Friday, June 24, 2011
Hello Again
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
I've gone and really done it this time.
Virginia 10 Miler
Monday, September 20, 2010
My Beautiful Boy
What no one ever brought up and what caught me completely off guard, leaving me wishing someone had asked me how I would handle the situation, was allergies. As I've mentioned before our youngest child is allergic to egg whites, milk and soy. Leaving him, due to our ovo-lacto vegetarain lifestyle, a vegan.
Having never given the vegan lifestyle more than a passing thought I have never realized just how restricting and difficult a diet it truly is. Some things are obviously on the restricted list; scrambled eggs, french toast, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes. Some things it takes a second thought or glance to know they're not ok for someone who is a vegan or has a slew of allergies; any oatmeal of the 'cream' variety as well as those deluxe varieties, dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, Zataran's Yellow Rice (a favorite of mine), 'mock' meat, you get the idea. But even being very diligent there are still times when his face breaks out or he gets a bad diaper rash because I wasn't reading labels carefully enough. Lance Peanut Butter crackers are okay for him (we know from the allergy test he's not allergic to peanut butter or tree nuts) but another brand names Peanut Butter crackers has milk in them and I didn't think to check because the Lance ones are okay. Gerber Veggie Sticks have milk in them leading me to have to give him a dose of benedryl after snack time last Friday. Some sandwhich breads are not okay. All Quaker granola bars have either milk or soy in them. Most cookies and crackers are on the banned list due to other genetically modified foods that are derived from milk, eggs or soy.
It isn't easy or fun yet it's manageable with a little diligence however, the worse part for me is Sean. He is such a laid back, happy, loving baby. He seldom cries and has been our cuddle bug from the start. He rubs my nose with his before a wide mouthed kiss. He's small and quiet, sometimes he gets a little overlooked he's so easy going. And he doesn't know yet that he can't eat moms macaroni and cheese so she hasn't made it in four months. And he doesn't know that he's missing out when we have Chocolate Cream Pie, not yet anyways, but it's already breaking my heart.
I know a food allergy is not really a big deal. He could be a sick child. There could be so many worse things that I won't even begin to travel that line of thought. I know that there are other foods for him to eat, but I find myself thinking at least once a day, please be one of the 85% who outgrow these allergies.
His size doesn't make this predicament we find ourselves in any easier, a child who was born in the 50-75th percentile now finds himself in the -3 percentile. I feel as though I am constantly on the hunt for nutritious and fulfilling things for him to eat. The child has fallen out of love with pureed foods and has never shown much fondness for fruits or green vegetables. I am always worrying if he's gaining enough weight and counting up his grams of protein for the day. Rest assured is no longer in my vocabulary.
He will outgrow these allergies or he will not. We will either way, live through it. If he can never eat real cheese or eggs we will find ways around it. But it certainly will take some getting used to. I keep thinking if I was strong enough or a really good mom, I too would go vegan. Unfortunately, I'm much better at sympathizing than changing.
I do however, choose Jif. I'm hoping that counts for something.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Another Terrible Movie...
I mean with lessons like "Never look in your rearview mirror, it makes no difference what's behind you" when your son is in the driver seat you really should be worried about something other than finding Mr. Right.
Sadly I am quickly losing my interest in cinema.
The Worst Movie Ever?
I'm guessing not all that good, so I won't even add it to my Netflix Queue.
Sometimes I get so worried about the human race that I can't even sleep at night.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Two minute post.
I have been drinking a lot of coffee lately. I have grown to like it over the years but this year I have found I actually need it in the mornings. Last night I had three large cups at book group however and feel as though I got absolutely no sleep as a result. Note to self: Decaf after 7 p.m.
Speaking of coffee and two year olds, coffee table books are certainly a thing of the past. I got a wonderful book for my birthday that would fall ideally in the coffee table variety. However, the coffee table is not safe these days for coffee, books or photo albums. The coffee table isn't even safe completely cleared off. Toddlers think coffee tables are the perfect height for climbing. Perhaps you already knew that. I did not. Lesson learned.
I never got leg cramps before my pregnancy with Bailey and Cooper. Now however, I get them as often as once a week. This morning I was awoken at 6 a.m. with a rather nasty cramp that is now making it painful to even walk across the room. Between my knees, my ankle and my leg cramps I'll be lucky to walk today yet alone run. I am really starting to feel old.
