What happens when the power cord is gone

Live from my journal, the only 'computer' I had at the time...


Twice a week, I work from my 'window office' - a small table at a major coffee house across from the kiddos' school.  We can debate on if this is a true coffee house or not later.

Usually, I get a lot of work done, almost more than when I am in my cube, but today, my computer failed me and wouldn't boot up.  Of course, the power cord is gone - who knows where as we have 5 laptops in the house with different power cords so it should not vanish by I digress (typical, I know and yes, I have found it since...at the office).  Back to my point, due to the technology fail, I got to sit back with my decaf green tea and bottled water - leave me alone, our lakes are down so the facet water tastes like dirt & I will recycle, or use it as a bug killing jar, I promise - and observe.  Now, I have no doubt that I do ridiculous things people observe all the time so this is in no way judgement.  Everyone should be happy with themselves, and it takes all types...

1. A lime green Lamborghini - because you don't stand out enough in that car, let's make it lime green down to the rims; the rims really looked cool.
2. A women letting her cockapoo drive her BMW with the paws on the wheel and everything
3. No less than 20 GQ wannabes each hour.  You know the type, shiny sunglasses wearing the latest 'hipster' clothes that aren't hipster as 19 others are wearing them.
4. People just coming off a run looking like they are about to pass out (it is VERY hot here) but holding onto that extra hot latte as if it was gold. Been there.
5. That guy - in the perfectly ironed shirt, tailored pants and flip flops. Oh dear, he just drove away in a Prius.
6. Other moms patiently waiting in their window office for their kiddo no doubt making mental lists of all the things they could be getting done if not there BUT loving their children so much they wait.
7. The 3rd Bible study group this week.
8. The smiley Batista whose mind I blew by ordering a decaf tea instead of a black double shot drip.
9. SMU/Texas/A&M/OU/OSU fans, those who know recognize that I don't need to say anything else about that.
10. Those people post workout who are still in full make-up and perfect hair.  Really? Maybe I am jealous because I end workouts looking like death by whatever.
11. All black with white shoes or all white with black shoes.  Reminds me I need to polish my red shoes.
12. A Priest from the parish across the street that the Batista seems to know.  Very cool guy, he stops at some of the Bible study groups even though they are not Catholic.
13. A grandpa and his son that I see every week.  Last week, Grandpa used me to teach the boy about wireless technology and being able to work from anywhere.  It reminds me of the younger kiddo's trips with his Grandma to said coffee shop that have continued to this day.  Even in Paris.

I could go on, goodness knows I can talk, by why?  My point is that I love people - all people.  It takes all of us to make this world work so let's all rock our inner person & have fun with life.  This coming from the mom in the window office with a white skirt & aqua shoes scribbling in a journal instead of using her computer - what a nut job.

Update this morning...two men just walked by and I heard one say to the other "She's here every week -normally inside, she must love this weather today."  I am on the list too:)

It has many uses

Anyone who has even read the description behind the title of this blog (Suitcases Open Doors) has figured out that I have lived a pretty eclectic and cool life.  I was lucky growing up and experienced a lot of the finer side of things that most people never imagine.  It was life, the hand we were dealt so to speak.  It rocked.

In all the awesome, fun, challenging, adventurous challenges in my life I never thought I would be excited to see my son come in with a bug net full of a beautiful, complete cicada and know exactly where the killing jar was.  In my pantry. Right between the coffee and Aunt Jemima Pancake mix.  In case you wonder, it is a mason jar and now has NO FOOD EVER - BUG JAR written on it in permanent marker.  You know, in case one of the teenagers decides one day it is a glass.

Words to live by?  Freshman at Jesuit high schools need bugs and killing jars.  I recommend keeping a mason jar in the pantry just in case.

It's been a while - again.

This year has been full of changes for our little family unit and it all culminated in an amazing graduation trip to Paris with the kiddo . We walked all day everyday looking at anything and everything we could.  Some of it was on a map, but most was very off map (maps annoy me so I don't tend to follow them).  Ten glorious days without a computer other than the old Mac in the lobby of the hotel (which I did get on twice) and my cell phone although even that was limited as I turned off the sync function so I couldn't get email.  I thought about blogging all about it but clearly didn't and am not sure I ever will.

The break from technology was great and something I will do again on my next vacation.  Europeans are very good at taking holiday as they call it - a true break from work, time to simply enjoy their family and friends.  We ran into friends while there, the kiddo got to spend a whole day with a buddy touring Versailles and the Paris metro system.  I am not sure which was more educational, the metro experience or Versailles!  He has since told us more than once that spending time with his buddy was one of his favorite days of the whole trip.

