Kangatopia

I think I’m through the worst of that terrible darkness. Or maybe, I’ve just reached a more positive, happy attitude towards life, love, and everything. When I look really closely at my life, I have to admit that it isn’t perfect but my standards tend to be relatively high at times. If I can remember to relax (it kind of sucks to have to learn how to relax) and think about how my life is actually pretty great, then I feel better. Loads and loads better.

I’ve been going to the gym less and getting on the bike more lately. This is why I haven’t been writing about this whole “Journey Towards Health” thing much (not to mention, the heading was getting a bit stale). Now, that I’m getting more used to my bike and the sun is up and the sky is blue and all that, I am more likely to ride than to stay inside in a closed environment. A friend and I are going to the middle of Texas this weekend to ride in a longish rally. I think we’ll probably figure out how long is longish when we get there. But – before that, I’m going out to east Texas with a bunch of other friends, and enjoy the company of a group of fabulous women.

I took a class on bike maintenance last night to learn how to change my own flats, lube up my bike after giving it a good washing, the mechanics of shifting and basic, but essential, rules of the road. If we had been given a grade, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have passed. Changing a flat is something I might need to practice, but hopefully, fingers crossed, knock on wood not when I am 30 miles from civilization.

The kids are really getting into this whole bike riding thing too. Monkey is asking for a bike for her birthday, and I’m talking to Bear about getting him a new ride. It would be wonderful if I could get Bear out with me on a rally, and the girls too when they’re old and big enough.

Bear is on the downhill stretch for school. We’re making preparations for our trip to Chicago and Ohio in June, and he’s been spending a lot of time on the Art Institute of Chicago’s website lately planning that portion of our trip. He was very upset when he realized that we will probably miss American Gothic which is on loan to the Smithsonian until mid-June. He demanded why we didn’t consult him before we bought the plane tickets, and I could only look at him with my chin hanging to my chest.

Monkey is getting ready for her dance recital. In fact, I just remembered that tickets went on sale yesterday and I need to get ours sorted out before all the other families snap them up. Monkey’s play is highly imaginative. She has started setting up whole “towns” with her toys, and referring to them as a “set” sort of like a movie set. It’s interesting to watch, though I’m sure a very normal expression of play for a child in her developmental group.

Winston is growing. She’s getting very tall and far more articulate. She actually started calling Bear by his given name this past Monday, instead of “Bear”. I may or may not have written about this before, but whenever we would go through all the names in our family she would always refer to Bear as “Bear”. I would say his given name, she would say Bear. It was sooooo cute. But now, she’s figured out the phonetics and her days in the nursery have an apparent endpoint.

My children are the light, or part of it, that I was hoping to find. Bear has difficulty controlling expression of frustration and anger, but he’s also so very loving and sweet. Monkey gets upset sometimes about something and will cry for what seems like hours, and yet she tries so hard to play a nurturing role with all of us. Winston is the easiest one to appease and calm when things go wrong. When things are going right, which for her is most of the time, she is so wonderfully happy and cute.

As Dorothy said, “there’s no place like home.”