Food, family and a mascot that actually exists

By far my favorite holiday, its Thanksgiving's simple premise that makes it extraordinary: Cook and eat food with family or friends, and a world hushed and settled from its typical hustle and bustle serves as the holiday's backdrop.

No gifts to buy, no elaborate decorating to do ... and, most importantly, no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny.

Those annoying, imaginary mascots have become so ubiquitous during their seasons, they really need to create another word which would mean super-ubiquitous. Kind of like in 9th grade science class when we learned about saturation, only to discover when we flipped to the next page of our textbook, that something called super-saturation exists.

What?

No, Thanksgiving is all about a real animal, a turkey. We kill it, cook it and eat it with people we like, or people we're willing to put up with for a few hours because we love them ... or so I've heard.

Though turkeys are just as synonymous with Thanksgiving as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are with Christmas and Easter, respectively, I take solace knowing that turkeys are, indeed, real, and have an actual connection to their holiday.

For that, and for that alone, the November holiday will always get my thanks.

It's like I'm half triathlete, half human

An adorable neighborhood boy, approximately seven-years-old, kept riding by on his bike, his eyes fixed on the black cowboy hat my husband, Gary, had sitting out in our yard sale recently. After a few back and forth trips, Gary walked over to him, placed the hat on his head and told him he could just have it.

His excitement about this unexpected gift prompted him to bike home to his family a few houses down the street and tell everyone the good news - including his brother.

Several minutes later, the two youngsters reappeared, one of whom was grinning ear-to-ear with the oversized cowboy hat atop his head.

They began looking at more of our yard sale items, and the kid with the cowboy hat announced to his brother, not knowing we could hear him, "It's like I'm half cowboy, half human."

Gary and I chuckled as quietly as possible to ourselves and then busted out laughing once they were out of earshot.

Though humorous, what this young fellow said seriously reminded me of how I feel race morning when I don a swim cap, my bare feet planted in the shifting sand of the shallow water in the lake, the race before me weighing heavily on my mind.

Me at my 2nd tri on 9/14/08.

I feel like I'm somebody else, certainly not the makeup-wearing woman clad in a business suit and four-inch heels most days.

There is, indeed, almost a dichotomy of personality. When you're out in the water or on the road, your body sweating, your nose running, your pores collecting dirt from the wind, all while you wear a skin-tight tri suit, you realize something very simple about yourself: Right then, you are just a machine.

It's no wonder heading back to the office the next morning, having curled your hair, put on some lipstick and snapped your pearls around your neck, that you feel like a girl again, the machine put aside until the next race.

But on that particular day, this new cowboy's innocent truth not only caused me to laugh at the moment, but also served as a reminder that whatever half I am, I should never take any portion of it too seriously.

Monday blog hop

Here is a great way to follow other blogs and for them to learn about and follow you. Just click on this link.

Have a great Monday, everyone.

Dear three donuts I ate this morning

You were looking oh so sweet as you peeked through the plastic window in the otherwise green and white Krispy Kreme bag those first two times I passed by you on my way to the coffee.

My plan was to avoid you in my quest to make my fat jeans loose jeans. (A very recent discovery.)

But something happened between breakfast and lunch. It wasn't your doughy allure, though, on that third trip that prompted me to pluck you away from the others. I just got hungry. Plain and simple.

Normally, eating one of your kind has more to do with having a hankerin' for something sweet, a state in which I find myself most of the time.

But today, it was all about business. You were a means to an end, and nothing more. I was able to mollify those hunger pangs and go on to eat an otherwise healthy-in-terms-of-me lunch, dinner and snack.

However, chin up there, donuts. If someone brings more of you in to the office tomorrow, I'll gladly tumble off the wagon and fall into your loving arms again and not give another thought to those jeans.

It's what I do.

Sincerely yours,
Lora

Quote of the day

This quote always give me chill bumps - every time I read it. It's a great reminder to take a chance, especially during those times when apprehension can become paralyzing.

"You'll always miss 100 percent of the shots you didn't take."

Have a great day, everyone!