I got a new c.d. for my birthday. I left it on repeat yesterday so that I couldn't hear my knees cracking as I walked around. I am really digging it, especially this song.
A group of teenager who were at our house for dinner this past weekend made it rather clear that my choice of bands at the moment and the ratio of banjos in said bands make me pretty uncool. I guess it's not just a feeling, I am getting old.
Wait, I've always loved banjos. I have always been uncool is all.
Whew, that was close.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Tell Me Do You Miss Me?
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Re: Confusion over common definitions
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
5 Miler Race Recap
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Coming up on 11 months
Ok, so I would love to go pro but know it's never going to happen and I simply cannot afford the individual love and attention of a running coach so I did the next best thing in these parts. I joined the local training group for the Virginia 10 Miler, which I plan on running here in about eleven weeks.
It wasn't cheap as free and it isn't a large group (probably because it isn't cheap as free) but tonight's first meeting has me stoked and believing that I might just be able to run the 10 miler in 90 minutes.
Last year I ran the 4 miler portion of the race. I had just had a baby not quite 5 weeks earlier but I ran the race in 45 minutes, despite the feeling that I was about to collapse it was an amazing experience. And even though we have two half marathons on the calendar before the 10 Miler I feel a true desire to do well at that race as it is my anniversary.
That's right, I ran my first mile at the VA 4 miler last year, my first mile since high school that is, and have been running miles ever since. But I'm big on anniversaries and I want to make a statement about the last year. For me, a 90 minute 10 miler would do it.
For my first group training (there are five other people) we did 4x800 and hill repeats. I've never done this sort of speed training, or hill repeats. For the amount of pain involved you would have thought I was at Disneyland. I ran with a guy who runs the trails with us on Wednesdays and who paces quite well with me on the trails. Being the ultra competitor that I am I decided to run his paceat the Lynchburg College track this evening (funny thing, both me and my running partner went to Lynchburg College, neither of us had been on the track before tonight). It was work and it was hard but I LOVED it. My times weren't half bad either: 4:06, 3:55, 3:40 and 3:23. My coach thinks I can run a sub 25 minute 5k right now. Unfortunately, we don't have another 5k on the calendar until October.
My coach is going to send me a weekly training schedule, I am to follow it and follow up with him weekly. I can run in addition to his workouts but he will formulate a plan for me that should help me attain my new goals.
The last two weeks I have run over 20 miles a week. To ultra runners that may not seem like much, but to me who hasn't run that much since pre-knee injury it feels awesome. My knee is still giving me a little trouble and I usually take Ibuprofen before runs but it is nowhere near as bad as it was in May. I need to do better however at doing my stretches before and after runs.
This weekend we have a 5 mile race. Everyone I know who has run it tells me that it's the only 'flat and fast' course to run in Lynchburg. I am nervous. I think I prefer hills to be honest. I want to see sub 42 minutes but I don't know if it's in me. I have done three five mile trails and the fastest was 48 minutes. Can I really shave off six minutes on race day?
From now until Saturday morning I am going to lay off the running and focusing on hydrating and fueling for the big day. And maybe peruse the many race calendars and schedules on line.
I would love to find a 5k to test my coach's theory out before October.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Note to self: Next time, say no.
Now here it is over an hour later, I don't like the new design and I have all but forgotten why I came here in the first place.
I have been seeing a physical therapist. She noted the knee and told me that she thought it was the illiotibial band without me even suggesting it. I also seemed to have a little fluid on my tendon below the knee. And my quadriceps are weak. So she's set me up with stretches and strength exercises and sent me on my way again. However, I've yet to run more than about ten or twelve miles in one week since about April. So much for my high hopes for summer training. And to top it off, it's hot as Hades around here. But I am pushing onwards and still setting my sights on a sub 25 minute 5k this year (my last two have been 25:02, I mean two seconds, really?). And of course there's that half marathon looming ahead in September.
Now that my knee is becoming less and less of a problem I had to move on to something else to worry about. Sean was there, as if on que, to give me that something else. I won't go into all the details that led to my suspicions and I will just jump to the point. I was becomingly increasingly convinced that my child was allergic to milk, especially with the introduction of more and more table foods that were resulting in more and more blotchy patches on my child's face and tummy. Yesterday we went to see an allergist and my fears were confirmed. Even more so, actually. The poor child is allergic to eggs, milk and soy.
