These are just some thoughts that I scribbled down on our last vacation, I didn’t have internet access so I decided to piece it together now and over the next couple days:
It’s difficult sometimes trying to raise a 2 year old, heck it is difficult enough trying to raise myself. We have to learn to deal with difficulties in our lives, maintain composure in the face of conflict and settle for a different outcome than what we may have wanted or expected. It is this ability to handle ourselves, when the going get’s tough that separates the mediocre from the exceptional. We all want ourselves and our children to be exceptional. Can this be manufactured? Can we teach this? Have we become too lax in society? Do our kids have too much given to them? Do we fuss over them too much? Honestly, I don’t really have the answer to these questions, I just do the best I can and go from there. It is learning to accept this fact, that may prove to be the most challenging.
It is day number 4 of our vacation, I have honestly taken more naps in the last 2 days than in the whole year combined, I am not sure what has inspired this movement (or lack there of) but I am going with it. One thing I am learning is that if I don’t nap when the kids do, I can’t make it with the family in the evening, well that, and the fact that sleep schedules don’t just make kids happy, gentle and wise, but also really work well for dad. We got our bodies out of bed at 6 am today and went and dug clams as a family, it was serene, cool, crisp and not so hard. I really got a kick out of watching the little squirts of water the clams let loose to let you hone in on their underground location. This turns out to be not so good for the clams but great for those of us digging for them. I never thought or actually really ever imagined doing such activities, but you know what? I really really enjoy them! It is just something about being out there with family, doing something that has a reward (finding big clams) doing something new, waking with the sun. It is rewarding, and relaxing, I guess it also makes me want to nap.
Yesterday, I ran 11 miles barefoot on the beach. I just started running and didn’t stop until I couldn’t go any farther, I turned around and ran back. well, kind of. I ran until the blisters that had formed on my bear feet wouldn’t let me go any farther. I walked the last 2 miles (rather I limped the last 2 miles) and now I sit here writing this in a bit of pain. But it was worth it. When I started I was engulfed in a huge cloud. It was like running in rain, it was so wet, the surf was rough and the headwind was pretty treacherous, but I just turned up the tunes, and aimed foreword with my head down, after about 3 miles the rain and wind subsided and I could see a rock formation in the distance. I dropped my jacket, at mile 4 and my water bottle at mile 4.5 and hit the jetty at mile 5.5. I sat on a small stump of driftwood and took it all in.
Like all of these moments in life, they will never be forgotten. It was peaceful, I was all alone for what looked like miles, and the world seemed all at once extremely foreign, wonderful, and well according to my right hip a bit uncomfortable. I am feeling like I can now accomplish the half marathon in November.