving Ping Pong Tournament.  Gina had never played before and was a great and a natural sport.  Alana exceeded her stated abilities.  Andrea beat me for the first time ever. I knew it was just a matter of time. She went on to lose to her husband, Jack, who took first place in the loser's bracket.  We predicted from the beginning that John and Paul would face each other in the championship game.  John won!

Gina and Maggie sit by the fire.  It was COLD!

Paul and Jack face off in tournament.  Andra and Alyssa are watching.  Note how they are wearing virtually the SAME thing.  These are the two who we called the Twins in high school.  Andrea is the one on the left, btw.

Hopeful beagles Baxter and Tex.

Sunday morning breakfast before Jen and Michael head home to Leander.

Gratitude

Thanksgiving for our family is that time of year when we get to (have to) say out loud what we are grateful for.  My list is long.

First I am grateful to be sharing my life with a man who still loves me after 32 years - 33 if you count the year we lived together before marriage.  His health has held this year, he's still makes me laugh (with, not at), and he doesn't seem to notice or care that I am not the shiny new model of yesteryear, even last year.  He continues to surprise me too.  Did you know white men can make kickin' (my new emphasis word) sweet potato pie?  My husband can and did yesterday.  Two of them.  AFTER he installed our new dishwasher.  Top that!

My children continue to live interesting lives.  I see them evolving into their own person, each quite different from the other, but thankfully still connected.  It appears from where I sit, they love and care for each other.  They have brought others into the fold who only make this family stronger.

My granddaughter.  Don't get me started.  For real.  She is sunshine.

My parents are safe and continue to be role models for living a decent and honorable AND active life.  There have been struggles this year for some members of my family: cancer, unemployment, other health matters.  There also were shared victories: motherhood, fatherhood, moves, championships, promotions.  My family doesn't typically get many points for communication, but this year seemed different.  It just seemed more was shared.  The younger generation likely gets credit for this... and Facebook.

My job and colleagues continue to make (force) me to be a better person and professional.

I don't have that many friends, but the ones I do have are stuck with me and I am so grateful for them.

That should about cover my gratitude statement for 2010.  Of course there are some things I'd like to change about my life... I am saving that post for New Year's. 

I think I killed a dog and now my Karma is off

My Karma is off.  

Two weeks ago I ran over a dog. 

I haven't gone into detail with my family, only with a couple of my colleagues.  And that was just yesterday.  I know there are many, many things worse in this life.  But it affected me.  And now I believe my Karma is off.  I have fallen, tipped over a full glass of water at a restaurant, my car tire has a slow leak, my favorite colleague gave her notice yesterday, I keep breaking things, I have missed a couple of deadlines at work (I never miss deadlines), one of my doctors retired and his replacement, who is 12 years old, wants to stick a needle in my neck.  I could go on, especially about happenings at work but that would be unethical.  I will only say I recently had an occasion where I had to gag.

I should share that the dog survived.  I called 9-1-1 who sent animal control.  Both were kind people.  I assume, but did not follow up, that the dog was put down.

Outside my Arlington office window I see stray dogs almost every day.  They likely are neglected and abandoned.  I am sure some, too, are simply lost after escaping from a loving home as my dogs have done.  One time our 2 beagles were gone for 3 days.  We found them living with a lovely woman about 3 miles from our house.  Would you believe she let them sleep on her bed??  A sainted woman.

The stray dogs I see from my office window, especially in the summer, are seeking refuge from the heat under the oaks in the city park across from my work.  A few months ago, in fact, I began carrying water and dog food in my car for these animals.  

Now I am responsible for killing one.

Petal, my hairstylist and a wise woman, says I should go sit in the middle of a field and center myself. I might.  I am thinking I have to volunteer for some animal group.  A resuce.  The dog was a mutt with pitbull features.  Maybe the pitbull rescue.  I haven't decided.  I have decided it has to be soon.  This weekend.  I am running out of time.  At least that's the way I feel. 

I need my Karma back. 

Another way to look at aging

I am 683.  That's right.  683.  Paul is 694.  In December John will be 300.  It's our ages in months.  And from now on, that's how I am going to calculate age.  It will be no big deal to go from 684 to 685 on my birthday next month.  My goal now is to live to 1,000.  Both my parents have. 

Piece of birthday cake!

You've got competition

Knock, knock.


Who's there?


Karma.

I heard last week that another Barnes and Noble store is closing. This one is (was) in Fort Worth. A victim of capitalism. Lots of supply, not enough demand. Actually, I don't know why the store is closing but I do know the nation's largest book seller is losing business to the digital book market.  I read that in the WSJ.

I feel partially responsible.  I have a Kindle and now buy my "books" at Amazon. I did buy from B&N at a book fair a couple of weeks ago - using my Amazon Visa card. Oops.

I don't feel guilty, though.  Remember the movie You've Got Mail?  It came out 12 years ago and starred Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. I loved that movie. The scene that still makes me cry is when Meg Ryan's character must lock the door to her mother's independent book store for the final time. She takes one last look at the now empty space and sees her mother and herself as a child dancing around the store. And then your heart strings commence tugging.

Of course the store was closing because Hank's character was opening a superstore just down the block.  Sounding familiar?  How many independent book sellers have gone under in the last decade?  Maybe B&N is getting a little taste of its own medicine. 

I also read in the WSJ that B&N is coming out with guns ablazing (my words, not WSJ) promoting a new and improved digital book reader for children.  Down but not out.  I have to admire that.  Again, with the capitalism.

Well, indie book sellers also have come back with guns ablazing.  I found a great organization and website for anyone interested in new and rare books.  American Booksellers Association is a nonprofit trade group that's been around more than 100 years promoting and protecting independent book sellers. 

http://bookweb.org/

Bottom line: it doesn't matter where you  buy your books as long as you keep buying them.