We are and have been for sometime, vegetarians. It has never been much of a problem to supplement our diets and eat a well balanced and healthy variety of foods without any meat or seafood. However, the elimination of three more sources of protein has me a bit flustered. We are pretty much left with legumes for protein. Fortunately, all children love beans. Oh, wait...
To top it all off, I am still nursing so the elimination of eggs, milk and soy has to begin with me, immediately. We're on day 2. I've been pretty successful with eggs, but milk is in EVERYTHING! Skipping a glass of milk or two is just fine by me, I've never been a fan of plain milk, but eliminating milk means eliminitaing butter, cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, buttermilk and a whole slew of other ingredients. I've been checking my pantry and it appears everything I possess contains some soy or milk.
Several people have kindly suggested that I switch Sean to formula, namely to Alimentium or Nutrimigen. I'm just not ready to give up nursing Sean however. Not only are these hypoallergic formulas even more expensive then the stuff I was trying to avoid by breastfeeding I have committed to a year. And I am afterall, exceedingly stubborn. It's only two more months...
The allergist told us that they would refer us to a nutritionalist/dietician if we wanted. I think we probably will look into that route, just for more ideas and to confirm that we're giving him a well balanced diet with so many foods on the 'do not' list. We've also been given an even stronger steriod cream to fight the eczema that has been plagueing Sean since last fall on and off. The allergist did try and give us a silver lining, 85% of children outgrow these common allergies.
But it could be several years before he does. I have been reading online and many families eliminate these certain foods from the grocery list, however, with our diet being restricted to begin with, I don't think I will be eliminating milk and soy from Bailey and Cooper's diets. The whole family will be cutting back on eggs though, which is what Sean is most allergic to.
I feel so bad for the little bugger. He is such a sweet and happy baby and he has had such a rough and difficult time this first year. First there was the colic, then the eczema, several coughs and then surgery at six month and now this. I know he doesn't hold it against me that I've been consuming eggs and milk like crazy these past ten months but it doesn't stop me from feeling guilty, especially as I watch him scratch at the eczema and think we could have been preventing this a long time ago.
And because I carry a little bit of crazy with me wherever I'm at in life, I have already begun researching what he can have to celebrate his first birthday. Other than bloodwork to see how the allergies are progressing that is.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Stubborn, Not Stupid
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The good, the bad and the stubborn
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
The down side.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Where I Stand
Friday, April 23, 2010
I'll Return To You
Watchmen :) Intro - Watch more Funny Videos
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
The one were I ponder where all of my time went.
A long time ago (2 years, 3 months and 12 days ago to be exact), I had entire empty days and nothing in which to fill them. Those days would have been, could have been, great blogging days. But alas, my first blog was created on the eve of Bailey and Cooper’s birth. And then, BAM, motherhood arrived keeping me perpetually busy.
These days I often wonder to myself (usually one evening a month I find myself alone in the car and I actually get twenty minutes to actually THINK)-‘what in the hell did you do with your time before you had all of these kids’.
The answer?
Well, I watched T.V. A lot of T.V. From C.S.I. to Big Love, House Hunters to Myth Busters. If a station showed it I would watch it. Hours upon hours. If only I could get just a few of those hours back.
I searched the Internet. Everyday I searched, in the days before my hcg levels began doubling, I searched for cures and treatments to infertility. From Amazon to buy The Infertility Cure or A Few Good Eggs to places like IHR.com for Basal Body Thermometers and Ovulation Predictors (that was money well spent). Once pregnancy became me, it was baby names and stroller reviews, gender prediction quizzes and back to Amazon to order A Child Is Born.
I also ate. Again, I did this a lot. Even when I wasn’t hungry. And I shopped. Surprisingly more than I ate, I shopped. I would drive some afternoons the twelve miles into the city just to walk the isles of the Baby Depot at Burlington or window shop Mother Goose. I was obsessed. And more than just a little depressed. I would venture into town some days just to order a large Coke (not diet) and an even larger order of onion rings from Burger King. I spent a lot of time with my Grandmother. That may be the single thing I will never regret. That time was never wasted.
I would stay home on occasion and having done the five or six loads of laundry for the week I would wash guest room bed linens when we hadn’t had guests. I would actually fold underwear. I would fill a bucket with water and work my way throughout the house scrubbing baseboards and wainscoting . Or I would spend the morning dusting bookshelves and books, then organize them by genre, then size.
