The Run

Today I took a stroll up to Signal Hill Park. It was a glorious day. Leaves sprawled about the damp ground and the fall mood setting in. It’s a beautiful park, and I have to say I love it even more because it's right near my house. Daily, almost, I will drive by and see some sort of game going like football or soccer and supporting cheerleaders.

The park is woodsy, filled with trails of all kinds and tons of things to do for kids and adults. Baseball fields, soccer fields, tennis courts, basketball hoops, grills for cooking out, and even a small pond.

Isaac introduced me to a 1.5 mile path at Signal Hill that I often run when I need a change of scenery and better than good workout. It's hilly, grassy, and challenging. He used to run it when he was in high school on the Cross Country team, twice around. And when I'm feeling good enough I'll run it twice around, too. But mostly I'll go it once, and then do some other exercises or slower-paced runs to make up for the extra 1.5 I'm lacking to meet my usual goal of three miles or 30 minutes.

I did some sprints today after I finished the 1.5 miler. Took my ol' purple weights up to the asphalt run line and let my stopwatch tell me when I was done. It was THE perfect day for an outside workout and my legs were in for the kill.

It's pretty often lately that I feel home finding me in these paths of familiar and comforting waters at places like this and moments like these. My whole world could revolve around endless, outdoor sprints and the breath of fresh air. The way I feel when I've just finished a run is more rewarding than any other feat I've dared. There's nothing like it. Nothing.

The soles of my shoes have worn down. They say after the heels start shedding it's time for a new pair. And so, I think it is. I was reading the other day that it's actually good to run bare foot once in a while. Bare foot? Are you serious? How can running bare foot be good for your feet? Apparently it strengthens your calf muscles and encourages landing on the balls of your feet, rather than the heel, which is actually detrimental to the bones and joints. I always thought it was good to land on the heels of your feet. Who knew?

Anyway, here are a few pics I snapped of today's venture. Am I a dork, or what?

The Starbucks and Facebook Drugs

I've never tried crack, but I imagine if I did, it would give me a similar, in a different way, sort of high to what is felt when one is logged onto Facebook or drinking a cup of Starbucks coffee.

I went to get my Friday morning cup of joe at the local Centerville Starbucks on my way to work today and walked in at 8:15. I left at 8:45. 30 minutes to get a grande, extra hot, caramel macchatio. When I walked in, the line was nearly out the door and continued to be so even as I left. And the wait to get the coffee was, well, at least 20 minutes or more. But there I sat, waiting for it. I was not leaving until I got that $4 cup of joe. No sir! The waiting area was filled with people gazing at the barista coffee-makers, their mouths salivating and their cell phones eagerly clicking away. And I was one of them. No cell phone, though. For once.

I knew it before I walked in, but I realized what torment people will go through for one cup of meaningless coffee. And as I stood there waiting for my own, I started to get angry! I was watching the barista make everyone's coffees and he was sooooo slow. And then, he kept moving other people's coffees ahead of mine. When finally, after 15 minutes or so, I asked where mine was. "It's next," he said.

I waited, and waited, and waited. He never called. So I checked again. They had lost it. Another 5 minutes passed and one customer walk-out from their own lost coffee, I finally had my joe. It was like crack.

Facebook is also like that too -- addicting. I don't think a lot of people want to admit it, or maybe don't even realize it. It's a natural part of life these days. Wake up, update your status. Go to lunch, update your status. Eat dinner, go to the gym, get in bed, update your status. People are hooked and there is an obsessive and ultra need to fixate the mind on Facebook 24/7. It's on our computers at home, it's on our computers at work, and it's on our phones, connected to our hips, and controlled by our fingers. It's even in some of our work e-mail signatures, "Check us out on Facebook!"

We are a culture obsessed with Facebook. And I can't deny it, I sometimes am too. I don't know what's so addicting about it. I think we all just like to know what's going on with other people and unknowingly, we fall into a critique-mode where we spoil over their photo albums and Wall commentary. It's like an innocent pleasure. But is it really all that innocent when people start posting their lives on it for all the world to see? I mean, if you think about it, why does your old co-worker from 3 years past need to see pictures of your sonogram, or your dog, if you really aren't that close to him or her anymore? A sonogram, to me, is a special and sacred thing. I wouldn't want to share it with any joe schmoe.

And we all can't deny we haven't sat there searching for hours for old friends or colleagues or acquaintances, too. Or trying to look up people we knew way back when to take a glance at their photos to see what they look like now, or what they've been up to recently. It's fun though, isn't? There's something so intriguing about searching for people you haven't seen in ages and trying to locate where they are, who they hang out with now, and what they look like. Seeing if they still hang out with the same high school click of friends or are dating the same guy. We all feed off finding out information about other people. And because we're human, we sometimes secretly hope that the ones who were mean to us in high school are now overweight or ugly and that we now look better than they did. (Did Melissa really just say that?). Yes, I did.

