SILENCE AND SOUNDS
This morning I am grateful for both.
Grateful for the occasional faraway train sounds I hear as I sit at the computer drinking my morning cup of coffee, that remind me of my visits with my Grandpa and Grandma McGee in West Virginia when I was a little girl.
Grateful for the silence of the morning when I can both gather and organize my thoughts for the day. I have found as I get older I sometimes need, and also welcome, the silence to process my thoughts.
Grateful for the sounds of the crazy busyness of the day: kids talking and laughing, phone ringing, dog barking, rain falling, wicked thunderstorms at 5:00 a.m., birds chirping and singing, lawnmowers buzzing, friends stopping by the house...life happening.
Grateful for hours upon hours of silent running. I love the times when I am able to run with a friend and when the opportunity arises, I grab it. I adore my friends, and it's a time to catch up and get pointers from them about running. I have determined by nature, though, I am a solo runner. I am in such a zone when I run alone that often I run past people I know...and when they yell a "Hey, Amy! What's Up?", I blow on by...not out of rudeness...but out of pure focus. I relish alone time. I am not a hermit by any means. Ed and I talked about this when we first started dating. He's an only child. I, on the other hand, grew up in a house with 3 brothers. I went away to college and after college, I lived with my parents until I got married. Soon, the children came. I've never really had alot of alone time. I've worked some full time, some part time, and for the past almost 19 years I've been a mom...and loved every minute of it.
Also, for the past 9 years I have homeschooled some or all of my children. I have loved that as well. Of course, that means my children haven't hopped on the school bus and taken off for the day, and left me home...alone...to do ...chores...shopping...whatever. The point is, for most of my life, I have always been with someone. No alone time driving back and forth to work or when the kids are "in school" and sometimes, when you're a mom, even in the bathroom! Running...gives me some alone time...and that is good. Everyone needs some alone time. Some quiet time. I do alot of thinking when I run. It gives me time to process a great deal of thoughts. To think. To pray. To plan. To figure things out. To wrestle with things in my mind. To plot my running/training/marathon strategy. To motivate myself. To give myself pep talks. To plot out my days. To be grateful for my life. To relieve stress. To get exercise. To see how far I can push myself. To get pound out anger, frustration, attitude and other negative feelings. To celebrate how far I've come. It also gives me the energy to jump start my day. The silence of solo running.
Silence and sounds. Today, I am grateful for silence and sounds.
