I had breakfast and then started cleaning. Today's small bite was taken out of the bedroom and bathroom. While I still have not emptied Bill's suitcase from the trip yet, I did clear off my dresser (a huge undertaking!). I feel incredible about that. Then I cleaned out the small chest of drawers in the bathroom and that felt liberating. I found a half dozen goodie bags from visiting the dentist. We won't need travel toothbrushes, toothpaste, or floss for a while.
After lunch I went and ran some errands. I went to Books-A-Million to get the money from the books I brought in last week. Thirty-seven books and two audio books earned me a whopping $20.94. It just didn't seem like a good deal anymore. I think I could deduct more from our taxes if I donated it and and claimed the donation. Oh well. Live and learn. In the parking lot I saw this bumper sticker on a truck. It made me smile.
Cherryl called me while I was in the parking lot. She was wondering if she'd see me at the hail & bail tonight. I didn't think so since it was at 6 and I was teaching until then all the way up off Olive Road. The function was out in Perdido, so I'd be lucky to get there by 7:30. What I forgot was that this was the Kingry's farewell. Doh! She was up at the hospital and then went to Cox. I was up at that part of town running errands, so we met at Starbucks and chatted for a while. That was really nice. I feel like I haven't seen them in forever. They are leaving tomorrow to take two weeks off and go to New York and Virginia. They'll be back and Karl will be here for a few days before he heads to Whidbey and then Cherryl will follow a few days later. I won't get to see much of them :-(. They'll be there for 6 to 10 weeks and then it is off to Cherry Point. She is still thinking about doing the NFCU 5k with me. I'm excited about that. If she does, I won't care about my time, I will run with and support her. If she decides not to do it, then I will strive for a PR (a sub 28:00 time). Either way, it is a win for me.
So here is what I did on my next errand, after the bookstore and before I saw Cherryl:
Yup, I took the first step and went and got swim gear! Per Coach John's instructions I went to All-American Swim, told them that I was working with TeamMPI and Coach John, and they would know exactly what I need. Well, I walked in and told the saleswoman exactly that and she said, "Oh yeah, that's my dad!" Well how about that! Sure enough, she got me fitted for everything I needed. I had to try on just about every single pair of goggles in the store until I found one that fit, but she didn't mind. She wanted me to get the right ones, and I really appreciated that. In the picture from top to bottom (it was landscape, but somehow it rotated when I inserted it): a curious cat, a mesh bag to carry everything, fins, a pull float, a kickboard, goggles, hand "fins", a swim cap, and another curious cat. The pull float goes between my legs to hold them up while I work on my arm stroke, sort of the way the kickboard enables one to work on kicks without doing arms at the same time. The hand fins, I am not sure about, although I have an idea. The rest is self explanatory.
Linda (John's daughter) said that she's been swimming since she was 3 and her dad threw her in the pool. Yeah, if he thinks he's going to do that to me, he had better be prepared for a battle to the death. She also said that he is not going to let me drown. If he wasn't swimming for his own fitness, he was either teaching swimming or lifeguarding. He seems to be quite the fish. I am really nervous about this, but I am excited as well. I am excited at the idea of conquering this fear. I am generally not one for shying away from a challenge. This is certainly a challenge. Overcoming this will benefit me every day. Even if I never do a triathlon, I will reap rewards from succeeding at this for the rest of my life. Yeah! LET'S DO THIS!!!
PS - the lesson tonight went really well. I think Mary was thrilled that I taught her to knit and purl and that the experience with me was far and above the experience she had at "that other shop"!
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