Up & At 'Em

There are times when life comes in rapid fire. There is no time for breath. Hardly a moment for thought occurs. Everything is a necessity and only some of it gets taken care of.

Then there are headlines like this morning's: "Stocks Plunge as Crisis Intensifies". I feel like I'm playing CivII with the goofy headlines from the Picayune Press. Next we just need a bad case of space aliens.

With not a moment to spare on any given day, and a minimum entourage of three at all times, I have been longing for opportunities to do some sports in a meaningful way. The possibilities have seemed nil. Though T used to be a personal trainer, and I used to dance 4 hours a day, we have not had so much as a yoga date since before D was born. This feels both unacceptable and unlikely to change soon. But T is not one to give up. Two marvelous potentials have come our way!

First, at church (a 2000 year old game of telephone, T gleefully calls it) there's a new guy. We met at the last brunch. Former chef, former Marine (sharpshooter? "No, no, I'm only an expert." Hilarious), and fairly new in town. Naturally the gun thing has been discussed at length, twice now, and he and T have made a plan for the three of us to go to the range for a three-gun (there was a word for it...) race of some sort. Hand, rifle, shotgun. He said he'd provide the guns, we'll get the cover, and presumably ammo. Totally fun!

We're going to look at when the best day to take the kids would be. I know the weekends are fun there, with BBQs, etc. A family membership is only $300 for the year. He said he'd do instruction. I'm thinking our 4H shooting instructor may have just waltzed our way. I'm also thinking of playing matchmaker and hooking him up with the love of his life asap. Not that he asked, but his suit last Sunday was so charming, I don't feel there's any question. Applications accepted.

The next big thing is triathalon. Did I mention I'm really not in shape? Thin yes. Able to walk half a block and not get winded, not so much. Also merely able, not really adept, in the swimming department. Though I think it's ocean, where I'm unlikely to really nail my crawl anyway. There are Monday and Wednesday bike meetings. Pine Ridge to Port Royal and back. Perfect. They will lend us a baby trailer, kids are welcome. Pace is easy. It should take an hour, they take an hour and a half. And Monday night is a possible date night for us, since it's one T has off. Brilliant.

I have to be able to maintain excitement about triathalon, which I've always wanted to do, while not getting freaked out about triathalon, which is a big deal. Step one, go to the bike store and get all the gear checked. Tune, trade, buy as necessary. Step two, show up for bike night and do it. Step three, repeat step two. Take it from there.

The weather has let up somewhat. It's not so warm, so wet. The bugs are still bad, but it's still more pleasant than August was. I'm excited! I'm so excited I want to run around the yard yelling weeeehhhoooooo! But it's rather early in the morn. I love shooting! I love triathalon! I love my husband, who is marvelous and finds these life morsels for us! Actual dates with physical challenge! Love, love, love! Keep your cream sauces and velvet boxes, these are the long life gems of love.

I know if we go learn together, and work together, and challenge ourselves, we will live longer and more happily together. And that makes the occasional four star cream sauce in NYC taste sweeter, and the rare gem seem as it should, divine in his hand and straight from his heart.

I might even work out today. What better incentive? Though in reality, it may just have to be a vigorous house cleaning. I think it's been three weeks since a proper mopping occurred. Spot mopping is no longer helpful. And there are baby clothes that are too small, closet chaos with bedroom overflow, desk mayhem. The living room is looking better in general, but is also covered with magazines as we're mid-project looking for vision board images.

The term "vision board" is new to me. I haven't even seen or read The Secret, but was reading Shakti Gawain in high school and have always had a vision board of one kind or another. Usually it was an entire wall in a room, with images that fed me. It's totally how I found my husband. In fact, it was on the wall, with pictures that looked like him, when he first came to my house! I haven't had one in awhile, mostly due to the perma-change and no-hands-free elements of moving, a fixer-upper house and child care. So now is the time. Snippy, clippy.

B finds it an inspiring activity. He's making a diorama. K only looks at the travel magazines. She and I want the same images and have to negotiate who gets the original and who takes the copy. Of course I'll take the copies. She's dear.

Okay, it's more like morning now. Time to feed the beasts and have some coffee. T made the pot and left for a meeting. The aroma is wafting in. The word "aroma" makes me laugh. "Smell" just didn't seem to convey the pleasant nature of coffee, neither "fragrance". So aroma it is.