Radio Silence (no more!)

Blogging has fallen down my priority list. My mind will be wandering away and I’ll think: “A blog post!” and then the day, the week, the month gets away from me. And, as always happens when I take a hiatus from this blog, I get intimidated by the idea that there is so much to catch up on. So I won’t even try — I’ll just dive in. But first, a quick recap of the past few months:

I started a new job. You know that.  It’s quite consuming (thus the lack of blogging) but in a very, very good way. I’ll have lots more to say about that.

I went to New York for work and to Reunions at the end of May. A wonderful trip — sometimes I can’t believe that I don’t actually live in NYC anymore. Aidan mentioned a highlight of my trip here; Lindsey captured the experience of Reunions here and here. (See? I don’t even have to blog — I can just let other people do it for me.) One thing I will mention, however, is that going to a college reunion in the Facebook age is a phenomenon. There is so much small talk and catching up that has already been done, pictures of children that have already been seen, small musings observed. So you can dive right into the fun stuff, the more meaty subjects, the real conversations. Of course, there was also dancing on the stage (ok, attempting to dance on the stage — I got kicked off numerous times by security) to an 80s band, lingering slightly hungover breakfasts, and the long, hot wait along the sidelines of the P-rade, sweating in the inevitable NJ humidity. But I was touched and moved by how nice everyone is at age 37 (or thereabouts). Everybody seems much more comfortable in their own skin and lives. No one seemed to be trying to impress. We were just all there, wrangling kids or enjoying freedom from them; keeping tabs on significant others or, indeed, enjoying freedom from them.

I broke my toe. This is the third time I’ve broken a toe, so I knew right when it happened what had happened. I was in the bathroom with both kids — E was on the potty and I believe O was rushing towards it and I was chasing him and then “Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…..!!!” I taught my children a new word that morning. The last time I broke my toe was 10 years ago, right before my 5th reunion and right before I was a bridesmaid in a close friend’s wedding. I hobbled about both occasions. Of more concern to me at the time, however, was my yoga obsession. I had broken my big toe, in fact, jumping back into chattarunga.  I was practicing yoga daily, if not twice a day. In my yoga-influenced philosophy, I saw the break as a sign that I was too intense. I needed to slow down, to go back to the fundamentals of my practice. This time, I can’t really slow down — I have kids to chase, meetings to get across town to. I had just been getting back into running, too — I’m supposed to run a 10K this weekend. What is the universe telling me now? Um, I’m not sure this time. Not to slow down, but perhaps to be flexible? Adaptable? Maybe nothing. Maybe it just hurts and it sucks. But also, perhaps, to not look at running as a chore (as I kind of had been) but to enjoy my ability to walk and to move with ease (when it finally returns).

OK, that’s all for now. More soon, I promise! Thank you, Aidan, for calling me out today and reminding me why I do this — the connections that come both from friends who like to keep tabs on me and the virtual friends who share this same experience of expressing oneself into the vast unknown of the ether.

And now, a few gratuitous pictures: