Soccer Mom

I looked out the window and saw a chic across the street with a bulging belly. "I bet she's due right around November, too," I thought to myself.

Seconds after that thought crossed my mind, I watched her pull a soccer ball out from under her shirt. I laughed out loud all by myself in my living room.

Does having a belly the size of a soccer ball qualify me for the title, "Soccer Mom"?  ;)

Swiss Days 10 K

June 2010 vs.

September 2010

The clothes are definitely tighter. I should probably just break down and buy some maternity workout clothes, but with only 8 more weeks to go...I just can't get myself to.

I'm so close to birthing this baby, and I'm so excited! She's been a great running companion, and awesome motivation to keep my body fit, but I'll be glad to have my full lung capacity back and not feel like I have to pee through every run anymore. Plus, I just can't wait to snuggle her!!! ;)

The Swiss Days 10K was a great race! I wasn't expecting too much from myself. The plan was to show up, start running, and see what happened. As things turned out, my body kicked right in gear, and I had a lovely time running through the clear, crisp, almost Autumn air. The course took me past horses and cows out to pasture, entire meadows full of wildflowers, beautiful ridges spotted with Autumn foliage, and quaint old farmhouses. Just my kind of run! There were a few hills, but they were just enough to keep things spicy and fun and add a little challenge to the day.
The racing crowd was great-friendly, chatty, very supportive of each other. We had great fun running together, united by our quest for the finish line.
 One thing I did to keep my pace up was choose runners ahead of me to catch. Using this strategy, I slowly moved forward in the race (I started at the very back). I went from "Silver haired Grandma" to "Fannypack Chic" whom I followed for about 1/2 the race. She was one of those running types that runs fast, then walks, then runs fast, then walks, then runs fast again. She kept a pretty good pace that way, but I prefer the steady plodding of a slower jog to the spurts of speed followed by walking. Anyway, on the last hill, I finally passed her for good, and moved on to another target- "Hot Pink Shorts". She was a  challenge-sometimes I'd lose sight of her all together for a bit even, but in the last mile, I pushed and finally passed her. Now I had mere meters to go. Ahead of me was a 6' 3", 300 lb man. I chased him to the finish line, but never caught him.  Just goes to reinforce my philosophy of running: "There is no 'typical' runner."
Anyone can run, and run well. Shape, size, cool running gear...those don't matter in the end. Just training does, and fitness level. Of course, an elite runner is going to be slim and buff, but for the rest of us, running is the great equalizer. Maybe that's what I love so much about it. I can run next to doctors, million dollar home owners, celebrities...doesn't matter. We're all breathing the same air, all hitting the same pavement, all moving toward greater fitness and satisfaction with life.

My next physical challenge? Giving this babe (and myself) a smooth and easy birthing experience. I pulled out my Hypnobirthing book from when I was pregnant with Rudy, and I'm attending classes with my same instructer, Launi, who was so gracious as to allow me to 'audit' her class at no charge as a returning student. Yay!

I was pumped to see that my race number for the Swiss Days 10K was 38. A babe's considered 'done' by 38 weeks-we'll see if we get to meet her by then, or if we have to wait a couple more weeks. Either way- she's coming soon, and the whole family is buzzing with excitement!

Stuff

A dear friend of mine made the decision a few months ago to move into assisted living. (She's in her 80's.)

Two weeks ago, she got the news that there is a place available for her in the facility she'd chosen. It's a great facility-the one I'd choose if I were in her place, but it's still a major transition.

I used to think the big deal about moving into assisted living was giving up the independence of living on your own.

That is a big deal, but maybe an even bigger deal is leaving all the stuff you've collected over decades. Stuff that you thought meant something, but after 50 years of tucking it into a drawer, or polishing it's surface, or flipping through it's pages, it's headed to the dump, or DI, or the library.

I've been helping my friend go through her 4 bedroom home. Helping her slim her possessions down to a one bedroom condo size mass. It's been all her decisions-I'm just the able body that she directs, "Put that in the trash box, that in the DI box...I'll bring that one with me." In the process, she's bestowed some beautiful things upon me and my little family.

I like to think they'll get a kind of re-incarnation with us. Some of the things are things she's had since she was a young mom. I love thinking about her opening the wardrobe that's now sitting in my room, looking in the mirror on the inside and thinking to herself, "Here we go, another day. God, help me find the energy to mother my children as thou wouldst have me do." There's a sentimentality that comes with things that have a known history to me.

And yet, I've found that my friend's experience of sifting through decades of accumulated sentimental possessions has given me a new perspective on things. A reminder that it's all just stuff in the end. I don't have to hold on to my wedding bouquet to remember how joyful I felt that day. I don't have to hold on to childhood jewelry I'll never wear again to remember how proud I felt to own a piece of real silver. Watching my friend bravely slim her life down has blessed me with the perspective to realize that I should really just hold on to things that I'm using right now, or will use in the future. If I'm done with something, I should let it go now, instead of in 60 years, when I'm wrapping my own life up.

My friend is a great example to me. How much easier would it be to stubbornly stay in her home 'till the day she dies, and never have to face wrapping things up? Then her kids could throw away the piles of scenery pictures from her many travels across the world, the old 4H ribbons she faithfully stored for them since they were 8, the trinkets and pictures her kids and grandkids and great grandkids have given her over the decades.

She could keep clutching to that stuff until the day she dies, but she's chosen not to. It's been an emotional endeavor. Hard. But I see her discovering anew what really matters, and she's teaching me, too. Her family is rallied around her-almost always a great grand child, or grand child , or child is there, helping to pack Grandma up. Helping to remind Grandma that it's relationships, experiences, testimony that really matters, and all those things are absolutely portable.