Today I did something that I haven't done since I was 19 (no mom I did not get another tattoo on my toe:).
Today I got out of bed grabbed by ipod, my book and my messenger bag and hopped on my bike. I rode all the way to Moose Lake in the morning sunshine on the lovely Willard Munger Trail. I threw on some tunes from my boy Jack Johnson (who still doesn't respond to my requests of marriage) and set off on the trail on my pink cruiser bike that was spray painted by yours truly.
I have been running to train for the Grandma's Half Marathon but I was ready to switch it up today. My route was about 18 miles. I toodled my way into Moose Lake and then realized how famished I was. I headed into market place and came out with some fresh fruit, some bagels, and a SOBE beverage. As many of you know I stand behind my latest diet of beef sticks, almonds and string cheese however occasionally one must falter. I grabbed my goodies and headed back to my favorite bench near the river. It is a great spot because it looks out on a grand opening of the water and today as luck would have it there were a couple of good looking mallards hanging out. As luck wouldn't have it some fella had the nerve to p ark his behinder on my bench. So I had to pretend to be a photographer who stopped for a drink until he was either A) Done with his rest or B) Creeped out by me the potential homeless chick carrying a bag of groceries on her bike. Needless to say he moved on and I parked myself and my breakfast on "my bench" which to be honest has seen her better days. A large portion on one side is missing and it has all sorts of stuff carved in it. So basically we're made for each other.
This is the same bench that I biked to and rollerbladed to in the past. I started thinking why it had been so long since I had done this. Well there were many reasons. Work, my son, many projects that could be worked on. It made me think that the things that we enjoy at 19 are the same things we really enjoy at 29 but we stop prioritizing them. They become those things that you think "oh yeah I should do that again" or you see someone else doing that and you bitterly think "must be nice to be them". Why is it that we stop saying yes to things we want to do and start saying yes to things we don't want to do. Guilt, perhaps? And what do we achieve by doing this... resentment.
I have met some really amazing people doing what I do. Honestly there are some of them that I look at my book for the day and I think "YES!" because I know that we will have awesome conversations about real things and we will laugh and sometimes cry but always will find comfort in sharing our lives. Many of them "Get It". They might not get to do what they want when they want all the time but they have realized that they have the power to choose how happy they are.
I realize that I am an adult. I have a business to run. I have a house to clean, a yard to mow, a son to raise but that doesn't mean I can't find ways to have some peaceful me time. Today that was what it was about. And in doing so I feel that the other avenues of my life benefit.
So today I leave you with an excerpt from something that my brother had laminated in his belongings when we were going through his stuff we found and it has become a bit of a mantra... not even kidding. So enjoy:



"One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast... a part time crusader, a half-hearted  fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it is still there. So get out there and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forrest, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains, run the rivers, breathe deep of that sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for awhile and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to your body, the body active and alive and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk bound people with their hearts in a safety deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards."