Work was getting stressful. Thursday, February 10, 2005 was a rough day. It was almost 7pm, I was still at work and I was exhausted. The Beast, formerly know as QA K, had come by to say hi. At that point, Infant Developer (ID) delivered some bad news to me about a project that was not going as planned (more accurately a project he had royally screwed up) and my eyes welled up with tears. Seeing this, QA K distracted ID with a bright shinny object and made motions at me: You, me, drinks, get’n the fuck outta here! Knowing this was the opportunity I had dreamed about (while doodling hearts on my notebook and writing Mrs. Jenferner Beast over and over) I jumped up, shut off my pc and grabbed my purse in one fluid motion.
We met at Chili’s where we proceeded to order food we couldn’t eat. We stared at it with absolutely no appetite. Really, the last time a crush caused me to lose my appetite was when I was 14! We finally gave up on trying to eat and spent a lot of time looking at each other and drinking nervously. It’s been said before but I’m gonna say it again, we were fully retarded! At some blurry point in the conversation Beast grabbed my hand. My heart stopped. That was the end of the beginning.
until I have walked 60 miles in 3 days. It seems like a crazy thing to do until I think about the people around me who’ve experienced the pain of losing someone they love to cancer. Then it doesn’t seem like enough. The 3 Day walk is a 60 mile walk on November 21, 22, and 23rd that raises funds for Susan G. Komen and for the Cure and National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund. 2008 will be my 2nd 3Day walk. I walked in 2006 and it was an amazing experience.
I met wonderful women, like my teammates- caring and supportive! And countless training and walking buddies. You do a lot of chatting while walking and it is a bonding experience.
I explored my city on foot, something I highly recommend! I walked all over Mission Bay, Ocean Beach, Carlsbad, Solana Beach, Shelter Island, Harbor Island, Downtown, Mission Hills, Del Mar, and Old Town. It is unbelievable how much you miss from a car.
I heard stories that brought tears to my eyes. Like the man who had lost his wife to breast cancer 4 months prior to the walk who gathered a team of 20 people to walk in her honor. He told me the walk was the first time he had really smiled since her death.
I ate, a lot. I walked 60 miles and gained 5 lbs! Really, they shove food at you every three miles. That and Gatorade. It has been 2 years and I am just starting to be able to stomach Gatorade again.
I learned a lot of useful skills. Like how to use a port-a-potty when your “squatting” muscles are trembling and exhausted. Or how not to lose your cell phone in said potty (really it happened).
The walk was on my “things to do before you die” list, and in 2006 I crossed it off the list. This time, I walk because I don’t want another person’s life to be torn apart by cancer. I walk because cancer sucks. I walk because I cannot walk away.Please stop by my 3 day site (http://08.the3day.org/goto/jenn.norby) and donate if you can!
In 2006, I took a year off work to “find myself”. OK, so really it was a lot of goofing off, sleeping in, a fun jaunt to D.C., a fantastic cruise in Alaska and a great cross-country road trip. During this time boyfriend reminded me that only I could determine/discover what brought me joy. He taught me to chase that joy with everything I had. Unfortunately, I had to go back to work last April. As the mundaneness of life took over and the stress level rose, the chase wound down.
In a discussion we had the other day he made a statement that hit me like a slap in the face. He basically said that while my life was full of “doing stuff”, I was doing almost nothing that brought me joy. He was right, cleaning the house is not really satisfying me. I have been putting the chase on hold for way too long now.
So here is my re dedication:
I am going to start taking more glassblowing classes.
I am going to continue doing yoga.
I am going to snuggle a little longer in the morning, even if it makes me a little late to work.
I am signing up for the 2008 3-Day Breast Cancer walk, due to Optifast I am sitting this year out but I am already excited for next year!
And, as soon as the Optifast is over I am going back to gymnastics, at least once a week.
My Tuesday nights belong to Heathen. Heathen is the closest thing I have had to a sister. Once upon a time we were roommates, but as usual boys ruin everything and boyfriend was ready to co-habitate (ok, I was too! Big love baby!). So Heathen and I set up Tuesday night date night to soothe our separation anxiety. Originally we met at the rock climbing gym but when I went on the Optifast diet we had to stop because my strength went in the toilet. So I suggested Yoga thinking that would be less strenuous and equally stress-relieving. I was right about the stress relieving part, not so much on the strenuous part. It is AMAZING! The class we are taking is called Kripalu Yoga and I am in love. Boyfriend says I come home energized and the stress is gone from my eyes. I even did headstands in the last class! As always, I am in awe of Heathen, she does everything with ease.
Keith and I went for a bike ride last night down to Sunset Cliffs. We stopped so Keith could photograph sunset. So, I sat on the cliff over the ocean watching pelicans dive for dinner while the sunset in the background. Every couple of minutes a wave would crash into the rocks and a light spray would hit my face and I would think, “I am so lucky!”