October Challenge #4 - Adult Perspective

This has been a week of finding perspective for me...and for a lot of the women around me...it all started last weekend when the husband of one of my best friends left for Afghanistan.  What's that you say?  You thought we were pulling OUT of Afghanistan?  Yup...still sending people over "new".  He's working a desk job over there and will be in relative safety but he's still leaving his wife, his 6 year old and his 4 year old back here for a full year!  (oh - and his 23 year old but I am not so concerned about her!) :)

It continued when I heard a wonderful speaker at my MOMS Club meeting on Monday who talked to our group about the plight of homeless youth and children in Brooklyn Park.  In BROOKLYN PARK!  HOMELESS YOUTH!  ON THEIR OWN!  DUDE!  That SCREAMS perspective!  I am continually reminding myself just how lucky I am to have a warm, comfortable roof over my head and a pantry full of food.  It's amazing to me to think of the dozens of CHILDREN who are living homeless in my own suburban community...who are spending extra hours at school because it's warm and safe and they are fed.

And it continued again when I learned of the loss of another MOMS Club friend's husband.  I can't imagine having that particular conversation with my children.  And I have been absolutely amazed at the strength that this particular Mom has shown already this week.  I just hope that we can all be alert when she falls apart and needs us in the weeks to come.

I've been ridiculously introspective over the past weeks and months already - call it a third-life-crisis or something, I don't know.  But this has sharpened the focus on a few things that were already strong on my mind...

• I have amazing friends and ridiculous family who I KNOW would be there for me and for my own when/if the time came that I needed to call upon them.  
• I am very lucky to have the physical, creature comforts that I do.  It's one thing to think about the "starving children in Africa"...it's another thing to think about the starving, couch-surfing children in Brooklyn Park.  
• My marriage may be far from perfect - and there are definitely areas that could use some improvement - but all in all, I do have a husband who comes home every day (well - unless he's working...) to hug his wife and children.  
• I have a job.  Not just a job, but a job that allows me a ridiculous amount of flexibility - allows me to consider myself a SAHM, allows me to volunteer at my daughters' schools, to spend an hour every Thursday sitting in the sunshine at Starbucks typing my blog!
• I have health.  For me, for my husband and my children, for those most important to me.  I prove that health to myself every day as I push myself to run further or faster, to swing a kettlebell higher or one more time...

Basically?  I hear you loud and clear, Universe!  Please stop sending lessons our way!  When my daughters are driving me bonkers (like during the bewitching hour last night) or when my husband makes me want to hide, when my house feels too dirty, too small or when my calendar feels too jam-packed.  I WILL take those occasions to say THANK YOU for all the blessings in my life!  

October Challenge #3 - TC 10 Mile - ALIVE!

4:45 am - Chris' alarm goes off.
It's warm and cozy in this bed.
5:00 am - MY alarm goes off.
*sigh* it's warm AND cozy in this bed.
Brush my teeth, ponytail in my hair, running clothes on, eat a banana and some almonds and slug a bottle of water.
Babysitter is here - in her pj's - carrying her pillow - and we're off.
There are an incredible amount of stars on this crisp, clear morning!
Freaking COLD in the car.  33 degrees according to the dashboard.
Park in an empty ramp walk straight on a shuttle ready to leave.
Arrive at the Dome and follow the crowd.
Wow!  There are a lot of sleepy, eager people.  Strange - I feel like the youngest one here (that doesn't happen much anymore).
Stand in line for the restroom (hooray for flush toilets at the beginning of a race)...but not as long a line as the one for the men's room.  THAT's a switch!
Must be time to go - the crowd is moving.
My legs do not feel strong this morning.  The mysterious twinge in my left calf is twinge-ier than usual and my arthritic, old-lady joints are creaking.  I remind myself that I did a full 13.1 a few short weeks ago and I should look at this as a training run for Monster Dash in a couple of weeks.
Quick kiss on the corner, Chris heads to Corral 2 and I make my way to Corral 4.  Have to admit that being "corraled" by bike rack with 9,000 people this morning does make one feel a bit like cattle.
Can I find my friends?  Unlikely, though I try.
Earbuds in as Corral 1 starts.
Load up my newly re-energized running playlist as Corral 2 begins.
Boot up "mapmyrun" and Corral 3 takes off.
Nike+ is ready to go as the emcee "Runners get ready! Go!"
Deep, clear, even breaths fog the air all around me as we hit our stride as a group.
Mile 1 feels good - wakes up the body - shakes off the dreams.
Mile 2 brings us along the river.  Even though a lot of the leaves are already on the ground, it is beautiful here.  I chuckle at my fellow runners who are already visiting port-a-potties in the parks as we run past en masse.  My legs are NOT happy with this brilliant idea of mine to run today.
Mile 3 & 4 and my hands are still freezing, tucked into my running jacket.
Mile 4 and I can feel my lungs warming the air, my blood pumping strong through my body and my hands are finally warm enough to peek out of my jacket sleeves.
Oh - the hill at Mile 5 is a cruel joke.
The support along Mile 5 is wonderful!
Check out that sign, "10 miles!  Because 26.2 is just plain crazy!"
Mile 6 and that strange, mysterious calf injury is tweaking a bit and I slow down to pamper it and to consume a few "beans".  Amazing how fast that burst of energy comes on!
Mile 7 and the calf injury goes numb while the arthritic hip takes its place in the race for my attention.  I find myself amused by the "fans" sitting on the sidewalk in their lawn chairs with giant bloody marys clutched in their mittened hands.
Mile 8 and some well-placed P!nk in my playlist makes me smile and step up my game.  Check out THAT crazy guy running barefoot.  Nope - not in those funky "barefoot" shoes --- LITERALLY barefoot!  'Course if I showed him MY damaged feet, he'd probably call ME the crazy one!  I hope he doesn't get frostbit toes.
Turn a corner and the sun is BLINDING.  Suddenly it's as if I'm running alone.  It's glorious!
Mile 9 and some A@*hole is standing RIGHT THERE smoking a cigar and exhaling directly at us.  Nice, buddy!
And THERE is the capital building.  Glorious and less than a mile away!
Mile 10 - slower than I would have liked.  Slower than the half marathon I just ran.  But I did it.  I am ALIVE!  And I proved it to myself and to my body once again!

