A Weekend of Firsts...
This weekend had a really nice balance of fun and quiet R&R. Friday night we stayed home, knowing that the rest of the weekend was going to be fairly busy.
Saturday opened with us getting up at 7am so we could meet Paige at the barn for my first horse riding lesson. I think Natalie was more excited than I was :) Luckily we picked an excellent morning to do the lesson, as Mother Nature had little chance of interrupting us for the third time. It was cool and clear.
I was given my pick of horses to train on, between Bud/Riley or Sissy. I went with Bud, and in spite of his occasional obstinence, it turned out to be a good choice. Overall the lesson was fine. I made the usual novice mistakes, according to Paige, but in general the lesson went pretty well. The only point of annoyance was when Bud would decide to stop for no apparent reason. How is it that horses know who is riding them and what they can get away with? One of the paradoxes in this realm is the requirement that you accept that you absolutely have no real control over this animal, just a relationship, and the fact that if you let the horse know that, you'll never get anything done.
Near the end of the lesson, Nat came into the ring with Sissy and I followed her around a bit with Bud, which was a pretty good experience. He was a lot less likely to stop (though not completely devoid of it) while following another horse around. That's probably somewhat like the experience in trail riding, so it was good to experience early on.
Physically I felt pretty good on the horse, but I could definitely tell that some muscles were getting worked in a way that they weren't used to. My knees and hip flexors were pretty tired afterward.
After the ride I did my usual Saturday visit to Weight Watchers. Another 2 pounds down. Nice. This is the 2nd lowest I've weighed in the last 14 years. This time, and I can't put my finger on it, just feels different. I still have a long road to haul to reach my goal weight, but I'm taking it in small chunks and I don't think I've ever been this confident about my ability to achieve it.
After the meeting, I spent a little time relaxing at the house before Natalie kicked me out for a party with the girls from book club. This was originally planned to be a sleepover but just turned into a cookout on the deck and a little pool time. Oh, I was certainly welcome to stay, but Nat's time with the girls is hers in my book and it gave me an excuse to go catch a movie and grab some dinner and read. I went and saw Invincible, the Vince Papale story. Yeah, I'm a sports movie junkie, but I thought it was pretty well done. Yeah, you know what's going to happen, its a true story after all. But I couldn't help but enjoying the ride, and that's the sign of a good movie.
Sunday was another first (for me). Nat and I attended a church that she had attended pretty regularly before we met and it was based on a faith that had interested me a great deal: Unitarian Universalist. Its non-denominational and accepting of what seems to be all faiths, which I find particularly appealing. I love studying all religions to some degree, as I feel they all have something to contribute in my search for truth in this world.
The service was unusual, but quite fun. Once a year they allow folks to bring their pets to the service for a "Bless Your Pets" worship. There were all kinds there: dogs, cats, parakeets, hamsters, cockatiels and one even brought a snake. Speaking of, one of the ushers commented on the fact that there was a black snack outside near the main bank of windows in the church that kept coming up to the window and taking a peek at what was going on. I guess he was hoping for a little love as well. We decided to avoid the stress of trying to bring the girls to this service, as Jules doesn't get along very well with strange dogs and Shelby tends to bark at strangers. Overall it was a pretty neat service, though understably unconventional compared to what I'm sure their usual service is. I really like the tone though, and the feeling I got from the people there. It was warm and unconditionally accepting, something I haven't experienced at all the churches I've visited in my lifetime. I'm not knocking any one of them, they just weren't for me. This one might be.
The final first happened that evening. Nat and I took the dogs to the park near the softball fields for a small picnic and a walk around the pond. Afterward I had a game to play. My first at bat I hit a sharp line drive into the gap in right centerfield. It shot past the outfielder and I shifted into my 2nd gear (I only have 2, low, and L2). I was pretty cold at that point, as I didn't really have time to warm up in trying to get the roster settled and ready to play. But something was different. I don't know if it was the walk around the park, the lower weight, the regular exercise, heck maybe even the horseback riding the day before (laugh if you will, I did) but running those bases I felt better than I had in a long, long, long time. The answer is probably a combination of all those things, but none of my muscles were barking at me and my knees felt great. I wasn't even breathing horribly hard as I arrived at 3rd base standing up. I felt great! We wound up losing the game in the last inning but I still took that bright point away feeling more confident than I had in quite some time. A win would have been a great finish, but it was a nice day regardless.