Well, that got me thinking.  We have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.  all these avenues where 'friends' follow us or check on us or, let's be honest here, stalk us.  How lucky are we to have friends that want to know what is going on in our lives?  Very of course.  But how much luckier are we when we have friends that want to spend time with us, even if that means finding 12 hours in a foreign country because there was no time at home?  Spending time with family and friends is what life should really be all about.

Now comes the part where I change my mind come full circle.  I am not suggesting that everyone has to take a foreign vacation to spend time with friends, sometimes it is as simple as sending a note, FBing a status or texting a smile (there it is, the technology that I took a break from yet suggest you use now).  Life is crazy and sometimes that is all you have time for - everyone knows that - vacations are few and far between.  This week I challenge everyone, myself included, to send a smile to someone you like/love and that you haven't had time to see/spend time with - don't wait for your Paris. Use the technology we have (yup, full circle - it's my blog so you should all be used to that by now).  And if you get a smile, send one back...you never know, the person may enjoy it as much as you do!

Run for the Roses

I think I have mentioned it before, but I moved quite a few times growing up.  Once we moved back to the United States my mother unknowingly started a tradition for me when things get rough.  In one move I remember particularly, she held me (nope - didn't like being touched way back then but in this case, it was perfect) and started singing Dan Fogelbergs's Run for the Roses.  While the song is about horse racing, and specifically the Kentucky horses, the lyrics hit home. 


Run for the roses, as fast as you can
Your fate is delivered, your moment's at hand.
It's the chance of a lifetime, in a lifetime of chance
And it's high time you joined in the dance,
It's high time you joined in the dance.


These words struck me even more this weekend as I was telling this story to some of my wonderful friends as any time things get tough, I sing that son to myself.

Lately, a number of great things happened.  Many of my friends and family ran for their own roses, took their chance and danced without even knowing it.   The kiddo finished his last track meet and set personal records & this last weekend took 4th place in the state of Texas for speaking; a friend finished a long journey of 390 miles for those who need help; others completed races, some their first, some covered in mud not just sweat; some realized that they have so many friends who love them that they danced because they can. The stories can go on...

I danced many times this week spending times with friends and family (a quick high in the garage to lunches of celebration), running early in the morning (something I couldn't do a year ago!), having fun night cheering for the home team (even if the basketball we saw doesn't deserve mention the company does!).  Tomorrow morning I will be dancing my way through Heels & Hills, getting up before the sun to spend time with my friends and beating our own personal records.

All of these things, and many more that I didn't list, remind me to keep joining in the dance, even if you have two left feet.  It might be scary, and you might not reach every goal right away that you set for yourself but the time is now.  My friends, run for the roses - it is worth the effort so join in the dance.

P.S.  Thanks Mom.

Life gets busy - can you spare 60 seconds please?

I have written before about how people are always waiting for the weekends for a break...exactly who doesn't have busy weekends anymore?  I am not complaining by any means, I like what I do with the kiddos & friends on the weekends.  And if I get to sleep past 5:30am I am golden anyway!

This weekend is crazy for us.  Not only do we have the Walk MS Dallas on Saturday, we have another school auction and the Tough Mudder (okay, that's not we - that's just me) on Sunday and throw in opening day for the baseball team Sunday night for the closer.  Is this crazy busy?  Yup.  Yet, I cannot wait for it to be here.

It's not because I don't like my job or what I do during the week.  I can honestly say I am one of the lucky few who not only likes their job but also likes the people they work with on a daily basis.  I am looking forward to the weekend because it means I get to hang out with the kiddo - even if it is with thousands of other people - in support of a cure for MS.

This cause is near and dear to me as I have a friend who is more like sister with MS.  She will be out there with us, walking with pride in orange shirts (a literal sea of orange) in the hopes that someday we will find a cure.  Over the past few years, many new developments and drugs have been found through the research supported by our walk and those across the nation.  In the course of fundraising this year, I have met so many other people who are directly or have loved ones who are afflicted MS and no one would know.  It isn't a disease that you hear a lot about (such as cancer), but it is very real and affects many people.

I know this entry is more serious than most of my posts (which have been severely lacking this year - sorry) but it is what came into my head this morning!  If you don't mind, please take a moment Saturday morning to say a quick prayer or have a quick thought for the cure for MS please...it doesn't take but a moment and you never know who you might be helping out.

