Today was a beautiful day, still is, actually. I started the day kinda grumpy – hauling butt out of bed before the sun rises can do that to a person. Before my brain was fully awake, I threw on my running clothes, grabbed some Gatorade, and drove to the beach. Yes, I drove the whole 1 mile to the beach – it was either that, or miss sunrise – since I hit “snooze” on the alarm twice. Besides – my brain might have come alive during the walk to the beach and turned my body around to go back to bed. I have missed the sunrise for the last week, because I was tired and just wanted to sleep in. This past week was kind of a frumpy week – started after I tried to do my Thanksgiving shopping (groceries) on Tuesday. I did that last year, and promised myself not to try that madness again. I remember making that promise, I just had trouble keeping that promise this year. Anyway – it seemed like a good idea to see if watching the sunrise and having some quiet time on the beach to start the day would make a difference. It did. A short, sweet, solitary 5k seemed just the thing to deal with the grumps and frumps.
After church, we set out to find a bait shop. Having been overwhelmed with the urge to go fishing, we recognized that this particular urge should never be ignored. Bill was willing to sacrifice his Sunday to take me fishing. In my book, that makes him a rather exceptional husband. Surf fishing requires contact with the water, so after donning the appropriate clothing, we packed snacks, Piper, and the Chuck-it with the fishing gear and set off. Fishing should be considered a form of meditation, it is so peaceful. Except, of course, when the fish takes the bait. Bill caught our supper – a nice black drum. I caught a whiting the size of a bait fish. I learned a couple things while fishing today… 1 – backlash on a fishing reel is worse than yarn barf – even with the yarn from hell. It expands your swearing vocabulary. 2 – ripping the heads off shrimp is gross – I mean really gross. Green stuff oozes out, and gets on your fingers. 3 – threading headless shrimp on the hook is viciously satisfying! I especially like putting them on the hook butt first. 4 – casting a line with a 3oz sinker requires concentration and force. This allows you to use the vocabulary you have developed from your backlash experience. It’s nice to have a guy like Bill that is willing to toss that sucker out for you once in a while.
Supper indeed was pan-seared black drum, dirty rice and veggies. The fish was delicious – and left us waiting for the opportunity to go fishing again to try more. Piper is passed out from multiple rounds of Chuck-it, bird-chasing, and chewing on seashells. We have our feet up, and are just enjoying the good feels of the day.
Random Thoughts
Between the early morning run and the fishing time, there was plenty of thinking time.
“Selfies” – I heard a statement that people who took selfies and posted them “must really be in love with themselves” as though this is a bad thing. For whatever reason, that stuck around in the cobwebs of my brain for a while. I think, for the most part, that I disagree with that. Do you take selfies? Do you share them? Why or why not? We have had our iPhones for 2 years now. It took me a while to actually try a selfie, and much longer to post one. Selfies can reveal a lot, I think. For some people, I think it takes an extraordinary amount of courage to take one and post it on social media. I admire people that are self-confident enough to take those pictures and post them – you can see the joy and excitement radiating in that picture. Some of them (the selfies) – you can look at the person and see pain, uncertainty, or sorrow – whether or not they were aware of it. Is it really a bad thing to be in love with yourself? In the Bible, it is referred to in the second greatest commandment – “…you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself…”. Think about it – would you treat your neighbor the way you treat yourself, say the things to them that you say to yourself? Would it be loving, or would it be bullying?
Self-compassion – wrote about this a while ago. It is not easy, and requires a lot of effort. It is much easier to encourage others to be self-compassionate. It’s easy to talk about, but try to put it in to practice. I find it quickly devolves into thoughts of not deserving, not being good enough, just not necessary for me – however – for you it is absolutely important. Obviously, this is a learning opportunity (aka failure).
Doldrums – Weather terminology is so cool! One dictionary defines this as “an equatorial region with calms, sudden storms, and light, unpredictable winds”. LOL – this is a bulls-eye description of the way I have been feeling! Just having such a hard time letting go of not finishing that stupid marathon. I think I have moved on, put it out of my mind – and then – wham – it comes back to yank my chain again. So what must one do to lose the doldrums? Move away from the equator. Movement, getting one’s body out of bed before the sun, waking up with the world, doing something to generate sweat. Moving out of the “thinking” place and into the “doing” place. Making a move to help someone else. Looks like I have a game plan in the development stages here… I wonder if “doldrums” is synonymous with “comfort zone”?
Enough thinking for today…
Lert's Lessons in Grace 