Just as I was starting to mow the lawn on Saturday my sister called. The nursing home had just called her saying dad was very confused and it “might help if someone would visit him”. No guilt with that last line. She was concerned about him but also felt bad for not going to see him that day. Since they were in the middle of a lake out of town, she asked if I would go?
Actually ran 4.5 miles the other night without stopping once. Woo-hoo. So I am officially patting myself on the back. Yes, that’s an ice cold Corona light (with extra limes) in my hand. I’m a believer in rewarding yourself for a job well done. I felt so good afterwards that Cosmo and I went for a drive to get an accurate measurement of the distance.
I’d been doing just (don’t minimize your efforts!) 2 miles but finally felt energized enough after work that I thought I’d try to go for it. It helped a lot that we had cooler weather and lower humidity too. Still if a 51 year young guy who sits at a desk all day can do it, so can you.
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Last Saturday in Tai Chi class my teacher was instructing all of us to relax and pay attention to what we were doing, to allow ourselves to relax and let go. “If you do,” he said, “you will feel the rhythm of Tai Chi.” Sometimes when he talks, I feel as though he’s talking directly to me as though he knows what I’m dealing with in my personal life. “Allow yourself to let go . . . feel the rhythm” Yeah, that’s me.
Didn’t sleep that well last night as I was jarred from a very deep sleep by the airhorn of a weather alarm radio telling me there was a severe thunderstorm watch. A watch, not a warning. There’s no way I can see to turn off the ‘watch’ alert and only have it go off for the more serious ‘warning’. Because of my interrupted sleep I had to force myself to run when all I really wanted to do was crash on the couch. Running, sometimes it’s magic, sometimes it’s just work and sweat. Still there’s always a sense of accomplishment when I’m done and that’s worth something.
For Father’s Day my brothers, sister and I all went together and bought dad a jacket and hat embroidered with patches that said U.S. Army Retired and WWII, Korea, Viet Nam veteran. I don’t think I’ve seen dad that happy with a present in a long time. He kept looking at it, running his fingers over the embroidery and saying “Oh boy that’s nice. That’s something.” Between seeing all of his family and the gift, we made an old man very happy.
There’s a bunch of family birthdays in June so we combine them with Father’s Day and have a reunion of sorts. A lot of homemade food, drink, talking and laughing.
On the road to a class in Topeka about 24 miles to the west. I was just getting ready to turn onto K-10 and make my way to the turnpike when the radio buzzed annoyingly with a weather alert. There was a tornado warning for Topeka. A twister had been sighted just southwest of town and was moving northeast. So much for class.
I love watching big storms move in. Can’t say I like having to hunker down in the basement when they’re on top of me and the sirens are blowing but they are beautiful. Definitely makes you feel small and puts things in perspective. In the big picture our problems are very small and while they may make us run and take shelter on occasion, they will pass.
Running tonight after work I was surprised at how strong the inertia was. For the first several blocks I just wanted to stop but a few minutes later it was as though a switch had been flipped and I felt much better. It turned out to be one of the better runs I’ve had since the weather warmed up. Despite my wandering mind I found some amount of ‘flow’. The air was cooler, there was less humidity and my mind and body relaxed into the pace of my feet falling, my arms swinging and my breathing.
I came across this great little article on forgiveness -
Read an earlier post on forgiveness
Yesterday we had to put our 17 year old cat Morticia to sleep. She had kidney problems for a while now and it finally was just too much for her.
She was a really unique cat. Where other cats would run and hide when friends came over, Morticia never knew a stranger. She assumed everyone loved cats and would always rub up against them. If held, she would actually put her front paws on either side of their neck as though she was hugging them.
The vet was very sympathetic and gentle. She passed peacefully while we held her and stroked her head.
