Happiness Rules

  I officially became a runner in 2009 when I decided I wanted to run a marathon. I had been in a spin class with some runners, and they made it sound so fun. At the time, Rob and I were avid cyclists riding approximately 150 miles a week. So making time for running was not going to be easy. I remember talking with one of the runners in spin class and mentioning that I wanted to run a marathon. I had even chosen one to run two months away. The Austin Marathon would be held in February and promised to be a hilly event. When I told the runner in spin class what I had decided, she said: "I don't think you'll be ready to run a marathon, but possibly a half marathon." I respected her answer, but immediately went home and registered for the Half Marathon in Austin. I trained between cycling days, and quickly found out that a true commitment was needed to run 6-, 8-, 10-mile training runs. One of the things I really liked about the training on that first training schedule, w...

A year-and-a-half ago, I became addicted to Wordle, the New York Times game that gives a person six tries to figure out a five-letter word by a process of letter elimination. Seems like many people I know were playing the game, and I'm not quite sure who finally convinced me to give it try. I'm glad I did though. I'm part of a text group that includes four friends playing the game. My run buddy also plays. And, on occasion, it will come up in other groups of people I know from other parts of my life. It has become extremely popular. I'm not sure what the draw is, but I think people just like to be distracted for a few minutes every day. And, it definitely stretches the brain.  I've always been a fan of these types of games. For awhile, the hot game was Words With Friend. I played that for awhile until it seemed that most of the people I was playing the game with, quit playing it altogether. I'm not sure sure why everyone suddenly stopped playing it, but they did...

I don't accept change well, which is an unusual way to begin this posting called "Accepting Changes." I like to think of myself as being able to "roll with the punches." I guess I do eventually just move forward, but changes can often throw me into a tailspin. In 2024, I am hoping to be more open to change, seeing it not as a negative, but as an opportunity. Fear seems to appear out of nowhere for me sometimes. Hoping to turn the fear into something good this year.  I mentioned in my previous post that I was reading the latest Lorrie Moore book, "I am Homeless, if This is not my Home." I also mentioned that I was waiting for the "The Covenant of Water" by Abraham Verghese to be returned at the library. But, last night on social media, I saw a post about Galveston Reads, a community-wide reading program. Galveston Reads chose Eileen Garvin's "The Music of Bees," a top book of 2023 by The Washington Post as well as several other g...

Every year it seems I make resolutions that I don't always keep. This year was no different. I resolved to write more, which is something I enjoy but never make time to do. I was logging into blogger to see my past blogs, but could not get in. At least, I thought I could not get in. I tried to create a new account, which was the wrong thing to do. Eventually, I noticed that I was just not navigating my original site correctly. I'm here now, though, so here goes. My first resolution is to writer more. I plan to finish an essay I began writing almost two years ago. I think I currently have approximately four paragraphs, but I just need to make myself sit down and finish it. Not sure why sitting down to write takes a backseat to just about everything else, but it often does. So does reading, which is another thing I enjoy and aspire to do more of in the coming year and is my second resolution. Of course, what I'm reading is often dictates my excitement about reading. I just be...