Surfacing for Air

I feel a bit like I have been drowning in everything lately. While Cancun was a nice break from reality it did not take away all of the stress of my real life back at home that I left behind for one week. This weekend was nuts as we spent the entire weekend outside of the house. Since having a spotless house for New Years everything at home seems to have fallen into disarray. The house is a mess, dishes need to be done, half of our electronics have broken. How any working woman keeps her house in order is beyond me. I have spent way more time than I care to admit on the phone with customer service over the past two months. In the meantime I am trying to keep it together at my job and have some semblance of a running life. My new position as the running editor of OSF has some light demands on my free time with deadlines for articles. My running club is in great need of getting out the annual newsletter informing about the banquet and nominations for end of the year positions. In general I just feel like there is no time which last week resulted in me falling way off the running wagon. End Rant.

This weekend we celebrated the end of a life well lived. At 94 David's grandfather passed away after getting pneumonia on the way to Florida for his annual winter vacation. Most of the family was able to fly in this weekend and it was so nice to see all the kids and family members who have moved away, in addition to finally meeting the newest addition to the family who is already 2! The funeral was very nice, a bit emotional, but mostly it just hit you that this wonderful man really lived his life to the fullest and left behind such a wonderful legacy. I was impressed by everything he was able to give back to his family and his community. As one cousin said it is amazing to see what has come from just two people meeting and falling in love. Such a large wonderful family all started somewhere small.

As I was waffling between giving up on any sort of training for Boston to catch back up around the house and work longer hours I thought about David's grandfather and realized that I can do it all. I just need to make the time and get it all done. I don't want to give any of the pieces of my life up. I enjoy writing for OSF, I enjoy owning a home, I enjoy organizing events for my running club, I enjoy having a job that pays the bills, and I enjoy beating the crap out of myself on a good hard tempo run. Goal is to make my life count. I know what kind of legacy I want to leave behind and it isn't one of a life spent sitting on the sidelines wondering what if.

4 comments:

o2bhiking said...

It sounds to me like you are making your life count. I really like what you wrote here. Art from Virginia

Backofpack said...

Yep, daily challenges are much more than we like to recognize. I will always let the housework slide in order to have fun. Did that when my kids were home too. It's much easier to do now that I have a cleaner coming 2X a month! Something that I consider part of the benefits of working full time. (Of course, I was the cleaning lady for the 20 years prior).

It sounds as though David's Grandpa left behind a wonderful legacy. I'm sorry to hear of his passing, but happy to hear about the large and joyful family he started.

Papa Louie said...

Sounds like David's grandfather was such a blessing to the family. My condolences to you and David at this time. It's good to hear you're enjoying life too but you may have to learn how to "share the load" with others so that just in case you don't get too burnt out.

Trisaratops said...

Okay, I'm a bit behind here...behind on life, too...but better late than never, no?

I LOVE this post. A wonderful reminder of how lucky we are, even if sometimes that lucky-ness comes in the form of massive overwhelming stressful feelings. :) What a nice tribute to David's Grandpa!

Miss ya! Hope to see you soon!