I did something crazy this morning. I got up over an hour earlier than I needed to, clothed myself in the raiment of a runner, armed myself with my iphone and mace (yes I'm serious, you never know), did some stretches, complained to myself very loudly in my head and tried to get myself to stop (actually that's the only NOT crazy thing I did) and went for a run. And it was raining, ice cold grody rain, too.
"Why Sheridan?!" you cry, "why would you do such a terrible awful thing?"
Because on a whim I decided I'm gonna run a 5k to support autism awareness that's happening on April 14th.
Let's back up for a moment, shall we? I haven't run any amount of long distance, or even much of a short distance for that matter, in so long I honestly can't remember when. I hate running. I mean really hate it. The only exercising I do regularly is going for walks. I've lost a good measurable chunk of weight twice in my life, and I know for a fact because of those experiences, that you can healthily (is that a word? haha) lose weight without heavy duty working out, running, or cutting out delicious things from your diet. Just eat in moderation and you'll be fine. In 7th grade, I was on the cross country team. I was 5'2" and 150+ pounds, I was slow, and everyone hated me cuz I was the reason we all lost by a huge number of points. In 8th grade, I tried field hockey and soccer. More traumatic experiences, and even more running than cross country, what the heck. In 9th grade I hated sports and got even fatter, weighing in at around 160. In 10th grade I tried tennis. I was good, I liked it, no one made fun of me, I got skinnier and I didn't have to run much. And that's why me and tennis were meant to be. Anyhow, point being, I hate running and I've never had need for it.
Now for the weird part, several times in my life, I've had dreams where I'm running and I feel completely euphoric and it's the greatest thing in the world. Isn't that an actual thing, "the runner's high" or something like that? Well, I have dreams about it. And I've never experienced it in real life, so, that's weird haha. I had one recently. What kind of a true running-hater has dreams about a euphoric state of running and feeling free and being just too gosh darn happy about it? THEN starting a month or so ago I've had random thoughts of "hey, maybe I should start running". Out of the blue. Since that time I've had at least 5 friends, all unrelated stories and they don't know each other, who have decided to train for 5ks, half-marathons, toughmudders etc and be all gross and run. ew.
So all of that went down and I still had no desire to do it myself. Yesterday at work I got my info paper about signing up for Logan's run and/or walk for autism, and in a splitsecond, it was all over for me. I thought to myself, "I'm gonna run this" and there was no turning back. How disgusting am I? So that's the story of how I've kinda had it coming for the past couple months, and came up with this crazy whim. And I'm actually following through...so far. It's only been a day.
I decided to start out really slow and really easy, cuz like I said, it's been ages since I ran more than 10 feet. This morning I ran a half mile in 7 minutes. I got back home and wasn't sweaty and could still hold a full conversation without hyperventilating or passing out. And I was surprised with myself. So I'm (hopefully) gonna keep running every morning for the next month and a half, and my goal is to be able to run a mile in 6-7 minutes, and do the 5k in under 24. That's a lot of work. But when I set my mind to something, I find a way to do it. I like a challenge. I also like to think "HA look at me now!"
And then I can check it off my bucket list and never run EVER again. Or, maybe I'll do so well I'll win one of the cash prizes and I'll think to myself "hey, I'm poor...I should get really good at this and run 5ks everywhere!" Or not haha.
The cool thing is I made a goal a few weeks ago to get up earlier so I can chill and have some down time. My morning schedule is horrific. I set at least 5 alarms, sometimes closer to 10, the last one being at thee last possible second I have to get up before I won't have enough time and I'll be late. And I never ever peel myself out of bed until that last one goes off, but most of the time I lay around for another 2 minutes after that. Try as I might, it is pretty much physically and mentally impossible for me to get up any second earlier than that, no matter how early I went to bed the nite before. And then I usually run around like a crazy person and I can never sit down and have a nice breakfast, or take more than 30 seconds to put make up on, and I speed to work and I'm almost always late. This whole getting up uber early to run thing will actually help with that. I'm pretty sure what got me out of bed this morning was the fact that I wanted to do it early enough that it wasn't too light yet and the least amount of people would see me, HAHA.
Anyway, there's a reason for all things I guess.
