life's imperfections

Anthony, welcome! I love Cartman; I think he is hilarious. Danda, could surly kick his little A$$ all over the block and I know she will!

Since Anthony has come at this with humor I thought I would follow his lead by sharing my stories from my life in the last couple of weeks. Hopefully these will leave the Priorelli/Murdoch clan laughing as they can probably see bumbling through all of this:

1) Well, you all know I have been trying to grow a garden with mixed results. But I haven’t told you about my tomatoes. I figured if my Dad can grow tomatoes I surely could. They seem to be doing well despite my care. When they began to grow small yellow flowers appeared. I had always heard of plants going to seed and generally that meant flowers appearing so in my infinite wisdom I thought if I pluck the flowers off the plant would thrive. Come to find out the flowers ARE the tomatoes. Shit. Despite my stupidity my tomato plants are thriving and I have seen my first tomatoes appearing-there is a God! Julian, stop laughing

2) I recently presided over one of my best friend’s weddings in Sonoma. She planned the entire wedding herself so I am not sure why I thought on her wedding day that she would suddenly become disorganized? I thought better that I take her vows to the wedding and I could keep them with the notes I had for the ceremony. Well, five minutes before we were set to begin I was asked for the vows and sure enough they were nowhere to be found. I advised the bride I didn’t have the vows. She laughed, asked if I was kidding and then promptly asked for a pen and paper. In a matter of minutes which felt like an eternity to me and probably even longer for her groom to be was standing up in front of the crowd wondering if his bride was getting cold feet. Most likely impossibility since she had wanted to marry here for the full four years they had been dating.

When the vows were short-handed on a scratch piece of paper she said Alexis I’m ready to get married, let’s do it. With me sweating, dry mouthed, and still trembling I bobbed and weaved my way to the front of the seated crowd where I tried to look cool under pressure, only to learn that both the groom and the other officiator had already blown my cover and everyone knew what had happened. Despite the mishap the entire ceremony went off without a hitch and they were married. Speaks volumes about the bride’s grace under pressure and that vows do some directly from the heart since she uttered them without an hesitation. I fear for my wedding day!

3) I have recently had to start swimming with a wetsuit on in preparation for my upcoming race. This is never something that I look forward to since I think a wetsuit is very constrictive when swimming. But nevertheless it is mandatory in the race and actually helps your race time by helping your buoyancy.

So in the water I go with my wetsuit sucking me in like a sausage casing! By the time I got to the first buoy I was feeling constricted and out of breath. I treaded water until I could get my breathing under control and then put my head down and started to swim. Less than a minute later I stopped and was out of breath again to the point that I was a bit panicky and reverted to floating on my back. I continued in this pattern of stopping, floating and starting again for half a mile and then became so exacerbated by the whole thing I swam myself to shore shaken by the defeat before someone thought I was a beached seal floating out in the water!

It took me another three weeks to gain enough courage to get back in the Bay with my wetsuit, fearful of the thought that I would not ever manage swimming in the wetsuit (although I had done this before successfully in prior triathlons). Mind over matter? So yesterday I suited up again and with everything against me- choppy water, a headwind and a fog bank lurking in the distance I walked into the water and paddled out to the first buoy. At that point I paused, caught my breath, put my head down and began to swim. Swimming with confidence, but just enough fear that I dug in and swam harder. Alessandra, I swear you were by my side the entire way. Every time I dug my hand into the water and saw the bubbles form the impact I saw you looking right back at me with a determined face. It was invigorating. I truly have never felt so connected to the water-thank you for getting me through this training-you are my inspiration!! Doin’ it for Danda is never far from my mind. Oh, and I managed to shave five minutes off my mile and half swim time-miracles never cease!

4) Ok, last one. My boyfriend, Jeff, laughs at me daily as he sees me try to pack for work. My coffee in a to go mug, lunch, workout gear for the day and all the while my trying to figure out what mode of transportation will I take to get there and back.

Off I go with my bike and backpack piling over head. My ride to work was seamless. The day was done; work had me stay late which caused me to miss my swim so I decided to take the ferry home to go for a run back in Sausalito. Of course, leaving just enough time to make the ferry I left work and missed the ferry by literally a minute. After much pleading to get on the ferry, it pulled away from the dock. Frustrated with the whole situation I decided to try and take the bus home. Mind you this would not be a big deal, but I had not ever tried to put my bike on the bus before because all the contraptions to do so intimidated me, but it was my only choice.

So off I ride again to the bus stop. Ugh, here comes the bus barreling down the street. I flag it down and up pulls the bus. With some relief this bus had a front-loading bike rack, which was not nearly as intimidating as the side-loading compartment. I stepped in front of the bus and with no problem loaded the bike on. That is what I was so fearful of I thought to myself! Goodness. But I did struggle with the thought of my bike shaking lose on the way home and it being run over by the bus. I sat as close to the front as I could and kept peering over the seats to make sure it was still there, as if I could do anything if it did shake lose and as if I wouldn’t feel the thump if we run over it! But we did make it home in one piece and from the bus experience was able to find a silver lining to the whole day-I can now ride the bus with my bike-it’s kind of like taking the training wheels off!

Well, that’s it. Hopefully some amusement for the Priorelli/Murdoch clan-I will be hear all week and am sure I can find more where all that came from-it is just how my life goes!

Lots of love,
Lex