I read. Boy, did I read. Sometimes three of four books a week. I won’t go any further on that subject as that’s one of the only things I am still mourning the loss of as a parent of many young children. But I didn’t just read novels and novellas. I read magazines and junk mail.
I may sound as though I am complaining. I’m not. I am trying to characterize that lonely life for you in which I used to live. The one where sleep was uninterrupted, the floors were clean, and the rooms were quiet. Too quiet. I had to quell the silence with television and Rhapsody playing constantly, the unsettling silence was deafening. That life was, if nothing else, boring. There were no noses for me to wipe, there were no disputes over who was playing with the Fridge Phonics last, there was no screaming in the backseat, only Talking Heads. If those days were empty because of waiting for the children I longed for, these days are filled to the brim with activities in which to fuel their toddler brains or to keep my sanity.
I was not right with myself for a very long time. Even, to be honest, after the twins were born, I was still in some ways, struggling with depression. But in these past few months, as the days have become busier and busier, I have smiled more, frowned less. I am for the first time in a long time, if not ever, at home in my life. I am satiated with this nuclear family of mine. When Cooper wakes up from nap and looks at me with those eyes for which I’ve no name for the color and says “Mommy, I was tired.” I think, ‘me too, buddy, what took you so long.”
Monday, March 8, 2010
The one where I lose a watch, but win a medal.
This weekend was our second official race of the 2010 season. This race, another trail run, was held in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains on the trails of the beautiful scenic Explore Park in Roanoke, Virginia. The recent history of the park, and its limbo status, were enough to have my interests peaked in this race however I was a little worried after the Liberty mountain trail run how efficiently I could tackle another snowy trail.
Fortunately, the weather has been a tad bit warmer in these parts the last two weeks (40s and even some 50 degree days) and the trails were about 99% clear. I had done some extensive result studying where I tracked the overall results of the Mountain Junkies Explore Your Limits last five races in my age group and decided that if I could muster up the strength and energy to finish in under 33 minutes I might just place in my age group. The week prior to the race I had the best intentions to get a few runs of at least 5k distance in. I got one. On race morning, as on every race morning before, I was incredibly nervous and completely unsure of myself. There seemed to be a lot of runners at the race who appeared to be in my age group and I was convinced I wouldn’t be able to finish the race in the time I had allotted myself and that I wouldn’t place.
On the starting line Todd and I decided we would run together for the first mile with the hopes of him pacing himself better so he didn’t go out to fast and with the hopes of increasing the pace at which I began the race. I always start races slow, it has something to do with that story of the Tortoise and the Hare I think. “Slow and steady” wins the race (I literally repeated that mantra to myself at the Liberty Mountain run). When the race began I held up with Todd for about two minutes. He however, couldn’t bear my 8 minute mile pace and I was soon just a memory for him. I did my best however to run fast enough to finish with a respectable time but so as not to bonk. I was doing well until I reached the bottom of the first real hill. The hill slowed me down so much that when I took a look at my Garmin I was convinced I wouldn’t finish in under 34 minutes. My mind was apparently a little exhausted though because I wasn’t figuring my pace accurately and before I knew it I was at the top of the hill and then the next one and then before long I heard a volunteer shout ‘only 200 more yards’ at which point I switched into sprint mode, past the 41 year old man whom I had been pacing with for about a mile, and sprinted to the finish. My time: 27:18. I was ecstatic. But not convinced that I had indeed placed.
Within minutes the rest of our team had finished and we were all downing water and Gatorade. We moved ourselves inside to partake in the famous Mountain Junkies Pumpkin Bread (which was delicious) as well as bagels, bananas and cookies. Man, I love the free food that accompanies a great race. We ate our food as they tallied the race results and handed out door prizes (Jordan, who is the luckiest person we know, won a door prize yet again). And then it was time for awards.
I am pleased beyond measure that I can claim second place in my age group for Saturday’s race, especially since after the official race results were posted I learned that I did indeed run in the largest age group (there were 16 in my age group, all other groups peaked at about 5 or 6 runners). And I am just as pleased to tell you that East Coast Madness came home with four medals, three second place awards and one for third (yeah! Go Tyler!).