Just because most of us don't actually do crack, or other similar drugs, doesn't mean we don't have some other tangible or intangible ones that aren't illegal that we treat just like a crack addict would. People who are doing serious drugs are just doing a form of them illegaly. Facebook and Starbucks may not be illegal, but they still can be life-destructive if not done in moderation. And maybe not the sense in that our body and mind and health deteriorate, but our moral compass and our caffeine buzz can get the best of us if we are not careful and finding ourselves unable to live without them too...

Saturday Night Thoughts

As I got out of my car and walked into my condo tonight after a night of Starbucks and Social Networking (the movie) with my Tommy Hilfiger purse in my right hand and the sound of my Nine West heels going click-clack, I began to think just how lucky I am. Feeling the best I've felt in a long time, physically, and my emotional tank filled after a night of girl talk and special occasion green eyeshadow-wearing I found myself thinking about all the blessings in my life.

Knowing that it would be moments before I settled in to my warm house and begin writing to you I was filled with deep appreciation for this life. I know. I am utterly the most adjectively feeling-oriented person on this planet with so many describing and memory-making habits it makes even me naseous at times. I can't help it. I am just a ball of hearty feelings inside.

I also couldn't help but stop and think, what if that were all taken away, in an instant. How would I feel? I would feel distraught, disoriented, broken, bare, and naked. What if I came home, one night, and my house had gotten broken into, or my car? Or what if my condo building burned down? What if our house foreclosed or I lost my job? What then? Would I still feel the same?

Living this life is so hard, sometimes. But it is also easy for a lot of us. We have everything we need - and then some. I began wondering how I would really feel if I lost it all. If I did not have a home to come to after a hard day's work or a leisurely day of hanging out. I wouldn't know what to do. Where is all my trust, my faith?

Often I walk along, like tonight, up to my condo and get carried away with myself--like the world owes me a favor--like I am nothing without my strategically ripped jeans or my silver hoops. And by the grace of God something comes over me and humbles me instantly, reminding me that if I get get too caught up I will be awakened sooner or later and probably in a way I wouldn't have preferred. God sure knows how to test us in a timeley fashion. He knows exactly how and when we need a check on our ego, and our humility.

I, like most Americans, love my things. And I know I am blessed beyond measure behind all the bills, student loans, and unexpected expenses. But like tonight, I am so excited to unexpectedly tune into the reality that they're just things. That life is so much more than fancy purses and lazer hair removal. And then I ask myself to really understand, how content would I be without them?

Promises from Isaiah

For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you. Do not fear; I will help you.
-Isaiah 41:13

...you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
-Isaiach 46:3-4

Now then, listen, you wanton creature, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.' Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day; loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells. You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, 'No one sees me.' Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me.' Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away...
-Isaiah 47:8-11

Listen to me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am he; I am the first and I am the last. My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together.
-Isaiah 48:12-13

Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship it. They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move. THough one cries out to it, it does not answer; it cannot save him from his troubles. Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come...What I have said, that will I brign about; what I have planned, that will I do.
-Isaiah 46:6-11

Reminisce

It's Friday night, October 1st. The windows are wide open and I'm sipping Pinot Grigo. Just a few moments ago I heard the Osbourn Park football game echoing outside my condo screen door--the band, the cheering, the plays being announced. It brings back memories and makes me feel like just yesterday I was cheering on the box at my own stadium football game.

The weather couldn't be any nicer today. After a week of rain we needed some sunshine and a little windy flair. I finally draped the season's first scarf around my neck and set the mood for fall. I can't believe that summer's gone. I think this summer might have been the best one of my life.

Back to the football game. There I am, 17 years old, standing on my glitter-painted box cheering for the Osbourn Eagles. Feet twirling, arms flailing, hair flipping. My boyfriend, Isaac, is up in the stands looking so cute. I was so young without a clue in the world. How many royal blue spandex had I gone through at that point? It must have been my 90th football game. But there I was, yelling and screaming for a team I knew would lose having the time of my life and anticipating the after party at Becky's. Backhandspring after backhandspring after backhandspring the adrenaline rushed over me while I took off every five minutes or so daring to pump just one more to top the last. Back tucks, herkeys, straddles, and megaphones were all a part of our game (no pun intended :)). I can't help but remember how much I loved that moment, wishing it would last forever.

Hearing the game from inside my living room with the cool breeze rushing in reminds me of so much--so much that I will never live over, but always remember. Why did I want to grow up so fast? Could I not just have enjoyed my time basking in the glory of cheer competition spotlight, short skirts, and ribboned ponytails? I miss those days even more after hearing the sound of the marching band a mile away.

Now, we're looking into buying SUVs and hard wood floors while paying bills we never knew we'd have. Life is funny. Living vicariously is good every now n' then...