Finished!

When I was a junior in High School I realized that my entire life was literally ruled by homework and church activities. This is not a bad thing, but at that moment I think the fear of lost opportunities first introduced herself to me and I decided to take a more active role in my own adventures. In shorter terms, I made a bucket list. Obviously being created by a sheltered junior in high school means it is littered with goals that make me laugh now, but there is something comforting about having it on paper staring me in the face daring me to ignore it and fade into the sparkle of the mundane sameness that dominates my existence. Now as I get older and older it is fun to check off items. Go on a mission-check. Go on two dates in one day-check. Graduate from college-check. Learn to play the guitar-well, in progress anyway. Get a doctorate degree-also in progress. Stay up all night two days in a row-check, but I think the nap in the day in between may call for a redo of that one. My latest victory, however, was the marathon. Finish a marathon-check. That's right. My innocent little sheltered mind who knew I hated running thought it would be fun some day to join the less than one percent of the world's population dumb enough to voluntarily go 26.2 miles in one setting.

Honestly I do feel happy and somehow impressive now that it's over, but it was much harder than I thought. I did train alright for it so I knew it would hurt. What I wasn't expecting was the mental game of it. I read about it of course, but I had no idea that it would be such an issue. After about seven miles in the heat when everything started to tighten up and the blisters on my feet opened up again I began asking my seventeen year old self, "what were you thinking? Why am I here? This actually really sucks. This isn't any fun any more. I hurt. Gross. What am I doing here? Why?..." and you get the idea. I only had about two and a half hours worth of running music on my mp3 player and unfortunately it took a lot longer than that to finish. After about mile 18 it was easier to go on mentally, but then the physical toughness escalated a lot. EVERYTHING EVERYTHING started to hurt. My rear was throbbing, my feet were swollen and I could almost feel the blisters grow with each step. My calves, quads, and shoulders were tired of the same movements. Walking hurt even worse than running, but at about 23 miles I literally couldn't run more than about half a mile without needing to stop and breathe. Anyway, it was painful.

My family came--mom and dad and one of my sisters. I am 100% convinced that I couldn't have done it without them. They cheered me along especially at the end. They brought me raisins to reward every couple miles, they met me at the finish line and hugged me even though I was sweaty and absolutely disgusting. Mom made sure I had sunscreen on and kept re-applying. Dad made sure I stayed hydrated, and my sister insisted on filming every excruciating detail. They saved me. The marathon was unique in that it was a patriotic-themed 9/11 memorial event and the track was only a mile long, so I was able to see them about every two or three miles.


The race itself was kind of cool. where it was a patriotic theme there were a bunch of soldiers--a couple in full gear who ran it with us. There were some marines, some returnees from Iraq, a few older veterans, etc. There were flags everywhere and several bands contributed to the live entertainment that was mostly on key. All in all a cool marathon. Lots of food (pizza, peanut butter sandwiches, pretzels, candies, even donuts) and refreshment available at every mile. Well run, well attended, lots of spectators, lots of volunteers, even a volunteer cameraman who put up all kinds of free pictures of nasty pained runners. Really though, it seemed like a great race. Not an experience I think I will ever repeat, but it did feel good (and I mean it felt good three days afterward) to have it done.


So yeah. Check. On to the next goal. Bungee jumping, anyone?

Emissary to the Married Population of the World from a Simple Single Someone

These are just a few points regarding us single folks that I feel would be useful to report to the married world at large. Please know these are not complaints or frustrations so much as friendly informational dudats that my personal experiences have led me to believe are not common knowledge to all those in the afore mentioned group.

1-Believe it or not, we are aware that we are single. We are not under the delusion that there is a spouse hidden in the clutter at home in the closet or under the bed.

2-following the back of that message, We are aware that in order to cease our single state we are required to find said spouse somewhere that is not our closet, which means we must meet people of the opposite gender, date them, and eventually either offer or accept a proposal. Although we clearly have not been successful in following such a pattern thus far, we are aware of its existence.

3-Two people need to have more in common than being single in order to be "made for each other". Living within a few thousand miles of each other, having some semblance of similar goals, and some common ground to use for conversational basis are all good starters.

4-Believe it or not, we are aware that there are other single people out there. I suppose a few of us could almost qualify as living in a cave when the cleanliness of our dwelling places is considered, but even these individuals are capable of finding single people of the opposite gender somewhere.

5-We do have lives and goals and successes outside of our blaring dating failures. Your own life, our school, work, family, weather, even politics are all acceptable conversational strains you can feel free to venture into if you ever get tired of asking us why we aren't married. I can almost promise we will be willing, even happy for the change.

6-Singledom is not a disease, a failing, a fault, a personality quirk, or a disability. It is a situation; usually temporary and always noncontagious. Feel free to interact with us without fear of contamination, and go ahead and treat us as you would any married friend.

7-We are already aware that babies are cute, weddings are beautiful, and growing up is grand. You need not hint about these things.

8-Haircuts, diets, new wardrobes, and improved cooking skills are all great things but they may or may not "win" us a spouse. If all it took was a set of highlights or a cooking class you can bet we probably would have done so by now without your instruction.

9-On that same strain, pointing out every fatal flaw that you feel keeps us single is not helpful. Thanks anyway.

10-we love you. We appreciate you. We know that your advice, hints, counsel, and matchmaking attempts are given because you love us and want us to be happy. We long to be happily married too and are grateful for your help. If we are short or don't listen as well as we should it is because we are a little bit frightened and frustrated ourselves. Please forgive us. It is sometimes harder than it should be to be single.

Anywho, just some thoughts I've had bobbing around in my cerebral soup. I'm a happy kiddo. Enjoying life, hopeful for the future, and anxious to be the best I can be. I am surrounded by wonderful people--married and single--who love me and who I love. Life is good.

Texas Rainstorm

It came! I was so afraid of missing it and it came! A real live washout come to drench everything and everyone without warning. It began with a little combo sun and drizzle at four thirty—classic sign of a tiger marrying a lion, my half Korean companion told me. Before any Ligers (or is it Tions? I never know) could be created, however, the sun went away and by five twenty we had real live rainstorm on our hands. The rain continued to intensify until about six when the rain was bulleting on windshields, wipers going back and forth at the speed that makes me laugh and still I couldn’t see. The streets were clogged with cars bobbing up and down in streams flying toward the sewers. When Toria and I were playing in it by six thirty the puddles in the sides of the streets were up higher than my ankles which may not sound like much but it was quite an adventure for us. We ran into the house from the car right before beginning our puddle splashing adventure and we were dripping from both clothes and hair. Everything really is bigger in Texas. The sky, the trucks, the highways, even the rain. I love it here.