Running in the Rain

A few weeks ago, I went for a run in the rain. It was fabulous! Oh how I love running, and especially in the rain. It was a little bit of a chilly night, so it took a little bit of time to warm up. Also, I almost didn't go because it was cold and dark. The thing is though, once on a run, I never regret it.

Running is usually good God time for me, that night was no exception. Amazing. I came back from my run nearly giddy that night.

Fall has been lovely. My roommate and I went to the farmer's market this morning. We rode our bikes past lots of folks getting ready for and tailgating before the Badger football game today.

Beauty

Over the weekend, I went to my favorite store, Anthropologie. The store is beautiful. The clothes, books, displays and other artifacts are designed well, look unique, and are arranged well. I love walking into the store and wandering around, touching the fabrics, looking at the arrangement of items, the colors, the textures, even walking in the front glass doors with their giant wooden door handle is enjoyable.

I entered the store and started to wander. Breathing and walking slowly, taking it in and enjoying the moment. I am a person who runs through life, I like to have lots of social engagements, go for runs, work hard at work, have ideas and schemes, thoughts and prayers. Finding times of quiet enjoyment and peace are really important. Stopping for breathing and beauty is good.

The two friends I went to the store with made their way to chat on a couch as I explored. I rounded the corner and headed to the sale area. I flipped through nice shirts, sweaters, jeans, pants, and then turned to the dresses in the middle. There, waiting for me, was a yellow dress that I tried on a fell in love with back in June in Chicago. I like to go try on things sometimes at Anthroplogie, just for fun. You get to experience yourself in this newness, this uniqueness and beauty. There were two of the dress on the rack and one was in my size! Perfection! I grabbed it and held it to me, like I was hugging it. Now I had a reason to buy a dress (a friend's wedding) and it was half price. (This store is expensive normally (another reason it is nice to wander around it, you can't so don't buy stuff)) I gathered some other items and made my way to the fitting room.

The dress what the first item that I tried on, my lovely yellow dress, with handkerchief pattern. (and pockets!) The ladies in the fitting room - the two women working and a lady who was trying things on, plus her friend - commented on how much they loved it. Then I went prancing through the store to show my friends, and twirl in my pretty dress. Other people who work there stopped and commented on how great the dress was. Have you ever tried things on that you feel so good in? Things that fit, and it literally puts a skip in your step, or a twirl in the case of a good dress. What a great time, being in the moment (something I often have trouble with) and being beautiful in a pretty dress. What joy. What fun!

God made things beautiful. In the beginning he made the world and it was perfect. It was beautiful, relationships were whole and things were as they should be. Beautiful things can be a great celebration and reminder of God's love, grace and beauty. God's love is one of abundance and extravagance. That is beauty as well. Any dress would be fine, it would get the practical job of being clothes done, but this dress, this pretty yellow dress, is so much more special. I am thankful for it, for walking into that nice store that day and the dress being there for me. What an experience.

Of course, you can go too extreme and become shallow, but if beauty is properly celebrated, there is such freedom in it.

Mid September

I have been apple picking twice already this fall! Yay for fall. It is still warm though (not complaining), so you don't want to make pie or applesauce. I have a pie recipe from Williams Sonoma though and plan to make it this fall. It has homemade caramel sauce in it, yum! I want to learn to make pie crust this year, as I don't want to cheat and buy it anymore.

I have been trying to be optimistic about the idea of winter coming. And I have been able to fool myself for a while. Yesterday though, it struck me that going outside would be painful and cold, that there would be ice and snow! Ah. Each year I seem to forget that it will get cold and snow. Hopefully we will have a nice fall first, pretty leaves, crisp weather to wear jeans and hoodies, good times for hot apple cider. Here's to a nice fall......(though I will miss you summer, come back soon!)

Summer to Fall

Today is a warm and sticky grey day. Then it is going to get chilly. The season is changing and fall is coming sometime. I thought about going apple picking this weekend, but it seems early. I love summer. And summer nights sitting by the water, talking with friends, seeing how they are, and being. The sun goes down, lots of people are around, the sailboats are in the water, idyllic really. Yesterday, I went to my first Badger football game. So many people, all wearing red and flooding into the stadium. What an experience! As each season changes, I usually reflect on what the season was and what is coming next. I don't know what fall will bring. Apple picking. Running in cooler weather. Also I have a new life group starting. It was so fun to get to meet them last week. I love a new group of people, getting to know them, seeing how they react to each other, who befriends whom, what thoughts they have, who they are, and what the personality of the group will be. The new-ness when there is a group of individuals who don't know each other, and yet in a short time, there will be a dynamic to the group. After we got the group, we sat on a half circle patch of carpet to chat. I asked everyone to stare the super hero power that they would have if they could have one. Always a fun question. The carpet was like our little island, or boat in the sea of tile to hang out on for a few minutes. It is great to get to be the person to get everyone talking, what an honor and thrill. We shall see what the group is like and where it goes. What shall the season bring? I have a while to see, as fall comes at the end of the month.

Helping Out

I believe that people at their core are good. And I have gotten to see examples of that lately. There have been a few times where people have gone out of their way to help others. These have been kind of extreme examples, but beautiful none the less.

The first one was when I was playing tennis with a friend. This was the first time that I have played in years, and my tennis "career" was a semester of tennis class in college. But there we were on a nice sunny morning playing. It was going pretty well, meaning that I missed less shots than I thought I would. One volley didn't end well though. My friend ran to hit the ball, fell and dislocated his shoulder. (poor guy) The nice part about the situation was that there were three different people who walked over to us to make sure that we were okay, and one even offered her car if we didn't have one and needed to go to the hospital.

The second scenario happened at the Tough Mudder, a hard core 10 mile crazy difficult obstacle course. A man was running through hanging electrical wires and over mud and hay. He fell and was in pain on the ground. His family ran back to him (some had finished the obstacle) or stopped if they were with him. They all then knelt in the mud beside him. It was a pretty picture of caring well for someone. There they are soaking in the mud.

Now I am not saying that it was good that either of those people got hurt, but there was a beauty and grace to how people around reacted.

As others ran through the same obstacle on the Tough Mudder course, lots of people stood by and cheered, yelling encouragements if they were getting up out of the mud. It was powerful.

On the way home, we rode on the ferry. We did not fit on the first ferry. The second ferry came and we almost made it on. We had pulled up to get on, but then had to back up once realizing that it was full. A man came up to our window and told us that he had saved us a spot in the front of his lane if we needed to back up into it. Nice.

These moments of kindness and people looking out for each other do happen. I hope that they happen often. I was struck by them lately and took notice.

More Greatness

Last week, I drove to Chicago and spent a lovely day there. It started with a breakfast with a friend. Then a fabulous run by the lake. I ran north along the water and got to a marina. There I stopped and looked back through the sailboats at the skyline. AMAZING! So pretty and amazing! Then I go a sandwich and headed to read at the beach. I ended the day with dinner with a different dear friend. What a great day.

This morning on my run, I watched as the crossing guard waved at all of the cars that drove by. Then he waved at me as I ran by. (don't worry, I wasn't crossing the street) How nice. I am curious how many of the people that he waved at he actually knew. How many of them drive by him at the same time each day? Or are they neighbors of his, as he probably lives close to the school?

These past few days have been so hot that you feel as though you are melting when walking outside. AH. Makes for a very good sticky run though, like you have really worked out. And gives the only legit excuse for being inside on such a pretty day. It is too hot to be out for long.