Tomorrow, I'm getting up early and going for a run. And then, to reward myself, I'm driving to my favorite donut place in Lebanon and getting some donuts. =)
P.S. You all can follow me on bloglovin now if you have an account (which is really easy to create) since apparently google/blogger is getting rid of GFC. So here's the link to head on over there and follow if you wish: Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Don't tell me not to fly, I've simply got to.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Adventures in TSSing
Story time!
8:30AM today: I get to work, go in and get all my paperwork and other things ready for the day.
8:35AM: My client's van's arrival is announced over our walkies, so I go downstairs and out to his van to go get him.
8:40AM: The two of us have walked into the cafeteria, placed his lunch in the student fridge, and are now walking down the hall to the front of the building to ride the elevator up to our classroom.
8:45AM: We're standing waiting for the elevator, and in a split second, about a thousand things happened that my brain had to process all at once...somewhere in the back of my mind I vaguely hear the sound of liquid splattering all over the floor, people come in that hall and are walking all around us, the elevator door opens and people are getting off, there's people behind us waiting to get on too, and I look down and see my kiddo standing in a HUGE puddle. Like someone decided to dump a 10-gallon bucket all over the floor. And the alarm immediately goes off in my head (because this is FAR from the first time) "omg, what is that...is that what I think...did he just pee everywhere?" I didn't have time to think much more cuz the pressure was on to get on the elevator, so while we're stepping on, I do a quick inspection of his pants and find that they are completely dry and pee-free, as is his shirt. Sigh of relief, someone must've just spilled something there and my kiddo stepped in it. 2 seconds into the elevator ride, a medical emergency of sorts occurred that I can't explain, but it caused my client to have issues with his leg and he limped off the elevator, so it immediately took my attention and caused me to forget everything else. For now.
8:45-10:30AM: We're going about our normal daily routine, academics in the classroom, break times and going for walks, the typical craziness of all the other kids, and morning trip to the music room to listen to cds and jump around. Nearing the end of his music break, client's right shoe becomes untied. I tell him it's time to go upstairs for more work and then we'll tie his shoe too.
10:35AM: We're back in the classroom and I sit him down and lift up his foot to tie his shoe, only to discover that this shoe, sock, and foot, is sopping wet. I let in a quick intake of air. UH-OH. Everything that I just explained happening flashed through my brain in a matter of nanoseconds. Have you guessed what happened yet?
Haha, on further inspection, no other part of his body, no other article of clothing, not even his pull-up, was wet. Somehow, my kiddo peed 10 gallons all over the floor and into his right shoe, and it got NOWHERE else. He's got a freaking amazing talent, let me tell you. You all should be impressed and feel jealous that I get to spend everyday of my life with someone so awesome. And anyway, I had NO idea until I went to tie his grody shoe. Normally I can smell these things but I'm getting over a cold and my sniffer is off. So it went unnoticed for awhile.
And the ginormous puddle was left there downstairs in front of the elevator for someone else to discover and clean up. Oops.
Shhh, don't tell.
8:30AM today: I get to work, go in and get all my paperwork and other things ready for the day.
8:35AM: My client's van's arrival is announced over our walkies, so I go downstairs and out to his van to go get him.
8:40AM: The two of us have walked into the cafeteria, placed his lunch in the student fridge, and are now walking down the hall to the front of the building to ride the elevator up to our classroom.
8:45AM: We're standing waiting for the elevator, and in a split second, about a thousand things happened that my brain had to process all at once...somewhere in the back of my mind I vaguely hear the sound of liquid splattering all over the floor, people come in that hall and are walking all around us, the elevator door opens and people are getting off, there's people behind us waiting to get on too, and I look down and see my kiddo standing in a HUGE puddle. Like someone decided to dump a 10-gallon bucket all over the floor. And the alarm immediately goes off in my head (because this is FAR from the first time) "omg, what is that...is that what I think...did he just pee everywhere?" I didn't have time to think much more cuz the pressure was on to get on the elevator, so while we're stepping on, I do a quick inspection of his pants and find that they are completely dry and pee-free, as is his shirt. Sigh of relief, someone must've just spilled something there and my kiddo stepped in it. 2 seconds into the elevator ride, a medical emergency of sorts occurred that I can't explain, but it caused my client to have issues with his leg and he limped off the elevator, so it immediately took my attention and caused me to forget everything else. For now.
8:45-10:30AM: We're going about our normal daily routine, academics in the classroom, break times and going for walks, the typical craziness of all the other kids, and morning trip to the music room to listen to cds and jump around. Nearing the end of his music break, client's right shoe becomes untied. I tell him it's time to go upstairs for more work and then we'll tie his shoe too.
10:35AM: We're back in the classroom and I sit him down and lift up his foot to tie his shoe, only to discover that this shoe, sock, and foot, is sopping wet. I let in a quick intake of air. UH-OH. Everything that I just explained happening flashed through my brain in a matter of nanoseconds. Have you guessed what happened yet?
Haha, on further inspection, no other part of his body, no other article of clothing, not even his pull-up, was wet. Somehow, my kiddo peed 10 gallons all over the floor and into his right shoe, and it got NOWHERE else. He's got a freaking amazing talent, let me tell you. You all should be impressed and feel jealous that I get to spend everyday of my life with someone so awesome. And anyway, I had NO idea until I went to tie his grody shoe. Normally I can smell these things but I'm getting over a cold and my sniffer is off. So it went unnoticed for awhile.
And the ginormous puddle was left there downstairs in front of the elevator for someone else to discover and clean up. Oops.
Shhh, don't tell.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
The Luckiest
Hey everyone, it's been awhile.
I have 2 things on my mind. The first is, holy geez guys, decisions are hard sometimes. Even after we've made the choice, sometimes it's hard to not look back or have the inclination to change our minds. So I finally made a move with this whole going back to school thing, right? I applied to 5 schools. Heard back from 2 of them in December already to set up interviews. One of which being my "I'm pretty certain this is where I wanna go" school. I go to the interview for that one first, a month ago. It went well, a week and a half later I got my acceptance later. Woo-hoo, you're thinking? Not exactly. They gave me 10 days, TEN DAYS, to make my decision and send in a rather large non-refundable bundle of money to save my spot and start paying my tuition. Which basically meant I could kiss good-bye the idea of interviewing at other schools and shopping around. Really foolish and stupid. Or else choose not to go and hope one of the other schools was right. So after a pretty terrifying week of trying to figure things out, I made my decision, went with my initial seemingly foolish and stupid instincts combined with a few other things ;) and chose that school, PCOM. And that was that right? Mehhh, nope.
A week later, today, 2 of the other schools contact me, one of which being the University of Delaware, the school with the best school psychology grad program in the country. Telling me I'm one of their top applicants and they would love the chance to have me interview there. Let the second-guessing begin. And the curiousity. And the "maybe I'll just go interview there for the experience...couldn't hurt right?". And the what-ifs. Like, "I know I already ruled this school out because their tuition is out of this world expensive and I would be in 6-figure debt by the time I'm done, but what if they gave me a massive grant. It's the BEST program in the COUNTRY." Blech.
Sometimes, life is confusing. And exhausting, too. But we have to remember the feelings we had when a decision was made, and if it felt good and happy and comfortable and RIGHT, we need to stick to that like glue. And forget the rest. And don't doubt. It kills.
Second thing on my mind. When I was younger, I thought I would get married young, and I remember picking out 23 as the age that I would most definitely be married by. Haha as if I could just force that to happen. But that's what I thought. And sometimes, I wonder if people feel bad for me or wonder if I'm sad about not being there yet. In response to that, are you kidding me? I feel like sometimes, to lots of people, in and out of the church, life is just one giant race to get married, and if it doesn't happen by a certain point, then you're either not doing something right, or you're one of THOSE people. You know the ones. Wanna know what I think? I'm gonna tell ya anyway of course. I think God hand-picks the select and lucky few that get to spend some quality years single before marrying Mr. Right, and I'm one of those people. I've had time to get to know myself, to learn, to grow, to experience good and bad, to go out with guys, to enjoy friendships, to learn how to appreciate a good one when I find him, kiss a few frogs, accomplish other worthy goals, learn what love really is, have fun, and most importantly, I've had time to enjoy freedom and not living with a gross smelly man. haha If I'm lucky I'll get a few more! ;) And I probably still have a lot to learn. But I feel confident that when the time comes to make my decision, I'll be wiser, I'll be ready, and I'll appreciate that relationship a hecka lot more cuz I had to wait longer for it. Some people can get married before they're 20 and they're emotionally stable and mature enough and it works for them. And they think they're pretty lucky. I'm one of those people that has had the opportunity to look back on a younger me and see the extra time and chance I've been given for individual growth, and I think that I'm the luckiest.
Once again, lesson learned = don't doubt. Things work out. Out of bad situations come greatness and opportunities. And the best things come to those who wait the longest haha. AND...don't worry, be happy. No matter what your particular situation, make the most of it. Life is good. =)
Btw guys, it might not have sounded like it, but I'm REALLY super-duper excited about going back to school and going to Philly and the decision I made. AND a service mission in the near future. New adventures on the horizon.
I have 2 things on my mind. The first is, holy geez guys, decisions are hard sometimes. Even after we've made the choice, sometimes it's hard to not look back or have the inclination to change our minds. So I finally made a move with this whole going back to school thing, right? I applied to 5 schools. Heard back from 2 of them in December already to set up interviews. One of which being my "I'm pretty certain this is where I wanna go" school. I go to the interview for that one first, a month ago. It went well, a week and a half later I got my acceptance later. Woo-hoo, you're thinking? Not exactly. They gave me 10 days, TEN DAYS, to make my decision and send in a rather large non-refundable bundle of money to save my spot and start paying my tuition. Which basically meant I could kiss good-bye the idea of interviewing at other schools and shopping around. Really foolish and stupid. Or else choose not to go and hope one of the other schools was right. So after a pretty terrifying week of trying to figure things out, I made my decision, went with my initial seemingly foolish and stupid instincts combined with a few other things ;) and chose that school, PCOM. And that was that right? Mehhh, nope.
A week later, today, 2 of the other schools contact me, one of which being the University of Delaware, the school with the best school psychology grad program in the country. Telling me I'm one of their top applicants and they would love the chance to have me interview there. Let the second-guessing begin. And the curiousity. And the "maybe I'll just go interview there for the experience...couldn't hurt right?". And the what-ifs. Like, "I know I already ruled this school out because their tuition is out of this world expensive and I would be in 6-figure debt by the time I'm done, but what if they gave me a massive grant. It's the BEST program in the COUNTRY." Blech.
Sometimes, life is confusing. And exhausting, too. But we have to remember the feelings we had when a decision was made, and if it felt good and happy and comfortable and RIGHT, we need to stick to that like glue. And forget the rest. And don't doubt. It kills.
Second thing on my mind. When I was younger, I thought I would get married young, and I remember picking out 23 as the age that I would most definitely be married by. Haha as if I could just force that to happen. But that's what I thought. And sometimes, I wonder if people feel bad for me or wonder if I'm sad about not being there yet. In response to that, are you kidding me? I feel like sometimes, to lots of people, in and out of the church, life is just one giant race to get married, and if it doesn't happen by a certain point, then you're either not doing something right, or you're one of THOSE people. You know the ones. Wanna know what I think? I'm gonna tell ya anyway of course. I think God hand-picks the select and lucky few that get to spend some quality years single before marrying Mr. Right, and I'm one of those people. I've had time to get to know myself, to learn, to grow, to experience good and bad, to go out with guys, to enjoy friendships, to learn how to appreciate a good one when I find him, kiss a few frogs, accomplish other worthy goals, learn what love really is, have fun, and most importantly, I've had time to enjoy freedom and not living with a gross smelly man. haha If I'm lucky I'll get a few more! ;) And I probably still have a lot to learn. But I feel confident that when the time comes to make my decision, I'll be wiser, I'll be ready, and I'll appreciate that relationship a hecka lot more cuz I had to wait longer for it. Some people can get married before they're 20 and they're emotionally stable and mature enough and it works for them. And they think they're pretty lucky. I'm one of those people that has had the opportunity to look back on a younger me and see the extra time and chance I've been given for individual growth, and I think that I'm the luckiest.
Once again, lesson learned = don't doubt. Things work out. Out of bad situations come greatness and opportunities. And the best things come to those who wait the longest haha. AND...don't worry, be happy. No matter what your particular situation, make the most of it. Life is good. =)
Btw guys, it might not have sounded like it, but I'm REALLY super-duper excited about going back to school and going to Philly and the decision I made. AND a service mission in the near future. New adventures on the horizon.
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