B+C+B+C+B+C: The view from my run

Sunday, November 29, 2009

The view from my run

Last Friday Brian spent his "day off" at his office helping "run the show."
I'm not bitter, I promise - I'm used to it. Like when he called yesterday at 5:24pm to let me know he wouldn't make it home for lunch. You'd think it'd be like, "duh - judging from how late it it, I kinda figured that." But not really - sometimes he does actually take a lunch break at 4 or 5pm. Amazing how he can go 9 hours without eating and still be a car rental superstar.
Anyways...so since Friday was supposed to be his day off, I convinced him that he could keep Brianna at the office so I could go on a run (the gym was closed, and I had slept in).
I dropped her off, knowing she'd spend most of her time "rearranging" the shelfs of tourism pamphlets, and headed out to a nearby golf course. I had never been there before, because I'm usually in too much of a hurry to get my run completed and can't take the time to drive or bike to a more interesting place. Back in the pre-Brianna days, I would bike up to 10 miles away to find a better trail to run {sigh}. Not complaining, just reminiscing.
The golf course was nice - perfect turf, felt great to my knees and feet - but there were too many golfers out. So I headed up to the hills above it. And got lost. Very lost. I ended up backing myself into a corner, of sorts. I couldn't go back the way I came - it would take another 30 minutes. I couldn't go back a little and find a new trail, because to get back to the ERAC office I'd have to cross several fence lines with cattle inside. So my only option was to climb UP the big mountain I backed myself into. I don't know if can call my scampering up "running" - it was just a fast hike. While I should have felt a little apprehensive and remorseful (I told Brian I'd be back in 40 minutes - turned out to be a lot more) I secretly got a little masochistic kick out of it. Here's a very inadequate picture of one scene from the top:

I'm glad I was paranoid enough to bring my phone with me while running. A few years ago I made fun of people who did that.
I guess it's hard to explain why I think this experience is noteworthy. Blogworthy. It was just one of those moments where I felt... alive. Like I wasn't just a mom spending hours singing potty-related songs with my toddler and cleaning up spilled cereal and pushing a stroller and lamenting my 8 surplus pounds and feeding my hardworking husband and dusting blinds... like how I felt in Hawaii when I would spend hours running through guava tree-covered mountains and long empty beaches and ungroomed river trails... like a strong, free woman. Perhaps only a druggie could understand how the dopamine and serotonin hit could feel so awesome. It lasted me through the weekend. I need another hit soon.

1 comment:

Mary said...: I think it was blogworthy too. :); December 9, 2009 at 4:51 PM

Quotes I want to remember

"The Lord knows our bearing capacity, both as to coping and to comprehending, and He will not give us more to bear than we can manage at the moment, though to us it may seem otherwise. Just as no temptations will come to us from which we cannot escape or which we cannot bear, we will not be given more trials than we can sustain."
- Neal A. Maxwell

"It is a fundamental truth that the responsibilities of motherhood cannot be successfully delegated. No, not to day-care centers, not to schools, not to nurseries, not to babysitters. We become enamored with men's theories such as the idea of preschool training outside the home for young children. Not only does this put added pressure on the budget, but it places young children in an environment away from mother's influence."
-Ezra Taft Benson

“Perhaps there has never been a time when we had greater need to pray and to teach our family members to pray. Prayer is a defense against temptation. It is through earnest and heartfelt prayer that we can receive the needed blessings and the support required to make our way in this sometimes difficult and challenging journey we call mortality.”
-Thomas S. Monson

“Live the gospel as conspicuously as you can. Keep the covenants your children know you have made. And bear your testimony! Don’t just assume your children will somehow get the drift of your beliefs on their own.
-Jeffrey R. Holland

"We hold in our arms the rising generation. They come to this earth with important responsibilities and great spiritual capacities. We cannot be casual in how we prepare them. Our challenge as parents and teachers is not to create a spiritual core in their souls but rather to fan the flame of their spiritual core already aglow with the fire of their premortal faith."
-Neil L. Andersen

"Certainly there are times when getting the family together to read the scriptures does not stack up as a spiritual experience worthy of a journal entry. But we must not be deterred. There are special times when the spirit of a son or daughter is just right and the power of these great scriptures goes down into their heart like fire. As we honor our Heavenly Father in our homes, He will honor our efforts."
-Neil L. Andersen

President Hinckley admonished both men and women to be nurturers. He said, ‘How much more beautiful would be the society in which we live if every father . . . and . . . mother regarded [their] children . . . as gifts from the God of heaven . . . and brought them up with true affection in the wisdom and admonition of the Lord.’ ”
-Susan W. Tanner

"Children are like trees. When they are young, their lives can be shaped and directed, usually with ever so little effort. Said the writer of Proverbs, 'Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it' (22:6). That training finds its roots in the home. There will be little of help from other sources. Do not depend on government to help in this darkening situation. Barbara Bush, wife of former U.S. president George Bush, spoke wisely: 'Your success as a family, our success as society, depends not on what happens at the White House, but on what happens inside your house.' "
-Gordon B. Hinckley

“I give counsel to husbands and wives. Pray for the love which allows you to see the good in your companion. Pray for the love that makes weaknesses and mistakes seem small. Pray for the love to make your companion’s joy your own. Pray for the love to want to lessen the load and soften the sorrows of your companion.”
-Henry B. Eyring

“Reverent behavior is not a natural tendency for most children. It is a quality that is taught by parents and leaders through example and training. But remember, if reverence is rooted in love, so is the teaching of it. Harshness in our training begets resentment, not reverence.”
-Margaret S. Lifferth

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."
- M. Russell Ballard

“As parents, we should remember that our lives may be the book from the family library which the children most treasure. Are our examples worthy of emulation? Do we live in such a way that a son or a daughter may say, ‘I want to follow my dad,’ or ‘I want to be like my mother’?”
-Thomas S. Monson

“Security for our families comes from learning self-control, avoiding the excesses of this world, and being temperate in all things.”
-Kent D. Watson

Sunday, November 29, 2009

The view from my run

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