At The End Of The Day

At the end of the day, when the kids have gone to bed, and the dogs have finally quieted down, when I have time to sit down and take some deep, calming breaths...

At the end of the day, after dealing with files and viruses, reports and telephone calls, when I have time to sit down and take some deep, calming breaths...

At the end of the day, after the long drives in heavy traffic, and the rudeness of others when everyone is just trying to get someplace, when I have time to sit down and take some deep calming breaths...

At the end of the day, after getting up before the sun, and getting the kids up and ready for school, and packing lunches and the last minute things before I lock the front door and leave, when I have time to sit down and take some deep, calming breaths...

At the end of the day, after realizing that tomorrow will pretty much be the same routine, with different faces and different troubles, but pretty much the same, when I have time to sit down and take some deep, calming breaths...

At the end of the day, that's when I appreciate all that I have and all that I do. That's when I thank God for providing everything I need. That's when I can sit down and take those deep, calming breaths, in love.

Spring Is In The Air

Spring came this weekend. Not just the feeling of Spring, but the Vernal Equinox, the official calendar start of Spring. So, what did we do? Swam, mowed the lawn, BBQ'd, roasted marshmallows over the fire pit, yard work, clean up. Spring cleaning I think it's called, but outside as much as possible.

The dogs thought it was great, since we were able to spend just about all weekend outside with them. Ryan ran them to exhaustion. We just enjoyed having them lay at our feet in the evening.

The other thing we did was to enjoy our flowers. No, not the flowers growing in the ground, but the ones on the trees. The peach blossoms are pretty as are the birds of paradise but my favorite flower in the yard, is the orange blossom. The smell of orange blossoms reaches you from just about any place in the back yard. Of course, since the ranch, it's one of those smells associated with happiness. I love taking a break from whatever backyard activity I'm doing to go sniff deeply from the orange tree.

I Guess I'm not the only one....

The Quiet Sounds of Nature

I had an opportunity this past weekend to fully be involved in my element - nature. I went up to Idyllwild to participate in a men's retreat. Idyllwild is at a little over 5000 feet elevation, so it's pretty high in the local mountains.
When I got there Friday evening, there were patches of snow here and there and it was crisp, clear and smelled wonderful. I instantly found myself relaxing.

The next morning, I awoke to the sound of rain. We were expecting "weather" on Saturday so that wasn't totally unexpected. Te predictions for the weekend were for rain/snow. So far, we had the rain. Soon enough, that rain turned to sleet. It wasn't that windy so it fell softly. I did notice that it was getting colder. Eventually, it did begin to snow. And get colder. And I relaxed more (since I didn't have to be driving in it, I was able to watch and enjoy).

Because of the retreat, we were indoors most of the time, but I was able to get out during breaks and stand in the snow fall. A beautiful coyote passed by outside at one point. Squirrels were scrambling up and down pine trees, and it was quiet. Night came, events were finished and it was late. I walked back to the cabin alone, stopped at the truck to take some pictures. A good 4 inches of snow had fallen throught the day. I couldn't go into the cabin just yet. It wasn't snowing any more, the sky was clearing, it was in the low 30's and it was beautiful. The snow crunched under my boots as I walked. The sound of a creek came from down the hill. There was an occasional crack of a branch, but other than that, not a sound. I walked, I stood, I breathed, I relaxed. Did I mention how beautiful it was?

The next morning dawned clear. I couldn't stay in the cabin any longer than I had to. I had to get out and walk, so I did. The sun was just coming up. Some mountains were in sun, others still in shade.

Animal tracks criss-crossed the fresh snow. Leaves on  trees were covered in white, yet showed the green that they promised would come. There was peace everywhere and the knowledge that all of this beauty; all of this peace; all of this relaxation; came from God.

Some pictures from the weekend

I must admit, having a picture assignment made me think. There are plenty of ways of looking at things, and most of the time we look through fuzzy eyes because even though we look, we don't really see. A lot of what we're looking at is blurry. Sure, we really notice things that stand out for us, but what about what's really important?

What's really important is love. Love can be seen in so many things, if you know where to look. Love can be described as an emotion that is felt, but it's also very visual. It's represented by the heart but shows up all over the place.

