6.10.2009: File this under Life is Good. Whatever ailed me yesterday has moved on to bother someone else. 24 strong laps in the pool this afternoon, and for the first time I broke it into 4-lap segments rather than 2-lap segments. Wind and strength are improving with each workout, it feels like. And Amazon shipped my Kindle DX today.
Originally posted to BMGS 1.0 - October 17, 2007
The last few days have revealed a slight dip in the usually relentless sugary cheeriness of the Big Man Getting Smaller. Surely this can’t be a result of the Sox being down 3 games to 1 in the ALCS, can it?
That may be a part of it, in a mix with being a little tired, working too hard, working out too hard, missing people who are close to me, listening to too many sad songs, and so forth. It’s always something.
So today I’ll get out of the house a little and take a walk, talk to my daughter Kippy and best friend, maybe even take a drive out to Waltham for my daughter Moriah’s cross-country meet this afternoon.
Tomorrow I’m heading down to Plainville for a GA meeting to celebrate the 2-year anniversaries of two very good friends. I’m bringing the cake, and it looks like it will be a good one, from the picture on the bakery website.
I’ve been basically on course with the regimen of BMGS, even though I have gained a pound and a half, so I am confident that my progress here will continue. No workout yesterday, which affects my day to day weight, no doubt.
Come to think of it, I haven’t been to a GA meeting in 12 days, which is the longest I have been without one in over a year. This is no accident. Ever notice how it is always the little things?
The point, I guess, is that the things that work in our lives don’t just work for what we intend them for. Often they work in all kinds of other ways.
I started going to GA 8 ½ years ago because I had to deal with an enormous problem I had with the stock market, with gambling, and with my life. GA was a great fix for that problem, but it also became, over time, a really important part of my ability to keep my life in general on an even keel, to keep moving forward, to be the man I want to be, the father I want to be, the friend I want to be.
So, another person might say, “Fine, you haven’t been to a meeting in 12 days, but you haven’t gambled, so no problemo, right?”
But I have a better vantage point. I’m the guy who is living inside this body (that is 10% smaller than it was 7 weeks ago), and I sense a more generalized cost to my failure to make a meeting in the past week.
My regular Plainville GA meeting is a kind of home to me, complete with a kind of family. I need to be there. Tomorrow night, I will be there. With the cake. (Of which, by the way, I absolutely intend to have a piece.)
Plus, it wouldn’t hurt if the effin Sox could step up and earn their considerable keep tomorrow evening while I am at the meeting!
Whoa.
Unfortunately I can't embed this one in the site the way I usually do, but this man just sings the hell out of this song. I stopped keeping up with the latest in country music around the time I left Texas in '78, so I don't know a thing about Josh Turner, but he knows how to cover this old George Jones song. It's enough to make a happy man sad or a sad man sing.
Poppa,
I am so proud of you!
You are so wise and I love how actively, and aggressively(!), you seek greater peace and wisdom. Thank you for sharing so much of yourself on your journey. The words and the music are great sources of strength and inspiration for many I am sure.