Week in Review: Jan. 13, 2012

Another week gone by - oh, where to begin?  I feel like we're at the racetrack and we've burst through the gates, running full speed ahead.  Need to stop  . . . and . . . catch . . . my . . . breath . . .

30th Anniversary of 14th St. Bridge Plane Crash
First for some local news - this one hits close to home.  Most people who grew up in this area remember that cold day when the airplane headed for Florida, weighed down by snow and ice, barely made it off the ground and instead crashed into the 14th St. bridge and then plummeted into the frozen Potomac River.  I remember sitting in my room listening to the news coverage on my little clock radio, riveted by the horrific images described by the radio announcers.  For some reason I was not watching this on tv as many of my friends did, probably because in our house the tv was rarely turned on except for the occasional evening show.  I was eleven years old, not quite old enough to have developed the anxiety of flying that was to come later in my life.  This photo says it all . . .

Helicopters pull survivors to safety from the frozen river

I just can't imagine what these people went through.  For days afterward I kept thinking about the babies - three infants who were sitting on their parents' laps and died in the crash.  How awful.  It was one of those days where I clearly remember where I was and what I was doing when it came on the news.

Fleas, Be Gone!!
I already ranted about this yesterday, so I won't again today.  Vacuuming again and then escaping the flea zone for a weekend at the Outer Banks.  I do want to give a big shout out to my amazing mother who has volunteered to come stay at our house with our flea bitten critters.  I was lamenting to her about the fact that we had this weekend planned at the beach but I didn't know what to do with the dog since I didn't want to infest anyone else's house with fleas.  She just shrugged and said "That's ok - I'll just come stay at your house."  Genius!  Why didn't I think of that?  Anyway - thank you, mama, from the bottom of my heart.  I really need this weekend to decompress and put things back in perspective.  Two weeks into the new year and I'm already starting to lose it . . .

Connecting with friends

Flourless waffle dessert - mmmmm

Well, one of my New Year's resolutions was to call a friend each week to have a real conversation and catch up somewhere other than email or facebook.  Somehow this week I have managed to top that.  Tuesday night I had a great time hanging out with a very good friend of mine.  To be honest, I have not been the best friend to her lately - at least I haven't felt like it.  She's been away dealing with her son's illness and we just haven't talked in a long time for one reason or another.  We've been in touch, but I kept feeling like I should be doing more.  It was a relief to get together and to see that nothing had changed.  We both understood that the other had been through hell and back last fall for our own personal reasons.  We went to Kate' Irish Pub for "ladies night" only to find that there weren't that many ladies there and there weren't any specials on the good Irish beer.  We still had fun catching up and laughing about the couple sitting behind me who, unbeknownst to me, were making out while I was in the middle of a story.  As we were leaving we realized it was only 8 p.m. so we decided to go over to Mike's American Grill (the only nice restaurant in downtown Springfield) where we finished the night off with hot toddies and a chocolate waffle dessert.  It was a good reminder of the importance of staying in touch with friends even when you just don't feel like talking to anyone.

Running
I went running (finally) on Sunday and it was tough.  I just could not get any momentum going and a few times I felt like stopping.  I managed to keep running for a full 3 miles but felt like I was running through mud.  To top it off, this 20-something girl in blue shorts kept passing me in both directions - I felt like she ran around the block ten times while I jogged in place.  She had this long, loping run that screamed "I'm young, I'm fit, and this is super easy!" plus she had this really annoying bouncy ponytail that added "And I'm super energetic too!".  Grrrr. 

This is what we will look like

Speaking of running through mud - my sister and I have decided to sign up for RunaMuck - a 5K in the spring that sounds a little nutty but fun.  I guess you run through mud and sludge and other nasty things and at the end of the race you get to shower and change and then drink beer and listen to live music.  Sounds like my kind of race.  Apparently some people wear crazy costumes - Vanessa says we should go dressed in the nerdy clothes we wore back in the 80's.  Should be interesting.

So there you have it - probably the one resolution I've kept up with consistently has been writing this blog.  What can I say - I feel inspired.