Such as happiness. Happiness feeds love and love feeds happiness. Once we open our eyes to really focus on what we're doing, we can experience happiness in every day things. Being happy is a state of mind. Seeing life through the eyes of a child helps as well.

Being happy makes life sweet as well. I was reading a story about someone who's friend was always avoiding the things that would make her happy since they were usually bad for her. Then, one day she found out that she had a terminal illness and thought back to all of the things she had missed out on because they weren't good for her. She decided that from that point on, she wouldn't care whether it was good or bad, she would just do. So, eat sweets when you can. There comes a point when it just won't matter.

But, make sure you don't do anything illegal. For that, you could get in trouble and have to sit our a couple of rounds while others have all the fun. When there are rules to be followed, do so as much as you can because that will keep you in the game longer.

Then, when there is just the two of you, you can get a little crazy and no one will really care, because you've followed the rules, you've played the game you've enjoyed the sweets and you're as happy as your 16 year old life can be because you're in love and are looking at life clearly, well as clearly as a 16 year old can look at life.

It's For The Medals

Ran a half marathon yesterday. In a sense, that's not that big of a deal since there were 20,000 runners for the full/half/5k run that took place. All 50 states were represented as well as 13 other countries. 64% of the runners were female. Still, I was there, and I completed it. I've been running the halfs between 2:20 and 2:30 which is okay but I realized that I'm not really pushing myself in training, I'm just running. There's another run coming up the beginning of May. This is the run where I set my personal best of 2:16 four years ago. It will also be my 10th half marathon so I'd really like to beat that time and accomplish a new personal best. I'm not that far from that time, but I'd have to knock off about 45 seconds a mile to achieve it. Granted, it's not the exact same course but the mileage will be the same. I have 3 months to train for it, and since I know I can do the distance, I need to work up the speed. This past race, I wore out a bit over miles 10 and 11 so that tells me I need to also pick up the training distance. And, I did beat my previous time on that course by 4 minutes.

This whole running thing came about a few years ago. In my 20's I had run a few 10k races but never really thought about doing anything further and as the years went by, I pretty much stopped running. In 2005 I chose to train for and run a half marathon with my sister Maria and that was the start. I just completed my 9th and have a marathon thrown into the mix. After 2007, I thought I was done with the races and didn't run any in 2008 but for some reason, I missed it. I keep telling myself that it's for the medals but I think in a lot of ways, it's for the accomplishment. It requires training and it requires dedication but the early morning runs calm my soul. The completion of the race doesn't bring on emotions like the first couple did but I still feel the satisfaction of completing something that is pretty special. It's difficult at times getting up and getting going, but I'm usually glad I did.

I'm signed up for 2 more runs this year and then I know I'll be doing at least 1 next year in San Francisco. That will give me the California Dreaming medal. And, since the Surf City run changes medals every year, I suppose I'll do that one again, and when you've done 3 of those in a row, you get special benefits. See, I told you it was for the medals....

That's My Only Issue?

Met with some friends last night. During the course of the conversation we began talking about someone known to us who is going through sooooo much. She recently had a double masectomy due to stage 4 cancer that is now in her bones. Just the other day she had a lymph node removed from under her arm for testing. 2 weeks ago her husband died of a heart attack. She's in the process of losing her home. Her family lives out of the country. Oh, and she has three children, ages 5, 4, and 18 months. She has no life insurance and no will.

This morning, I woke up healthy. We are all healthy. We have jobs. What was my biggest issue this morning? Ants. Ants in the bathroom, ants in the kitchen. Streams of ants. Ants into almost everything. On any other morning, that would be a big issue. This morning, not so much.

1-1/2 Hours

1-1/2 hours. Sometimes it can be a very long time. When you're waiting for something that you've wanted for a very long time, it can be forever. When you're reading a great book or watching a wonderful movie, it can seem like it's just minutes. When you're sitting in nature, listening to what nature has to say, it flies by. When you get into Phoenix at 3:30 a.m. and into bed at 4, knowing that you have to be up at 5:30, 1-1/2 hours of sleep just isn't enough, but that's what we dealt with this morning. The nap this afternoon after the tournament was nice though.