I am not as pleased to tell you about what happened when I got home. My watch, my most handy Garmin Forerunner, that I got as a Christmas gift from Todd and have yet to be able to really test all of it’s features, didn’t make the trip home with us. I tore the house and car apart looking for it Saturday afternoon before emailing the race director with my lost watch woes. Turns out someone had indeed come across my watch (which I had removed in the women’s bathroom when I went to pump) and turned it in. My watch is now waiting for me in Salem, Virginia. Not as close to home as I would like, but far better than it being lost to me forever.
Overall, it was an awesome race. A huge thank you to Mountain Junkies for their ability to put on one amazing race!
I am looking forward to warmer weather (it’s 61 today), training outdoors (we got in over 15 miles this weekend) and seeing more marked improvement on my times.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Safer of just plain lazier?
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Snowy days and Wednesdays
I am just so done with all of this snow, ice, sleet and slush. Done. Do you hear me Mother Nature? D-o-n-e.
I understand that we live in a part of the country that gets four definite seasons. I am generally good with this, I like to watch the seasons change and it’s nice to have a few cooler months following the warm and humid summer months. But this winter has just been ridiculous. I don’t recall seeing any giant acorns lying about but so far this winter we have seen more accumulation in these parts then in any previous winter in my lifetime.
The weathermen used to cry wolf, threatening us weekly with flurries that never came to fruition. Now they are always right. They call for snow and we get it. Lots of it. We have had snow covering the ground since December. December. That never happens.
Today’s forecast? Flurries. And we’ll probably see some. And then they’re calling for more snow next week. In the past I loved getting a good snow once or twice a year. But then it would warm up a little and melt. It’s been a record breaking cold winter and the snow is hanging around. Having everything around us covered in snow, a lot of it grey and black tinged, it’s effect has worn off. I’m just plain sick of it all.
And if I could get my hands on that little punk Punxsutawney Phil, I’d tell him what I thought of six more weeks of this stuff. I mean come on, get over your shadow already.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
http://bit.ly/iamabitcrazyyaknow
I am having a hard time making it downstairs to the treadmill. It’s not the distance in feet or the stairs that are making it difficult to get to the treadmill either. I still handle stairs alright at this age, it’s everything else. Like the cute little bugger to the side there and his little siblings.
Today Adobe Photoshop Lightroom arrived in the mail and I am just itching to tear into it. I had Lightroom before I lost it in the fire when the old Toshiba died last summer but this version was shipped to me directly from Adobe if you catch my drift. Just another thing to keep me off target and away from the basement.
My hair is still falling out but I’m feeling a little better about it. First, I talked to a girlfriend who had a baby three weeks after me and she said that her hair is falling out in fistfuls too. Secondly, I went in for some blood work two weeks ago to have some things checked like my blood count, testosterone and thyroid. My doctor called me today to tell me that everything looks ‘quite good’ and I appear to be quite healthy. Even my PCOS seems to be in remission. I’ve heard having a baby or babies can do that to you. And lastly, my dear old husband is going bald and I still love him so I’m hoping that if I am indeed going bald he will at least still love me and perhaps even hold my hand and kiss me gently when we go wig shopping.
That is if he doesn’t run away with Twittergirl anytime soon.
Do you ever have those dreams where your significant other runs off with a nameless faceless beauty? I was lucky enough to have one of those dreams just the other day. I can’t recall much of the dream but boy did I wake up angry. Unfortunately, Todd was still home and I was feeling like I had slept on a board and my mood was perhaps showing that when I told him about his ruthlessness in my dream. He just looked at me and smiled, “You’re angry with me aren’t you?”
Well, wouldn’t you be if your husband brought Twittergirl home to live with you? Twittergirl, the nerve of some people and their usernames. Imagine if I called myself Blogspotgirl or Flirkrgirl. Wouldn’t that just annoy you? Especially if I moved in with you and your mate. You are feeling me on this one, right?
I’m thinking that perhaps I watch too much Big Love.
Or that I’ve been spending was too much time lately trying to be witty and catching in 140 characters or less.
Either way I haven’t been finding my way to the treadmill, that’s for sure.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Giving up is too decisive for me.
Last week was a good week. Despite a lot of snow that we in these parts are just not accustomed to, I actually ran over 17 miles. That’s right, first week all year to actually reach my goal of 15 miles. I felt so good about it that this week I’ve run two miles. I’m sort of like a roller coaster, I know.
