Today doesn’t go down in my top 10. But as I have been thinking about things and how we go through times where things just don’t go our way I keep having to remind myself that I have a lot of things to be grateful for. Even though some days can be setbacks and we struggle just to muddle through, I think there are opportunities to do something good, even if it isn’t something epic.
We get to choose to live well in the sense that we can do something worthwhile every day. And that makes us a little better and a little richer for the effort.
One of the things on my mind today has been feet. I had to take the car in, so I have been doing a lot of walking. This has made me aware of my feet. Not to mention I have to run tomorrow so the legs and feet will be at the forefront of my mind then too.
We stand on our feet, they form the foundation of our stability. With this in mind I think of many of the people who have helped me build my own personal foundation; my parents, my friends, my siblings. This one is for all of those who have helped me stand and walk and even occasionally run. Especially, to the ones who are gone that I can’t thank in person.
Some days things don’t go as expected and if you are like me, you have the tendency to get agitated with things and then you get upset and sometimes things that are just small inconveniences turn into overblown crises.
Today I had car trouble, and often I would be stressed about it, but somehow I was able to look at things with a more grateful mindset. Sure it sucked and depending on what my mechanic finds it could be expensive and much more inconvenient but I did get home safely. That got me to thinking about other good things that were going on.
As a result of this reflection, I decided to make some origami cranes with the gold and silver paper that I had from earlier. The crane is the “bird of happiness” and has meanings of peace and luck. I was feeling lucky today and choosing to be happy about all the blessings that I have.
Sometimes you just like the way a picture turns out.
Today’s picture just turned out to be one I liked. Sometimes there isn’t any deep significance in the picture but the composition turns out to be pleasing. There is an orange ribbon and a bike part, but really I just thought this turned out to be interesting to look at and wanted to share. Not every experiment is as successful.
I’m not sure I have a lot to say about this one. I was photographing some pedals and the pictures just weren’t working out to my liking. Then I saw the orange ribbon that I was using earlier and decided to do this. I felt like it worked out alright.
I can’t tell you what my brother spray painted on this rock years ago, it’s not really appropriate.
I went out walking trying to come up with an idea for a photo. I ran into Nate’s widow and stopped to talk for a while. We talked about Nate and cancer and things. It’s amazing just how much cancer changes things and not just temporarily. The effects go on long after the disease passes. And people say that after a loss that things will get better with time. In some ways that may be so, but it often doesn’t feel any better for a long time. After Matt died I couldn’t bring myself to go the the bike shop for months. I still miss him but I’m not sure that I would say that the fact that I don’t hurt every day or as acutely really makes it better, just different.
I hope that I have learned some things and that I’ve learned to be better to people and be more mindful of the people around me. Whether that is the case or not, cancer sucks.
I’m grateful that I got the chance to have a talk with a friend that I don’t see as much as I used to. By the time I got to where I could see the tip of suicide rock, it was getting too dark for a good picture. Though the quality of the picture may have suffered, I think that the time spent talking to a friend about Nate and life and things was way more valuable than getting a nicer picture for the day.
Matt was a big fan of Eddy Merckx “the Cannibal” and I don’t think you can blame him. If you are going to choose a cyclist to emulate you probably can’t do much better.
Matt didn’t have the cycling resume of Eddy Merckx, but he was my cycling hero. I spent a lot of time on his wheel being pulled along. My first century I didn’t have the legs for a 5 hour ride, so Matt went ahead finished in less than 5 hours and then came back and pulled me the rest of the way.
