Skip to main content

Stay the Course

 


Stay the Course

Today as I nearly acquiesced my fatigue. Which was from gradually increasing my running miles again in the same week as cleaning up our yard from the winter storms and the Ides of March. That along with my writing, studies, and research. The more now volatile New Jersey Springter, which has most of our immune systems not knowing whether their coming or going. Oh Springter? As I’ve dubbed New Jersey’s weather in mid-April, a cross between Spring and Winter.

This morning, I got our youngest ready for another quarter back to school. It was after her nine day vacation from nearly all of it. I myself am not ever on vacation. It’s a rare moment that I am on vacation. No, it’s not about motherhood or anything of that sort. It’s about who I am. My intensity. Just when I want to rest, there is something that I see needs doing.

Over the years, I’ve sat back and wondered, ‘How do these people just vacate and do practically nothing?’ Outside of my world, other people go to islands. Some go abroad. They rest on a beach with a drink in hand. Seemingly, not a care in the world. I get moments. Perhaps hours. Maybe, I guess.

My view of the world, now I realize is completely different than most.  I would compare myself to someone who barely if ever vacates ‘doing’. It’s not a bad thing, as some may claim. For them, it might be. But for me, its accomplishments. It’s finishing touches. And as I know all too well, tomorrow may never come.

The other day, I was helping coach two teenagers in distance running. After the session on a warm Saturday, I thanked them. One was shocked and stated, “Well no. Thank you. I mean you’re helping us on your time.”  I responded, “Well, it’s mutual.” Both teenagers looked at me with wonderment. I continued, “You see, I get joy out of this. That’s what I get out of helping someone learn. So, it is my pleasure. And besides you kids are great. It’s fun for me.” I gather after that, they may have received an unintentional lesson in life that day. But it is a true lesson.

Arriving back to these current moments now, I looked at other runner’s backgrounds, who’d placed high or won the Boston Marathon in the 1970’s-1990’s.  Funny, I never had the desire to win Boston (23rd). But New York (36th), indeed so. I’ve only won a marathon once. At not even my best performance. Far from it.

So today after my morning chores, before studies, research, training, and screenwriting that I need to do. I began to look back at some famous marathon runners I have known. As I read up on pieces of their biographies online, a genuine thought or two occurred.  ‘Imagine being all about running?’

I realized I was able to say that to myself, because I tried and failed, so many times I can’t even count. I have failed so many times in my life at athletics. It’s not even funny. And had I not understood the importance of ‘getting out of my lane’. I would thus have been a completely different person than I am today.

Because I got out of ‘my lane’, I have been able to accomplish more. And yes, I nearly always use my blinker. Becoming more diverse in my abilities in life. Being a more diverse athlete. Having a greater understanding of humanness. By ‘getting out of my lane’, I have pissed a lot of people off. However, I have been able to reside on earth more so as a free spirit. I have thus far gotten to live my soul’s journey. Not someone else’s expectations, nor demands. Fighting tooth and nail to stay true to my soul. That has always been my mission. It’s not easy. I’ve had enough people tell me they’d never want my brain. That they’d never want to be me. Whilst other people throw darts at me with envy. Thinking I have it easier than them. I’ll say “No” to that idea.

No, I don’t have it easier. I make it look easier, because I don’t complain. I look for joy. Even if it’s someone else’s happiness, I find the joy. Looking for it, wanting it for others, is the difference. That’s my vacation. Yes, it lasts many times only for a moment. But it’s a good moment.---Jody-Lynn Reicher

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2023 Holiday Letter from the Reicher's

Well, I didn't think I'd be doing a Holiday Letter this year, but here goes... The Spirit of Norm is in the air. As the wind whips with minus a true snowstorm.  In hopes the Farmers Almanac was correct, I pray to the snow gods. Rain ensued the month of December thus far. We have nearly tripled the amount of rainfall usual for December in New Jersey. And I've witnessed its treachery. Storms such as these hit us hardest in July. Then remained fairly intense through til about early October.  Our daughters are doing well, Thank God.  Their Dad would be proud of them. Our oldest Sarah, now a Junior at UCLA pursuing her degree in Chemical Engineering. She's digging the whole California scene. Which I thought it was for her. She's had some good traveling on her off times from school. For her March 2023 week off, she drove her and a few friends out to Lake Tahoe and went downhill skiing for a first in nearly 5 years. She had to rent the ski equipment.  Funny enough when ...

She's Not Exactly Betty White

She? Yes, she is not exactly Betty White. Nibbles is cute and funny, though. She's one of our two bunnies now nearing 100 years old. She at times appears to need a wheeled walker absolutely, with tennis balls. But instead, I've now spotted her, little rugs covering our living room to dining room floors. Not too many of them, for she would think she was close to a litter box and then there'd be a big mess.  Right now, I'm working mostly remotely. This allows for me to check on her four times a day. Too, I've made my office temporarily in our dining room.  And thank God for all that. Because I have to make certain her right leg that can no longer function as part of her hopping mechanics to get around, does not get hung up on the side of the litter box. I have to clean her hay excursions, she cannot always control her hay poops, never mind her bladder. That's where my excessive laundry loads have headed. No big deal. I barely use the dryer. I have a drying rack a...

Bunnies, Much Ado About Everything

At my new job this week, back at my old career as a LMT. I told the manager as the evening rolled in that my husband's bunny, Aspen had suddenly stroked out and passed just the morning prior. She had a couple of bunnies in the past. I remarked, "It's so weird now. The older bunny of the two free-range bunnies was expected to pass first, primarily because she was partially paralyzed for the past four months and had been on a bunny form of Meloxicam since mid-May 2024 daily." She, Nibbles had been getting more arthritic since November 2023, yet didn't seem to struggle until May 1st 2024. Her hopping and running around ceased about August 2024. Her ability to leap was November 2024. However, by July 2021 our youngest daughter started calling her, "The Confused Bunny." As it appeared that she was forgetting where she was. I thought that to be a possibility, because so many things had changed and were happening in our family. My husband became terminal sud...