Source: interiorsbystudiom.com via Jordan on Pinterest
Despite running a great race this weekend and hanging out with some great people, as yesterday went on, I found myself out-and-out brooding. If I wasn’t worrying about the sheriff who stopped us on the way to the train station, I was unhappy about how sore my legs were and how I wish my time had been better on the race, and I was close to panicked about the case of the missing ID – I’d lost the running pouch that carried my ID and credit card in it somewhere along the route, and though I’d cancelled the card and gotten a new ID {fortunately, the military ID system moves a lot faster than the DMV}, who knew what nefarious things were being done with my old one?
It just took a Facebook message to make me stop, take a step back, and look at the reality of things. She had found my running pouch with my ID and credit card and just wanted to know how to get them back to me, or if I just wanted them shredded. I was struck by the kindness of the act, the effort she took to look me up on the marathon website and on social media, checking to make sure she found the right person, and to contact me. I count myself as extremely fortunate – not only were my ID and credit card in good hands and not found by someone who would use them to scam, but I’d met a wonderful person in the process.
It was the impetus I needed to stop and look back at the rest of the situation.
I managed to run a half-marathon successfully, still beating my previous race times, on a frigid day, and had a great time celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with friends and my husband despite the missing ID and card.
While my legs are sore, I’ve still got both of them. Between a car accident when I was a kid and a few close encounters of the Army kind, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to give at least one if not both legs back. The soreness is a reminder that they’re still there, and I’m very lucky.
Even though we got stopped on the way to the train station, we still made our train and were able to see the St. Patrick’s Day parade, have lunch with fellow runners, and get to our hotel before the snow became too terrible.
And the sheriff who stopped us didn’t give us a ticket – we just have an expired state inspection that a certain someone procrastinated on, and the summons can be waived if we just show proof of inspection. Which a certain someone is going to get done. Which also prompted him to swear he’ll stop procrastinating. Baby steps.
I’m amazed at how easy it is sometimes to lose perspective and start dwelling on the little things that keep life from being “perfect.” My life is amazing. There are days when I wake up in awe of it. There are other days where I have to give myself a gentle reminder. There are also days when I need a metaphysical slap upside the head. My fellow runner jarred me out of the gloom and reminded me that there are kind people out there, that there are good things in the world, and life is wonderful.
