Waking up several times throughout the night but getting back to sleep fairly easily seems to be the average nighttime experience. Vivid dreams all but forgotten now that time has passed with the ritual of Morning Routine. LB happy to play and be brushed, halcaff half gone. Dance to a random mix of just about every genre in the music library. Ladder work, rope, parrallettes, and body weight calisthenics. Able to do what I direct the body to do engenders confidence and awareness of great physical strength and knowing that the shortcomings in flexibility, speed and some of the more risky feats of agility can be overcome regardless of the fact that each day a day older. And yet The Plague still hangs on in the lungs; the commitment to find a Doc, make that appointment and get the full check up yet to be fulfilled; hereby prioritize this task for the last business hours of this Wednesday.
The challenge lines in PE classes were met with great enthusiasm in each grade level. A few of the 6th grade girls in the solo class sought me out at the end of the day asking when we could do the activity again; they had challenged themselves, over come fears and gained confidence. A couple of the repeat offenders ended up on the track for the entire class; the residual threads of being taught or that they get to argue with directions from the Teacher; nope. Combo 6th grade today, 6th always the last class of the day, it is supposed to be in the mid to high 80’s today so, the plan, Football for those who wish to play, challenge course for those who want more, and pit tag for the rest; a water feature, 200 feet of hose run out to The Field for cooling off.
The nights without much sleep like the night before last take a toll; lack of sleep translates into a day of work without a life after work which is ok once or twice a week, not optimal but doable. Now mid October, still finding footing in the Work/ Life beyond Work balance. Still mostly a split between work days and weekends; not entirely but mostly. Of course, this tally doesn’t really take into account the Morning Routin; the mind of mild discontent does the equation; recalculating taking into account that nearly every morning the hours between 4 and 7 are all mine to do with as I wish. 7:30 to just after 3 ( a 40 minute lunch in the middle) are spent at Work and if I’ve had adequate sleep, my Day ends at about 8:30pm. That’s Monday- Thursday, Friday work either ends in a half day or a couple hours back at work after lunch. The weekends are wide open. A quick calculation pencils out to a 5 day work week being around 30% of each day spent at work, 30% in Life beyond Work and 30% in some level of sleep; that seems quite balanced and is on average pretty typical. The weekend is much closer to 60%+ Life Beyond Work and 30% or so sleep. Again that’s pretty fucking good (PFG).
Here under the Stars, with LB by my side, Yo-Yo Ma in my right ear, bare feet in the dirt, I’ve spit all the glue out of my worked lungs; the opening scene from Terminator playing out in the road below for the who knows how many times, I know I’ve rolled those cans down somewhere near 2000 times in 37+ years of being on The Acre. Numbers, I noticed in yesterdays musings I placed the Earthquake at 24 years in the past but of course, it has been 34; mentioning the anniversary to Cin she remarked, “We were so young” and we were, only 3 and a half years in The Castle, Whit, also 3 and a half years od, Boo a baby, Taffy our beautiful Pup, the first of many Pack members. Reflection carries a great deal of weight at times; Joy, Sadness, Humor and Loss, Grief and Accomplishment, the Mundane and the Horrific; Life.
Grateful for the Journey, that wake up and swing feet to floor and dance beneath the Stars. To play with the great furry beast Lil Bear. I never saw my Pop exercise, work out, He was strong, swam for pleasure, rode a bike and played a bit of tennis when I was a kid; He and my Ma danced often. I witnessed my Ma working out all my life, Yoga, calisthenics, weight lifting and riding a bike both on the road and stationary, she also swam and played tennis. Grateful for this genetic or nurtured propensity for being active in exercise, dance, being up early (Pop always up by 4) and all the other influences and bits of me I got from Them. Fortunate and Grateful to have had such excellent Parents. Grateful for Cin, Her unconditional love and companionship. For my Kids and the kind hearts they possess and share. For Purpose and Opportunity.
For another Day to Practice and to Continue.