July 22nd thru July 25th brought a weird confluence of circumstances. One minute I think I have an agreement on an awesome plot of land to build the foundation for the next phase of my life, then whamm..... Karen looses her job and shit comes to a grinding halt...errrrrrr........ Ok reality check..... what to do... well first I need to run my first ever 10K road race, that will get my mind off of things.. So off I go, thru the heat, fumes and exhaust of a fairly busy airport thru road I run and run...... 6 miles 376 yards 4 and 25/32 inches and 1 hour and 4 minutes later I finish and i still have gas in my tank! So i realize my fledgling fascination with running requires I figure out how to finish a run on empty in order to obtain maximum time. Anyway, I am happy with my results.
Race ends, still wondering about life with one income.. what to do? Hike of course. So Karen and dogs Phil and Maggy and I take off for the hills and a chance to conquer the Welsh/Dickey Loop.... a relatively short hike (around 4.4 miles round trip) with a fairly steep ledge climb and interesting terrain changes..... However the prize of this trek is the extra ordinary views that are had during most of the hike.... Karen, the dogs and I sweat our way up the slippery slope.. sliding up and down wet ledge rock until we tap our feet on the 2 peaks we came to scale.. Mission accomplished.. down to the parking lot and the nirvana-like experience of removing ones hiking boots and socks and replacing them with open toe Keens.... The evening ends by watching a Jim Carey movie called the "Yes Man"... more about this later.
Hike ends, movie ends... still wondering about life with one income.. what to do? Celebrate Melissa's 20th birthday of course! Ok she is 20, so don't expect her up at 6:30 like her dad, so time to hit the gym.. legs feel like spaghetti from my run and hike so concentrate on upper body work out.. ok.. came back feeling like a cripple.. Melissa is up, give her her presents (no surprise she helped pick it out), mow the lawn.. then a nap.. imagine that a nap, haven't done that in years.. I recommend it... this idea has to have some application for work, doesn't it?? But i digress, next it's the birthday dinner.. off to Picola's we go for pasta and a cheese cake desert , complete with candle and a really bad rendition of the song "Happy Birthday to you"... My little girl is 20, that has psychological implications in it self.. but i won't bore you with that crap.
Birthday ends, still wondering about life on one income... What to do??? Ok, back to Jim Carey and "The Yes Man"..... In the movie Jim is an unhappy negative person, he goes to a seminar and learns to say " yes" to everything... By doing so he spits in the face of risk, gets a job promotion, gets punched out by a big guy, meets a cool girl and is able to blow off his ex-wife who suddenly wants to screw him again... all good shit, except the getting punched in the face thing... but the movie spoke to me saying "spit in the face of adversity".. So as stupid as this seems I decided fuck it, I am going to buy my land as previously planned... have confidence in Karen's ability to get herself a good job quick... run and hike my ass off to dull the ever-menacing thoughts of negativity and doubt ... and enjoy the rest of the summer with my family and friends.. Oh and by the way, thanks to my running guru from work who gave me an early Christmas present in the form of an enrollment... I am now signed up to run my first 1/2 marathon (21,097.5 meters, or 13 7⁄64 miles, about 13.1 miles) on November 12th, one day before I turn 52 (holy shit!)
What a long strange trip it's been... oh and don't tell anyone but Melissa's tuition is due in 2 weeks or so......
pic above: land I am purchasing
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