Quality time

After I posted last week about trying to eat right so I could get down to my comfy weight, a friend gave me an entire month's supply of Nutrisystem food.  This food had been in storage for "a while" but seeing as it is freeze dried I figured the shelf life would be pretty much indefinite.  I was wrong!  I spent all night Tuesday puking my guts out and Wednesday in bed recovering.  This scared me because I was hosting Thanksgiving.  I woke up Thursday feeling well enough to do what needed to be done.  Thank God!

I walked Boomer over to the junior high school in my neighborhood that morning and let him off leash in the field.  There is a track in the back and I decided I would try to run a lap.  I ended up running (I use that word very loosely, by the way) three laps and felt pretty good about it.

Sara came over early in the afternoon and we spent time together, preparing the Thanksgiving meal for my little family.  I try to show her something new to make every year so maybe when it's her turn to host a holiday meal, she will remember what to do.

Friday night Keith and I went to a movie.  We watched "Burlesque" with Christina and Cher.  Very entertaining movie! 

Saturday night Keith took Sara and I out to dinner.  After dinner, Sara had me hand address her wedding invitations.  She needs to get them out early because the wedding is in another country.  People need to plan.  I loved the time we had together, sitting at the table talking while I was doing this favor for her.  It brought back memories of she and I sitting at that same table, every afternoon together, working on her homework and talking about her day in school.  After the invitations were addressed, stuffed and stamped, I asked her to tell me about her engagement night.  I wanted to hear all about the moment Sterling proposed to her, how she reacted, what she felt, etc.  It was awesome to listen to her relive the evening and how excited she was to get home to tell me.  It also occurred to me how happy I am to "be present" during this very important time of her life.  For many years I was "absent" so to be able to experience everything right now, with a clear head, is a true blessing.

Sunday I got to spend some quality time with this awesome chick again.  She picked Boomer and I up at our house and drove us up to Oakland where we had a great time hiking.  I knew it was going to be wet so I decided to wear my waterproof hiking boots instead of my trail running shoes.  Probably not my best decision.  Right off the bat, my foot was hurting because my boots were too tight.  It was a fun time anyway!  Boomer had a blast in the cool weather and wet dirt.  He played with a few runners until I called him back and he came sprinting as fast as he could.  RBR was very patient and didn't rush me up or down the trails.  She just followed nicely behind me and made me laugh enough to forget about my uncomfortable shoes.  It's nice to know that even though I can't run right now, someone still enjoys my company enough to drive a total of 50+ miles to hike with me.  Although, as you can see, the park itself is well worth it.

Boomer with RBR

Yesterday morning I went for a nice long walk with a friend that moved away in March.  Bill was a Supervisor at REI in Fremont but moved to Montana to help open a new REI there.  This was his first trip out to the Bay Area since his move.  We spent about 90 minutes walking along the Alameda Creek Trail, catching up on our lives.  At one point, Boomer got out of our sight.  I *think* he followed a female runner down the trail.  This caused a little bit of anxiety for a few minutes as we each went separate directions calling out for him.  Eventually, he appeared on the trail, walking toward me with a "what are you yelling about?" kind of look.  Even though Bill and I have kept in touch via emails and texts often, it was great to have some time to visit.

Tonight I headed out in the cold to take Boomer and Bella for a walk.  I decided I was going to do the two mile loop around the neighborhood.  They were so excited to be out, they started pulling me right away.  I ran a little bit, just to keep up.  It felt pretty good so I KEPT ON RUNNING!!  I ran the entire two miles with the two dogs.  You all *have* to know how great that felt, right?  Tomorrow is two months since my surgery.  Two months!  And I ran two miles.  Yeah, I'm thrilled!


Until later.............