This weekend was one of those - It doesn't get much better than this - kind of weekends with one exception, half our family was in Colorado but they were having great fun too so it's all good.
What made it so great? People of course. There are plenty of times that I think 'Life would be easier without having to deal with people' but that is wrong. Yes, there are times that humans are frustrating but we need them. We need friends and family - everyone remembers that in times of strife, but what about just the fun times? The fun times need people too!!
A movie date with the Kiddo (so much fun), a virtual race to stand strong with fellow runners in honor of the Boston Marathon, baseball games (let's not talk about the score, that was not fun), and family and friends celebrating Easter (He has Risen!) - it was all more fun because of the friends and family. Old traditions were kept (you are never too old for an Easter egg hunt) and new traditions where made.
While sitting around a very long table for Easter dinner watching friends and family - some that I have known forever and some I have only been blessed with in the past few years - I realized once again how great it is to have a village. To have people to share the happy and fun times with, heck, to make the happy and fun times happen!
The fact of the matter is, humans are pack animals - we need each other to live life to the fullest, even if we hate to admit it. So the next time you find yourself thinking 'Seriously, people are a pain in the arse, grrrrr' try to remember the fun times, like the time you watched a Peep drown in a pink jelly bean martini while listening to your crazy friends and family talk over a meal...oh wait, that's just me. :)
Today Spring rewarded our fair little city with freezing temperatures. Yes, I know, some of you got snow. I live in Texas, if we got snow in April there might be mutiny and the city might shut down for a week just because they are angry. Freezing temps in April after a 70 degree day; it got me thinking about curve balls and how this is Mother Nature's curve ball. A silly little one that is easy to hit out of the park with a polar fleece and cute scarf.
I moved most of my childhood life. For most of it, I was too young to realize that everyone didn't move as much as we did. I remember moving from KY and being very sad; I remember being sad and angry every move after that. I have blogged how mom would sing Run for the Roses. I remember thinking that 'maybe this time we are staying put - we aren't going to move.' until my parents would tell us were moving to next state. Tears would ensue, and not just from me as I remember crying with mom more than once - a moving curve ball. One I hit with a song, new friends and a new address.
It is April 15th, and a year ago we mourned a terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon. If you have read this blog at all, you know that I am a runner, a late blooming runner who usually enjoys the scenery than the speed, but a runner nonetheless. I was watching the Boston Marathon last year and cheering for the victors. Then, a short time later I got a text from my mom that someone had bombed the Boston Marathon. I knew people (via Facebook so no, I have never shook their hand or hugged them but I still consider them a part of the running team) running the marathon. I knew people who had families up there cheering and all we knew was something had happened and people where hurt. I blogged about it two separate times (here and here). A curve ball - a much more serious curve ball than freezing temps or moving to be sure, but a curve ball for all of us. A hard, fast curve ball. Monday we will hit that curve out of the park with the 2014 Boston Marathon and between now and then, many of us will be running in honor of last year's event. Nothing will stop us.
All of those are examples, albeit ranging in severity, of curve balls that aren't the most positive of experiences but we hit them. I hit them - begrudgingly and after striking out first perhaps - but I hit them. (Yes, I know the cold & moving are NOTHING compared to Boston and I am not trying to compare them but it was a curve ball for all of us.)
What about good curves? Sweet spot curve balls? Well heck, I have plenty of those, they are home runs.
New job with new responsibilities that open doors and allow me to meet new friends (from their spouse no less)
New schools that led to life long friends (I sense a trend...)
Going grey at 18 that led me to have fun with various shades of brown (this brunette does have more fun with friends...)
Unhealthy check-up resulting in boot camps and running leading to amazing new friends (there is that friend trend again...)
Being single again, resulting in going solo to an auction and meeting the Big Guy (ooo - love)
The kiddo - greatest home run of my life
Moral of this disconnected blog? Don't hate the curve ball, find a way to hit it out of the park even if it takes time or tears (or yelling, or punching of a heavy bag) first. Jackie Robinson didn't shy from the curve - step into the box and hit that curve.
Often I post happy pictures of me in races, before, during and after. It makes me smile to run with so many friends - yes, it as much a social event as it is exercise sometimes. This weekend I ran back to back half marathons. Get all your "Erin, you have lost your damned mind. Why would you do that? How is that healthy?" and other comments out now....okay, ready? This weekend, I ran back to back half marathons with many friends. If I had pictures with all of them individually, there would be so many of me smiling, laughing, singing and dance running in my tutu (Tutu Power for Life thank you very much).
That is not what this is about, this post is about the time in between the start and finish lines. The miles 7, 8, 9 on Sunday when the rain was pouring down and I thought about quitting. Most of my posts are about the joyous events in my life, or the kids who I adore and learn so much from. Right now, I have a post about an amazing night The Big Guy and I spent celebrating our kids but this is not that post. This post is about me being human.
This morning I was sitting in the car and heard Christina Perri's new song 'Only Human' and I knew I had to write this entry.
Saturday, the weather was great and while the race was hard, the miles seemed to go by with me thinking of my wonderful friend Lauren who has lived an amazing life with MS and will continue to outlive me for many years to come. No, she has no desire to be a half crazy girl by running 13.1, (she is full on crazy for being my best friend however) but she is so strong and this Saturday we will once again celebrate finding a cure to MS at the Walk MS. Lauren never lets anything stop her, whether she believes that or not. I admire her - and I hope every day she knows that.
Sunday was a different story. Sunday it was cold and raining. Sunday I was sore from the hills the day before and the broken tooth I had worked on. Sunday I was exhausted...as the Kiddo told me 'it's because you fatigued your body mom - duh.' Sunday I was with friends but none of us wanted to be out in the rain. Sunday I was running for Paul who a year ago got a new heart from a generous donor who is in heaven. Sunday, I had more than a moment where there was more than rain streaming down my cheeks. Sunday I cried somewhere around mile 9 not sure why I was out there. I had nothing to prove to anyone. I didn't have to be a Streaker (6 Mellew races). I didn't have to finish my 15th half. I didn't have to take one more step. Sunday I almost gave up. Sunday I was reminded again how human I am. That same mile I dug deep, I thought of Paul and how, like Lauren, he probably has no desire to be a half crazy runner but he never gives up and now has a new heart that will allow him to outlive me. I apologized in my head (and maybe out loud at that point - only the rain knows that) to Paul and kept running. It wasn't fast, it wasn't pretty but it was what I could do at that moment. Thank you for being there Paul.
I am not writing any of this for sympathy or for validation. I am writing this as a reminder that we are all human and not every moment is smiles, colors and joy. But they are all OUR moments and good or bad - we survive them.
This weekend, and so many others, happened in my life and I survived it and wouldn't trade the time I spent for anything. I am only human and I will continue to be so - step by step.
A movie date with the Kiddo (so much fun), a virtual race to stand strong with fellow runners in honor of the Boston Marathon, baseball games (let's not talk about the score, that was not fun), and family and friends celebrating Easter (He has Risen!) - it was all more fun because of the friends and family. Old traditions were kept (you are never too old for an Easter egg hunt) and new traditions where made.
