Sunday, May 5, 2013

The long way home...........

Me and my ideas. I woke up at 8 a.m. to sunshine and blue skies! So excited that I slept in until the ridiculous hour of 8 a.m., I promptly fell asleep again until 9. Then lolled about in bed till 10. What a luxurious morning! I lazily asked Jeff what was on our agenda today and he said "Nothing, and it makes me nervous!"

You have to understand my husband. He makes the Energizer Bunny look like a sloth. If he is not working on one of the approximately 4,962 things on his "to do" list (neatly typed and categorized), he really does not know what to do with himself. He even schedules naps. Busy is how he likes to be, and unstructured time is often met with restlessness and feeling scattered.

He mentioned working out so I suggested we take a nice, long walk down to the shopping area near us. Last weekend we walked down to the Starbucks and back and it was a lovely, long walk and a great workout. This time, though, we also knew we needed groceries for a Cinco de Mayo feast we decided to have for dinner, so I suggested that if we wore backpacks, we could cart the groceries back (uphill!) to the house. THEN I got all crazy and shit and suggested we make the kids go, too.

Surprisingly, that went pretty well. I mean, there was a bit of complaining (Hannah) about having to turn off "Criminal Minds" and a bit of primping (Harrison) when it was decided that a shower was needed if we were going to appear in public. Mind you, I put my hair into pigtails, threw on some workout clothes and skipped the makeup. I was looking just perfect for "public." Coupled with sweat and a bright red face, I'm quite the looker when I work out.

Once the kids were all dolled up and we procured one backpacking backpack and two school backpacks, we headed down the road. First stop, Walgreen's to pick up prescriptions. Once I stopped walking and went indoors, my body responded as only a 45-year-old menopausal woman's can, and I started sweating, which I'm sure was a nice compliment to my beet-red face. As I wiped drips out of my eyes, I instructed Harrison to go get me one of those cool little fan/spray bottle combos, which I dropped $9.99 on without even thinking and didn't even blink at the $5.99 batteries I needed to purchase to make it work. It was Heaven!

Next, we took a break at Starbucks and enjoyed some cold drinks. Of course, we walked in the door at exactly the same time as three girls who exclaimed "Harrison!" so I guess he was right about needing to be presentable for his fan club.

Then we did our shopping at Fred Meyer, trying to stick to the list and not buy any extras (but of course we did!). We checked out and distributed the food and drinks among the three packs. We had two 2-liter bottles of Sprite, a bottle of tequila, a six-pack of beer, about 10 lbs of produce, meat, bagels, lunchmeat (might as well stock up for the week!), frozen orange juice........all in all about 55 lbs of groceries!

We started the trek back, me secretly hoping a neighbor with a minivan and no extra passengers would happen by and take my sherpa family home. But it was not to be. Under a cloudless blue sky, and 75 degrees (shut up, we live in Seattle, that's HOT!) we trekked up the hill towards home. I felt the warm sun on my skin and the slight breezes, all the while feeling my muscles work packing the groceries home, thinking "wow, I am really getting in shape!"

About halfway up the hill, my skin suddenly caught fire (ok, not literally, but I sort of understand what spontaneous combustion might feel like now), and I was breathing heavily. My heart was beating in my ears, cheeks and the back of my head. My breath was a cadence of "put one foot in front of the other...." and I felt my shoulders being ripped from their sockets from the weight of the backpack.. I stopped for a breather while the kids trudged ahead. Jeff, in his infinite wisdom, stopped to wait for me, and then used my new spray bottle/fan to cool me off, but the water just evaporated the minute it hit my skin, and those slight breezes were not enough to offer my overheated skin any relief.

I wanted to lay down. In the shade. Jeff jokingly said "you can rest here in the shade and I'll run up and get the car" and for half a second I considered it. But I just kept going. I pulled my already ample frame, plus another 16 lbs in a Winnie-the-Pooh backpack up the hill toward home.

Sweet Jesus, we finally turned the corner into our neighborhood and Jeff said "I'm really hungry" and then it hit me - that wonderful overly-hungry, shaking, sweating hypoglycemic reaction that reminded me I needed some calories, stat! I made it into the house, dropped my backpack, toasted a bagel, slathered it with cream cheese and INHALED it, while resting my feet on ice packs, with another pack around my neck.

And I realized these things:
1. Urban hiking is hard work (we walked six miles).
2. I really, really, really love my minivan.
3. I can't believe I actually got my kids out, in the sunshine, exercising.
4. I'm not sure I'll be able to stand up once I try to leave this chair.

Have a great Sunday. Get out there and DO something! :)

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