Nightly Gathering

Open Thread Post 103 - What Works

What a weird up and down day. I had not slept well at all, and actually took a half benedryl about 3 am even knowing I had to wake up at 530 for a 6 am meeting. I had originally put “tentative” to attend that meeting, but somebody told me they really wanted me to attend, so I agreed.

I was NOT needed at the meeting, but I'd already had coffee, so no use thinking about more sleep. Each day, the first few hours of the morning are busiest for me, and time flies. I can't say I was irritated or even tired actually. I know it's Friday, the day of the week Mo passed, and the day and time it used to be most difficult to get through. Today I acknowledged “Friday” but was too lazy to count the actual number of weeks. I've always been more of a date person than a day of the week person anyway.

By mid morning, most of my necessary work was done so I went to one of my favorite shopping places, The Banana Box, in Scottsboro, AL, about 20ish minutes away.

Some of my friends who I know read this from out west, might remember me as a fan of the “Canned Food Outlet”. This is similar. It's basically overstock groceries, or items they can't sell anymore on regular grocery store shelves. I have gotten amazing deals there, and I get some kind of natural high when I score a great deal. Today, I got organic blackberries for 99 cents per little container that I know are usually $4 at least. I snatched up 8 containers. Another good deal was a canister of Dunkin Donuts decaf for only $6.99. Pretty sure I saw the same thing at Sam's Club for $13. You get the gist.

Feelin' good!

Checked email when I returned but nothing. Yay! The CCSA Conference championship for Beach Volleyball is being held in Huntsville this weekend. The young lady who was Mo's partner in 2015, their most successful year, is a 5th year senior at Grand Canyon State in Phoenix. Her father, one of the co-directors of the club Mo played for in highschool, is the one who started and is handling the scholarship. He came to the COL as well.

Grand Canyon beat the #2 seed of the tourney yesterday, so it was a semi final today. I had no problem finding the team and the weather was perfect. It was fun to watch Abbie play and the semi came down to a final match of a couple of her teammates. From my vantage point, the one girl could have been Morgan from the back. Long blonde braided ponytail, long legs, hustler. I got choked up but didn't cry. And GCU pulled it off and will be in the final tomorrow, which I will also attend.

It will be the end of an era of watching girls I personally knew play.

Once I got home, I fed that temporary feel good impulse and ate some junk food I'd also gotten a good deal on earlier. I did about an hour of work, then knew I had to work off all the junk I'd just eaten. Time for a more prolonged feel-good attempt.

I grabbed my dog and off we went on a hike. It was a little muddy from rain yesterday but that was expected. Up, up, up. Enjoying it, but finding myself getting IRRITATED. I realized I have rarely felt irritated since December. My dog wanted to either eat or pee on tall grass next to the trail every minute or so. It was so annoying. Yank. Keep going. I thought I'd give you an idea of the trail and the prize at the top.

On the way back down, I started analyzing myself. Why be irritated? If I add up the total minutes all her breaks “delayed” me, would it even be 5 minutes? What’s my problem? Delayed from what exactly? I wondered how much of my life and my children's lives I’d acted irritated over self imposed stupid time constraints. Too often I think. I'd do different if I had to do it all over again. Once I realized my foolishness, I enjoyed the hike again, and it seemed to me she didn't stop as much either.

All day long we make decisions about one thing or another. Some are meant to just make us feel better. Food will do that. Alcohol will do that. Both of these must be done in moderation or they will definitely cause more harm in the long run. Exercise, and the endorphins from that are truly the most healthy. I'm extremely grateful to God that I am able to exercise. If you find yourself feeling sad, if you are able to, get out in nature.

Well, longer than usual for a Nightly Gathering Post. This is open thread so any comments don't even have to be about any of this.