Despite my pathetic totals for the week I did go ahead and register for my first real race of the season. A 5k trail race held by Liberty University next Saturday morning. We even have a babysitter lined up ahead of time. Of course, we still have snow everywhere and they are already calling for more so the race will probably get cancelled but I am going to hold on hope for just a little longer. The true beginning of the race season, which begins full force the beginning of March, does have me excited. I knew the winter would be hard but we haven’t had snow like this…well not since before I was born, and this winter and all the snow has been constantly testing everything I worked so hard for last fall. But I think despite all the draw backs I’m getting better. I did only two miles last night but they were sprint intervals at which I was running about 8% faster than my 5k pace on the treadmill which should amount to even more on the actually road because I always find that I run faster on the actual road than on the treadmill.
I have been baking a lot. I just love it, you could even say I’ve become addicted to it. I make the kids something from scratch almost every morning nowadays. They had cereal for the first time in over ten days this morning and that’s because we were running behind, because I have Buttermilk Pancake batter just sitting in the fridge ready to go. I have also been submitting my work to a trendy food site. And being constantly rejected. It is really bruising my ego. And has made me start to really criticize my food photography and realize a lot of my photos are crap. I also wish I still had Adobe Lightroom, it was so awesome. So I’ve been researching technique and new recipes. This weekend I am going to try my first scones ever and perhaps some Beignets. I am also going to attempt a Valentine Cake for my sweeties. And of course take four hundred photos. And resubmit to snobby but very trendy food site. And then, because they’re bound to reject me, resubmit again. I. Must. Get. Accepted.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Ten Years.
This year I celebrate ten years since I graduated from high school. As things go, that means that it is time to celebrate with our first class reunion. When I was still close with a few friends from high school I figured it was a done deal, I would definitely be going to the reunion. However a few things have changed in the last year and lately I haven’t been so sure.
Despite being friends with 50 or so people I went to high school with via Facebook, I am not really in contact with anyone from that time in my life anymore. It’s somewhat sad but I seem to have lost contact with all of my friends from high school. Sure we occasionally say hello to one another on a social network or chat in passing at Target but it’s more like acquaintances than friends nowadays. I am now surrounded with friends whose children are the same age as my own. I think that’s pretty typical, but I wonder what will happen to those bonds when our children get old enough to make their own friends.
So I wasn’t so sure I was even going to be attending any reunion when I got invited, via Facebook of course, to join a Facebook group entirely dedicated to my graduating class’ reunion. A week or so later I even got a personal message on Facebook asking whether or not I was planning on attending whatever event is chosen. The note moved me, that someone actually gave a hoot whether or not I would be attending the reunion kind of made my cold heart soften, just a tad of course. Then yesterday I noticed that I had been tagged in a picture on the group wall. The picture is from Ring Dance, junior year. I’m wearing that cheap velour dress I bought from Value City. My mother’s friend had tried for over half an hour to do something with my dense coarse hair (ah, when I had a full head of hair, those were the days). My girlfriend and I went to the dance together. She didn’t have a date and I was hopelessly in love with a guy who had moved across the country to live with his family, so I didn’t have a date either. We rode to the dance in my little ‘89 Pontiac Sunbird with the ewok, Wicket, hanging from the rearview mirror and probably Dramarama playing on the cassette player. That picture really seems to have shaken something in me.
It’s not that I have decided to attend the reunion, they have after all, joked about having it at Putt-Putt. And it isn’t even that I am nostalgic for old times or old friends, even though there are honestly a few I do miss or would like to see. Honestly, it just made me feel old. And not ten years older. Like twenty, maybe even twenty five. I honestly don’t even recognize the girl in the picture. I went and looked in the mirror afterwards just to see if it was me.
My face is clearer, that’s for sure. My hair which is still falling out, is shorter with lots of gray. My eyebrows were….oh let’s just say my mom used to affectionately tell me I looked like Brooke Shields, but only in the eyebrows and only Brook Shields in the “Blue Lagoon” movie. My sense of fashion in no keener. But it isn’t just in the appearance that I look so different to myself, it’s the fact that I can almost feel the ten years difference when I look in that picture.
They’ve picked a date for the reunion. I don’t have a run or adventure race so far that weekend. But babysitter’s aren’t always easy to come by and I’m pretty sure the only way they’re going to want your children to come are as 2x3 wallets. It’s in October, so I have time to think about it.
But it didn’t hit me, until I saw that picture, just how long ten years feels.