FOG defined most of our week. We had a brief afternoon of sun on Wednesday before the fog rolled back in, cold and gray as ever. After eight consecutive thick blurry dark foggy days (minus that one bright Wednesday afternoon), Saturday actually dawned. We had an entire fogless sunny day. I was almost giddy with the sudden influx of vitamin D! Living in fog smudges everything like sidewalk chalk in the rain. Our solar-powered sun-filled Saturday was a hard-earned reward for surviving a week of fog.
Since the week of fog had dampened my weekly exercise, I decided to go for an extra-long bike ride under the sun on Saturday. To add distance and sun-time, I rode my bike to hand deliver three Christmas cards before heading for the hills. I had an audiobook in my ear, the sun at my back, and hills at my front. My meandering rugged ride ended up lasting 20 whole miles! That's an average sized ride for seasoned bikers, but for my beginner legs, it was a couple miles past comfy. It was so fun to explore the countryside sans-fog, when I could actually see where I was going!
Fitness goals aside, one of the motivations for riding longer was to finish listening to my latest audiobook: A Promised Land by Barak Obama. I finished it during my bike ride with a mile to spare, and it was absolutely fascinating, gripping, emotional, candid, thoughtful, witty, and an eye-opening peek behind the scenes of recent history. I loved it. My knowledge of politics, economics, and the world stage is feeble at best, but this book made all of those intricate interrelated complexities accessible, even to my inexperience. I highly recommend this book. There is some language, but if anyone can make swearing sound good-natured and benign, it's Barak Obama. Now that I've listened to Michelle read her White House memoir and Barak read his, we're basically best friends and I should send them a Christmas card. Hah! They are just so personable and all-around good human beings, and I appreciate them for sharing their insights, experiences, and perspective.
At the beginning of my bike ride, I passed two friends--our next door neighbor Jory, who was on his bike, and his cousin Doug, who had just finished running (I had just delivered a Christmas card to his sweet stellar wife). Doug lives around the corner from us (which in the country means half a mile away), and the three of us often cross paths during our various runs and bike rides. It's rare for all three of us to converge at the same point on the same day, though, so naturally we stopped to chat for a few minutes. After my wistful comment about running, Jory (who is a chiropractor) offered to adjust my ankle to see if that helped. At the end of my extended 2 hour bike ride, I put on my mask and walked next door, where Jory cracked several key areas along my entire body, including my ankles. He suggested that I try running half a mile to check if the adjustment helped, so out I went, my legs wobbling a little after pedaling that 20 miler.
It was astounding. My ankle was pain free! I know enough not to jump back into running 30 miles per week, but the rest period is over and the slow-ankle-rehab-and-return-to-running process has begun! Running is such a treat. It is my first love, and I am so relieved and glad to be able to run again, even if its just a little right now.
We were all settled in for our usual quiet Saturday evening at home when our neighbors Jory and Kathy texted and invited us all to see an extravagant Christmas light display in Yakima. A family in our stake had set up an enormous array of lights on their farm and invited the public to enjoy them. One of my inexplicable quirks is that I am ridiculously reluctant to leave home at night, especially to be social, even when I know and like the people we're going to be social with. However, a last minute invite often does the trick to oust me from my comfort antisocial zone. Last minute plans don't give me any time to dread, backpedal, cave to my introverted nature, or think wistfully of my quiet house. I'm nearly always glad I went when I do actually go somewhere too, so it's a good thing to GO. I just rarely plan evening activities on my own, so my nighttime social life is almost entirely dependent on church activities that I'm helping plan and invitations from friends. This is not a very good explanation of a strange Shaina-ism, but it's the best I could do right now.
So on Saturday night, after the last-minute invite, we wolfed down dinner, climbed into our van, and hit the road 20 minutes later in a two car caravan. We listened to Christmas music and sang along for the entire hourlong drive to Yakima. The lights were phenomenal. We were appropriately dazzled. Seriously, MAGIC happens when thousands of lights are strung up on a dark winter night. First we drove around the short loop, admiring the lights from the car. Then we parked and walked around the loop, admiring the lights a second time. We were there for half an hour max, but it was cozy and Christmas-y and fun to walk around under pretty lights with our neighbor-friends. We like them. They make us feel cool and sociable. Haha.
Our sunny Saturday ended in magical Christmas lights. Both types of light filled my heart in the joyful way that only light can bring. That deep thirst for light during the dark winter is a symbol in itself!
To illustrate my point, here are a few comparison pictures between the sun and the fog, taken on sunny Wednesday afternoon and foggy Friday this week. Since I didn't plan this comparison post ahead of time, the pictures aren't taken from the exact same angles, but they still give the general idea.
No comments:
Post a Comment