Holding On vs. Letting Go

The other day, as I was slowly entering the highway in rush-hour traffic, I noticed a fly on my windshield. He had landed while I was at the stoplight, and as I accelerated, he tried valiantly to hold on. His body was pushed towards the roof of the car as his little legs gripped with all their might to the windshield. Realizing the inevitable, I found myself thinking, "Just let go!"

And then I thought, how often do we cling to something we know rather than let go and enter the unknown possibilities in the future? I know I have.

We are created as "creatures of habit." We like routines. They are predictable, dependable. They bring order to our lives. But life ALWAYS throws us curve balls, things that rock our foundation and make us wonder about how we define ourselves.

The only constant in this world is change. Intellectually, I know this. But still, some part of me wants to hold on -- hold on to the sweetness of a child's laughter, hold on to the shared camaraderie with a colleague as we work on an assignment, hold on to the excitement of a new flirtation. But the child grows up and the relationship changes, the colleague moves on to a can't-pass-up opportunity, the flirtation evolves into something more or dissolves into nothing.

It's impossible to hold on to those moments. They are all fleeting. And I'm learning that to truly enjoy the moment, we have to also let go of our fears of the future when the moment is gone, and embrace whatever comes next.

Duathlon

As a warm-up to my annual triathlon in June, I agreed to join a friend of mine in a duathlon a couple weekends ago: 2K run, 10 mi bike, 2K run. It was her first ever event like this, and days before the event, she called and said she'd learned that participants can do it in a relay with one person doing the running and one doing the biking. I considered her suggestion -- for maybe 30 seconds -- but I had been training for both and really wanted to do both. She found another friend to share the race with, and they got second place in the relay group!

I was pleased to see my running pace has sped up from last year, no doubt due to the extra training and the expert advice I've been getting from my ultra-fit-marathoner-triathlete personal trainer. (I love her, but she kicks my ass...in a good way.) But I was a little frustrated with my overall time and that my bike time wasn't faster. Always room for improvement, and I still have several months until the tri.

Parisian Reflection

I had a lot of time to myself while in Paris, and reminiscent of my early days in NYC, I spent hours walking the streets and taking in the views of the architecture, people and monuments. Unfortunately, it rained most of the time I was there and I came down with a cold, but I didn't let that stop me. I took the subway to different areas and walked most of the day, stopping occasionally for a crepe with Nutella or a quiche with salad. I loved it, but my legs and feet ached at the end of the day!

A Night Out in Paris

When my friend Irish Parisienne asked what I wanted to do while I was in Paris, I told her, dancing! She organized the evening with some friends, some of whom I had met at New Year's, and we hit a club. Paris nightlife is like NYC's -- starting the evening around 11 p.m. -- and the drinks were appallingly expensive. The music was eclectic, but most of it was dance-able. We had a fun time!

French Farmers' Market

One of my favorite mornings in Paris was spent wandering through the local farmers' market. The amounts and variety of food was amazing, and I just had to take a picture of the lingerie booth...not something we have in our markets in the U.S.!

Just Breathe

I'm finally back on my current time zone. I had a tough time while in Paris, waking up most nights for an hour or two. And returning stateside, I was in Austin for less than 12 hours to unpack and repack for a business trip to Seattle. I was completely jetlagged in Seattle, and the project demanded overtime. I did get one evening with my aunt, uncle, cousin and her new fiance, which was very enjoyable. And then as soon as I landed in Austin, I was off to ballet practice to pick up niece & nephew, Anna & Colin. I stayed with them for the weekend while my sister and bro-in-law had a weekend away with friends.

Whew! Catching my breath now, enjoying snuggling with my cat and sleeping in my own bed.

I haven't yet downloaded the pics from Paris. Will do soon...