October Challenge - #2 - Friendship...Square One

I've been blessed by some beautiful friendships over my decades on this earth and at the risk of embarassing some people who are and have been very important in my life...I'm going to spend a couple of days telling you about them!
A fair warning - these posts are possibly uninteresting to anyone but myself and those mentioned here...excuse me a trip down memory lane

I was a painfully shy child when I was very young.  My brilliant mother approached my preschool teacher in an attempt to find me a "friend" - someone that I could connect with.  I think she was worried that I would melt into a klutzy, quiet, frizzy haired little mess in the corner.  She was probably right to be concerned.  At any rate - that wonderful preschool teacher hooked me up with what would become my "BFF" - Jenny H.  (I hope she isn't bothered to be mentioned by name online!  Maybe it's OK since she goes by "Jennifer" these days!)  It's a funny thing about memories - you can't always be assured that they are 100% accurate.  In my memory, Jenny and I spent nearly every waking moment together for years.  I'm not sure that is far from accurate.  I can honestly say that with the exception of a pile of family-only memories, 95% of my memories from preschool through 6th grade involve Jenny in some way.  We played, we pretended, we whispered and giggled - we went to a certain summer camp that shall remain nameless to protect...us and our reputations.  Even at the ripe ages of 6 & 8 & 12...her friendship gave me the support, the foundation that I desperately needed to be brave enough to try things.  I would have NEVER tried to play tennis without her, I would NEVER have got over the absolute terror that filled me at the thought of a sleepover.  I honestly don't know that I would have learned how to build other friendships without her.  And - with one tiny exception, I don't remember us fighting or ever not getting along.  We were still solid friends in junior high though we both branched out and spent less time attached at the hip.  Completely separately, we both wound up playing double-reed instruments in band/orchestra which led us to countless trips to St Cloud for private lessons together.  We came back around to each other again in high school and built a whole new life together with a completely different style (at least for me) of friends (this will come up again momentarily...).  And again, completely separately, we wound up going to college 7 miles apart...She was my maid of honor and I was hers...and then wound up living in the same suburb - married with children.  She lives 4 hours away now and I haven't seen her in years.  I haven't spoken to her in months.  And I haven't met her youngest child.  Heck - I don't even think I sent a gift.  But there is something about a friendship that endures - a friendship like the one that I HAVE with Jenny H. - a friendship that is really more of a sisterhood than a friendship - if I needed her, she would be here...and vice versa...and I know that when I DO make the trip north or we wind up "home" at the same time over the holidays...we'll pick up where we left off with hugs and blessings.  Friendships like this one are few and far between and are definitely part of what connects me to this world and what makes me feel ALIVE!

Jen and I at my high school graduation.
I KNOW - we haven't changed a BIT!

I feel bad for the little girlfriends that my daughters are making now that they are in preschool and kindergarten because I look at every last one of them wondering if THEY are going to be our family's "Jenny H".

October Challenge - Post #1 - "ALIVE!"

Day 1...and so it begins!
I'm challenging myself to write a blog post each day in October...uh - starting now, I guess.  I needed a "good habit" with which to challenge myself for this month's Game On competition and I thought this might be it - - - and then I realized that I had been procrastinating some important projects so this will be just "extra" and will probably become, at best, an every other day project but that's besides the point, right?  Anyway, in reading one of my "usual" reads, I ran across this challenge to pick a topic and write on it each and every day for the entire month.
'Course, I ran across it very late (aka. yesterday) so I haven't done the prep work that I maybe should have.  The creator of this challenge suggests that you spend time making lists in preparation.  While I AM a giant list maker, I think I'm going to try to be a bit more spontaneous than that. 

I took the girls to church on Sunday and as always, I got something powerful out of the sermon.  The overall discussion was a basic overview of the program that the church has been following for the last 3 years...not incredibly inspirational but the senior pastor DID say one thing that really struck me.  He commented that when he was growing up in his church community, everyone was always asked the question "are you saved?"  He challenged us to ask a different question, "are you alive?"  The underlying idea being that everyone who believes is saved but that doesn't require any kind of action on our part.  Answering affirmatively to the question, "are you alive?" means that you must be actively seeking to better yourself, to strengthen your faith, to interact with the world around you in a positive way and not just sit back watching and waiting.  I am most certainly not prepared to take this simple blog down a religious, theological road.  I'm not ready to share THAT with the world just yet because my faith is not "average", is still being figured out and I might just make some people uncomfortable.  While I DO like to challenge others, I'm not sure I'm quite ready for this particular challenge just yet. 

I love a Minnesota fall!  If only it lasted longer!
Sitting in the sun, with THIS view makes me
feel VERY alive!

BUT - I CAN write about being alive!  So I am challenging myself to write a post every day (I won't promise that they will be lengthy or especially brilliant...)

I'm curious!  What makes YOU feel "alive"?  What PROVES to you that you ARE "alive"?  How do you challenge yourself to be more and more "alive"?