Life happens

“Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.”  -John Lennon

This is quite possibly one of my favorite quotes ever and attributed to one of my favorite people of all time and ironically it also happens to be the theme of my senior year high school yearbook. This last fact probably has something to do with both me and my best friend at the time being on the yearbook staff. She was a big Beatles fan as well.

Any way this sentiment was completely true for me yesterday.  I was swamped at work, the day seemed to go one thing after the other and despite every single one of my best intentions I did not get to write this post because real life was taking over, but that isn’t even the reason this quote it so appropriate. The reason it’s appropriate is this.

This weekend I had intended to have a garage sale on Saturday, sort of by default. I need to have a garage sale; this is a true enough statement. Chris works every other weekend, which is his normal schedule. But lately, because of all the racing he has asked for certain weekends off and we do our best to adjust around them, but a funny thing starts to happen, he is getting a lot more weekend time off. He has had the last 4 weekends in a row off and that is completely unreal all by itself. There was not a single part of me that actually believed he’d have this weekend off. Consequently I went and made other plans for myself that included a garage sale on Saturday.  Besides, there really weren’t any races to attend.

Turns out, for some obscure reason he had this weekend off yet again.  We don’t get the schedule until a few days before. It’s ridiculous, but that’s another story. Suddenly he had this weekend off. Oh well, I thought. There weren’t really any races that I was turning down and I needed to do a garage sale. I proceeded as planned. Yesterday about 11 AM I got a text message from my husband that said, you know there is a half marathon on Saturday morning in Sun River Oregon. This is over by Bend, which is about 2 ½ to 3 hours away from us. I said, yeah I know, but clearly we’d have to drive late Friday night and get a hotel and then run and then there’s the garage sale and obviously I thought for sure you’d be working. 

In a nutshell, after some deliberation, some careful planning and some spontaneity, we have officially moved the garage sale to Sunday. Yes, Sunday garage sales suck, but the backup plan is that we set it up, if it totally sucks, we keep it set up for a week and have it again next Saturday, July 5^th. I think that is perfectly acceptable to us.  So yesterday I was mad scrambling to book a hotel room Friday night and get us registered for the official Pacific Crest weekend in Sun River Oregon.  The medal is beautiful, but more than anything I LOVED that this was completely 100% borne out of my husband’s own mind. I am always the one who comes up with these hair brained ideas, these epic adventures, but yesterday, he did this, all on his own and orchestrated this quick little trip.  You cannot obviously tell me that he is not in love with running or this lifestyle we are living. I have often known he is a bit of an A.D.D kind of boy. He cannot sit still for too long, and thrives a little better with chaos.

In all fairness, we are both chaotic kind of people. Thriving on way more to do than nothing at all. This has probably been a ton of our issues during the years. Boredom and lack of fulfillment out of life. Life is so much better when you just go with it. So while I had a certain expectation for the weekend, life suddenly happened and now I am off on another amazing epic adventure. I am smiling from ear to ear because this is the best part of life.

Leave it to me to be crazy busy. This meant last night I went to the gym, did personal training, did an hour class, came home, had to do some work that my boss called me at 5:15 with as I was headed to my 5:30 training session, and then I started to set up for a garage sale.  The plan is this, tonight I will get the garage sale as best set up as I possibly can. Wait, back up. Gym first for an hour, then set up garage sale. Then pack some shit up for my little impromptu trip.  Chris does work late tonight so he has to pack his shit this morning. Tomorrow we get up, go to work. I get to come home and finish packing or doing garage sale stuff a little bit until about 7 PM when Chris gets home. The plan is to almost immediately leave for Bend.  At the best we will be in Bend at 10 PM.  Check into the hotel. Get our ass up at like 5 AM, no joke, and then go run a 7:30 AM half marathon. Hang out a little in the Bend area. Drive our ass home as soon as possible.

Depending on how we feel (crazy insane is my guess), we might go to a birthday party Saturday night or we might bail on it. Then Sunday morning wake up and have a garage sale. Yes, we are certifiably insane. I am well aware. But again, we seem to operate better under constant stimulation. Perhaps we are both slightly A.D.D. But I can’t stop smiling.  I probably would not have chosen this crazy adventure all on my own, but I think because this was entirely Chris’s doing I am giddy. It means that every part of him loves this just as much as me and I can totally get on board with that.  I am not sure if I am supposed to encourage the crazy, but honestly since its ususally me cooking up these impromptu plans I can’t help but just go with it.

Turns out I love a little bit of spontaneity in my life. I am really a very planned regimented girl, but a little unexpected fun every now and then is pretty awesome. Of course the reality of driving late one night to get up early the next to run 13.1 miles is probably not most people’s idea of fun, but I think it’s become pretty evident that there is nothing else in my world that has ever brought me a better euphoric state of happiness.  This is my perfect definition of fun.  And I slightly fell more in love with Chris the moment he suggested this hair brained plan. This is what love is, isn’t it? Having a partner willing to go along on these epic adventures with you. I honestly had no idea 10 years ago when I met Chris that we’d share this amazing thing. Perhaps we didn’t/wouldn’t if life hadn’t have taken us on all the twists and turns it has. All I know is that we ended up here, doing exactly what I believe in my heart we were always meant to do. The fact that I found a soul mate that understands and appreciates one of the most important aspects of my life is crazy good. But yesterday it went beyond him doing this just for me and went into a genuine love for him when he suggested this.  And that makes my heart happy.

This also means that I will be running another half this weekend, my 3^rd in a row. Which means since I have a half on the 4^th of July and then a half on July 13^th that I will run 5 half’s in 5 weeks. I am completely at peace with this. I feel great today and definitely like I could run another half in 2 days. I do think they get easier, or you get more comfortable with the distance. So yes, this will be number 13 of the year. Clearly, we are flying right by that 14 goal and instead heading somewhere into the 26, 27 land. Yeah, this girl might be signed up for like 27 or so half marathons this year. I am nothing if not obsessive. But they are just so freaking good for my soul and well-being. 

Do you realize that there has never been a time in my entire adult life where I have been content and less judgmental of myself and my flaws. Where I am more accepting and happy in my own skin.  There has never been a time where I know whole heartedly what is important in life and who is important to me. I promise you, none of it has anything to do with my weight or a scale or my body fat percentage or how I look in the mirror. My health is important because it allows me the ability and opportunity to show up and run, but it is so secondary to living and loving life. My life. Just as it is, just as I am.  I sound high. Like a drug addict whose high on something. I guess in some weird way I am, high on endorphins. I am a junkie who needs my constant fix, thus the weekly half marathons.

I knew running that very first half marathon last September that this was something I could really do. I was scared as hell, but I felt that love and high swell up inside of me. I kind of knew that this was something that could become addicting to me. It was miserable. (Thanks Paige for sharing that awesome milestone with me…. :)  But boy, it was the very start of this, this whole journey, this whole life altering mind blowing experience that I will never be able to turn away from.  I found my passion. That’s clear to see. I found it. Better late than never I suppose.

Life truly is what happens when you are busy making other plans. And that is simply the coolest thing. Let your life lead you in whatever direction it goes.  Smile. Enjoy the hell out of the ride, all of it, every single moment. Remember what ultimately is important. The memories, the love you give and get. The family. The single moments of perfection that simply take your breath away. That is what life is all about.