The birthday went well! Rich was very surprised when he opened the box full of tissue paper and a 20-pound weight. It also had a piece of paper with a photo describing his new 6Qt. 575 watt Kitchen Aid Mixer- Nickel Pearl color. (It should be here on Thursday.) There were many cards in there too, from his various family members and mine who contributed to the gift. It was a really fun process for me and I was so happy he enjoyed it. I got to listen to him talk to all his family members over the course of the evening and tell them how happy and surprised he was.
Good feelings. I also made him a big peach, strawberry pie. I think my pie making skills are getting better (lots of practice lately). I sure hope the apples show up on all the trees around our home this year. Nobody around here eats them. Strange. Probably easier to buy them-hee hee. Lucky us, we can eat apple pie to our hearts content! And Rich can make the dough with his new mixer! Whoo Hoo! Life is good!
Rich also got a pair of biking shorts for his bday - from me and the Ricters - because he never would have gotten such a nice pair if I didn't work for them. ;)
Such a relief to have all the bdays taken care of this week - I crashed at about 8:30pm. Just fell into a really deep sleep. Still slept all night.
THE 100-YEAR FLOOD HAS ARRIVED!
It's been raining here for the past FOUR DAYS! Unbelievable. First all the snow this winter (and Spring) and now all this rain. I love it though.
I got enough of a break this morning to take little Champy for a long walk. It was so nice, quiet, flowers everywhere. I like taking time in the morning, wish I could do it everyday. It was sort of nice to take it easy today instead of rushing to ride my bicycle or go climbing and then be able to get ready on time to go to work. I love doing that stuff, especially b/c I get to hang with my favorite girls, but it's nice sometimes with some quiet time alone.
I finally rode my bike to work. I got rained on a little. My time has been cut by 1/3 and I can now do it in 20 minutes. I guess I should say - I did it today in 20 minutes. It really felt good, except when I got mad at some girl for trying to hit me and another woman in her car flagging me over to the other side of the road. You see, I want to ride against traffic. That way if some cell phone, texting nut tries to run over me I have a chance to escape by driving my bike off the road or jumping off it. A few scrapes are nothing compared to broken bones, death or paralyzation. Drivers scare me. So anyway, that lady was telling me to be on the other side of the road, and I was thinking "no way - you're gonna try to kill me."
CLIMBING
I got so excited when I watched Trish smooth up this 13B at the pit (ONE other person in Flagstaff calls it 13d, but the consensus is...) She inspired me and for a brief moment I wanted to go back to the days of climbing hard. We talked in the gym today. She is in great shape and inspires me about aging. We talked about working hard routes this fall and she encouraged me to plan and train for it.
Then I tried bouldering in the gym. First I changed clothes and kept my climbing shoes on through the whole thing b/c I am grossed out by the dirty bathrooms. Then all the problems were super reachy. Even though about 5000 people work there, the routes rarely get changed and the place is a pig sty. I really over-reacted about it. I've recently learned that REACTING is my mode of operation and that I should try to be an "actor" rather than "reactor". So after I threw my own little subtle but noticable fit I left and then said to my hubby, I think my reaction to this situation is too strong. I wonder what's really bothering me. After some time I think it may be that I really don't want to work hard routes again. That I'd rather do a million different 5.10 cracks than work one 5.13c for a month or however long it takes. That I'm trying to move away from self-centeredness and towards what I can give to the world, and the climbing for me, to climb at that level, I had to be completely immersed in myself. It's kind of like when I was in college - I had to study so much that there was never any time for any other type of growth. My entire life was the people I had classes with, the people I studied with, my books and myself. Being a pro climber, for me, meant the only people I had time to be with were people with the same objectives and myself.
I want to connect with people and not people just like me. I've been with me my whole life, I isolate in myself plenty. I was wholeness and health. Not sure if that describes my over-reaction, but maybe.
Thanks again for listening to my rant...been wordy lately. Off to yoga. Happy Day to you.