:)

For the good of all...

Let me start by saying that this may (translation - will most definitely) come across as dramatic but as the blog owner, sometimes I get to be dramatic.  We all have our days.  Enough about that.


Today I got my first MRI at lovely Envision Imaging of Allen which is where I became a regular not a year ago for my then broken foot.  This time it was as a result of the strained ligaments in my knee not healing quite as fast as my doctor would like.  I love my doctor, she didn't chide me for waiting to come see her and admitted she would have done the same thing (we had a double to run people!).  But this is not about that, this entry is about my need to be KNOCKED OUT.


Why do I feel the need to be knocked out you ask?  That's easy - because an MRI is a metal tube of death.  A loud, tight, scary - albeit very well lit - metal tube of death (MToD for short).  I am not a claustrophobic person, at least normally, and did not have to be all the way in the MToD, in fact, my head was not in the MToD.  This does not change the fact that every slightest shift of the sliding 'bed' of fear towards the MToD sent cold shivers down my back and my hands started to sweat.  I knew I wasn't going all the way in, I was still in street clothes with zippers and hooks, but that did not stop the irrational fear of enclosure.  The music coming through the headphones that had me singing in my head?  Nope, not a soother either.


I clearly survived and have all my body parts unsmooshed (it's a word).  Should there be a next time, this is the only warning I can give: I will fight harder than a honey badger and spider monkey combined to not have it happen AND for the good of all - please knock me out.  I promise, I will buy a round when I awake.

MToD - and sliding bed of fear.

***Update!  I have heard back and have what is called Iliotibial Band Syndrome and have PT starting Friday. I will get to run again!  Only this time, I will know when to take it easy (I will - sometimes) and leave the MToD for others.***

We did it...

In 2011 I became a workout person.  I like to go to boot camp at 5:30am outside in a parking lot or parking garage (only if it is really raining or really cold of course).  The people I met that have kept me motivated make it that much more fun.  We work through the pain, the gain, the good times and bad and still show up for more. In August I started running - training for my first half marathon.  I completed that first one with one of my best friends in the rain and cold.  We were wet from the first step to the last but we did it and did it well.

The next half was the first leg of the New Years Double.  We had decided to do a 1/2 on the 31st and 5k on the 1st as we were pretty sure that pain would play a major role.  I had no idea how much of course.  Two weeks prior to the NYD, I did a hilly training run with my crew.  Nothing new for any of us and I felt great afterwards.  It wasn't until later when I was at the movies and couldn't get my knee to straighten without more pain than I ever felt that I realized something was wrong.

Now, a smart adult would take this as a sign to rest up and I did, I only did one more 4 mile run before the half.  I never said I was a smart adult.  I made it through the half - slower than my first one but yet still made it with minimal walking and got ice right after the race.  Immediately actually, it was comical how quickly I voluntarily got a huge bag of ice for my knee while standing outside during a sunny 45 degree day.

The next day, under penalty of bodily injury (I do love our running crew, we take better care of each other than we do ourselves and wouldn't make it a step without the support) I walked the 5k.  This was painful and I don't just mean literally.  Having started where I did in January (more than 20 pounds heavier and WAY out of shape and not just because I was coming off of a fractured foot) to running 1/2 marathons and working out 6 days a week and then having to walk 3 miles - I 'ran' the first 1/4 mile as well as I could and that was not smart but nothing was going to stop me - was not where I wanted to be.  I was there with the kiddo who once told me he hated running more than anything in the world and yet he was voluntarily running two 5ks and still at the finish line cheering for us.

I was having a big time internal pity party as I walked with a smile on my face until this one woman walked up next to me and said 'Hey, we might be walking but we are out here doing it and that is better than being on our couch!'.  You know what?  She was right.  We were out there walking in the beautiful weather because that is what we could do.   I walked for a while with another guy who was about to go in for knee surgery.  He ran the half the day before too and was paying the same price I was but we were out there walking with smiles and enjoying every minute of it.

Moral?  Yes, it stinks to train and not make a goal I set but this is a new year and I still have plenty of trails and asphalt to kick ahead of me!  So here we go 2012 - recover and take on the year.  You may be 'walking' through whatever it is you are doing right now, but at least you are taking steps and you will 'run' through it before you know it.    One foot in front of the other.

PS:  I am already thinking that the 2012/2013 New Year Double needs to be a 1/2 / 1/2 for me...how's that for a goal? (Yup, I have lost my mind)