Deeply happy cyclist
Today was one of those days that you just live for. Until the end.
Rouge-beach
Carl worked yesterday but not today, and we started the day with a 2.5 hour round-trip bike ride. Since getting our bikes not only has Carl biked Noah to school the vast majority of the time, but we’ve been getting out as a family.
And whoa, did we ever pick the right place to live. We go up from our street into a sort of industrial-ish area (deserted on weekends) and then back down to the lake and suddenly we’re on a trail lakeside with amazing views. Take that as far as it goes, go down another quiet street and you end up in a park/conservation area that goes way out east beyond Toronto and into Pickering.
It’s gorgeous. Wind off the lake, nature, beaches, bike paths. Last week we saw a wedge (according to Oxford but I would say a flock) of SWANS. The first ride I saw a hawk.
Today was slated to be hot so we went early and got back about 11:15. Then we all did chores amiably (with a break for lunch) until suppertime and then hit a quasi-local Chinese-Canadian place for dinner so as to not have dinner + dishes barrelling down upon us.
I can’t believe how great it is to bike as a family. It’s exactly what we all needed, I think.
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I may not have mentioned it but I’ve been trying Weight Watchers. I reached my goal weight Thursday - the official one. That means 28 lbs lost since February, and a change from being about a solid size 14 (on a 5′8″ frame) to a 10 most places with the occasional 8. It also puts me under the weight I was at when I got pregnant with Emily.
I’m actually aiming for 5-10 lbs below that point, since it’s been pretty stress-free for the most part and I would like to be in the middle of the BMI healthy range and not closer towards the top.
But I do feel better. I look better. I hate being shallow about all this but - I’m the exact same person, but with a sense that I can affect my physical destiny. It’s made a world of difference for me; or maybe it’s the way I’ve been feeling that’s made it possible. I don’t know but I think it would be fair to say I’m not depressed any more, if I was.
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Nothing, nothing was good about Noah’s appendicitis and God (for lack of a more agnostic term) does not teach lessons by making small kids suffer. (At least not a God I want to spend eternity with.)
However I do think that there has been some positive taken from the experience in that when they wheeled Noah away from me to do the surgery, I honestly thought he would die. I may or may not have described this but I still have the visceral memory of what happened to my body - aided by lack of food, drink, and sleep for sure - which is that we just came to The End. Could not breathe. Had a headache to outdo all headaches. Could barely walk or speak. Basically the end of the world was nigh and we were quite literally on the floor.
And yet, he lived. He is thriving right now. He’s healthy and getting so strong again. Doctors helped him. We all made it. I think this in itself brought the merest sliver of hope back. Although mainly I must say we try to run lean when it comes to a happy future, still.
But today was great.
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Sadly at the end of the day I had a call from some scammer where they said my alarm system was going off. I unfortunately said “we don’t have one,” and since they had my address…I’m a bit worried that we might be in for a robbery. On the plus side, I guess, we have very little worth stealing; even my computer is well over 5 years old. Although PLEASE DO NOT TAKE MY COMPUTER because augh.
It’s made me wary and it’s hard to sleep. Despite the 2 hrs of bike riding (half hour on the beach :)).
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