In the end, Paige, Kathy, Jody & Natalie can relax a little. I did enjoy the ride and I certainly plan on doing more of it. Will I become a "horse person"? Probably not. But I can definitely see myself enjoying it from time to time. One thing (ok, LOTS of things) this last year has taught me unequivocally is that you never know what can happen at any point in time. If you had told me a year ago that I'd be married, living in a house with 5 animals, own a horse, have a seizure, sell my house and move to a small town I'd likely recommend cutting back on whatever it is you're smoking. And if you told me I'd be happier than I likely had been in the past 20 years, well, I guess I would have considered that as possible. :)
In all, it was a very good weekend.
Doc
Saturday opened with us getting up at 7am so we could meet Paige at the barn for my first horse riding lesson. I think Natalie was more excited than I was :) Luckily we picked an excellent morning to do the lesson, as Mother Nature had little chance of interrupting us for the third time. It was cool and clear.
I was given my pick of horses to train on, between Bud/Riley or Sissy. I went with Bud, and in spite of his occasional obstinence, it turned out to be a good choice. Overall the lesson was fine. I made the usual novice mistakes, according to Paige, but in general the lesson went pretty well. The only point of annoyance was when Bud would decide to stop for no apparent reason. How is it that horses know who is riding them and what they can get away with? One of the paradoxes in this realm is the requirement that you accept that you absolutely have no real control over this animal, just a relationship, and the fact that if you let the horse know that, you'll never get anything done.
Near the end of the lesson, Nat came into the ring with Sissy and I followed her around a bit with Bud, which was a pretty good experience. He was a lot less likely to stop (though not completely devoid of it) while following another horse around. That's probably somewhat like the experience in trail riding, so it was good to experience early on.
Physically I felt pretty good on the horse, but I could definitely tell that some muscles were getting worked in a way that they weren't used to. My knees and hip flexors were pretty tired afterward.
After the ride I did my usual Saturday visit to Weight Watchers. Another 2 pounds down. Nice. This is the 2nd lowest I've weighed in the last 14 years. This time, and I can't put my finger on it, just feels different. I still have a long road to haul to reach my goal weight, but I'm taking it in small chunks and I don't think I've ever been this confident about my ability to achieve it.
After the meeting, I spent a little time relaxing at the house before Natalie kicked me out for a party with the girls from book club. This was originally planned to be a sleepover but just turned into a cookout on the deck and a little pool time. Oh, I was certainly welcome to stay, but Nat's time with the girls is hers in my book and it gave me an excuse to go catch a movie and grab some dinner and read. I went and saw Invincible, the Vince Papale story. Yeah, I'm a sports movie junkie, but I thought it was pretty well done. Yeah, you know what's going to happen, its a true story after all. But I couldn't help but enjoying the ride, and that's the sign of a good movie.
Sunday was another first (for me). Nat and I attended a church that she had attended pretty regularly before we met and it was based on a faith that had interested me a great deal: Unitarian Universalist. Its non-denominational and accepting of what seems to be all faiths, which I find particularly appealing. I love studying all religions to some degree, as I feel they all have something to contribute in my search for truth in this world.
The service was unusual, but quite fun. Once a year they allow folks to bring their pets to the service for a "Bless Your Pets" worship. There were all kinds there: dogs, cats, parakeets, hamsters, cockatiels and one even brought a snake. Speaking of, one of the ushers commented on the fact that there was a black snack outside near the main bank of windows in the church that kept coming up to the window and taking a peek at what was going on. I guess he was hoping for a little love as well. We decided to avoid the stress of trying to bring the girls to this service, as Jules doesn't get along very well with strange dogs and Shelby tends to bark at strangers. Overall it was a pretty neat service, though understably unconventional compared to what I'm sure their usual service is. I really like the tone though, and the feeling I got from the people there. It was warm and unconditionally accepting, something I haven't experienced at all the churches I've visited in my lifetime. I'm not knocking any one of them, they just weren't for me. This one might be.
The final first happened that evening. Nat and I took the dogs to the park near the softball fields for a small picnic and a walk around the pond. Afterward I had a game to play. My first at bat I hit a sharp line drive into the gap in right centerfield. It shot past the outfielder and I shifted into my 2nd gear (I only have 2, low, and L2). I was pretty cold at that point, as I didn't really have time to warm up in trying to get the roster settled and ready to play. But something was different. I don't know if it was the walk around the park, the lower weight, the regular exercise, heck maybe even the horseback riding the day before (laugh if you will, I did) but running those bases I felt better than I had in a long, long, long time. The answer is probably a combination of all those things, but none of my muscles were barking at me and my knees felt great. I wasn't even breathing horribly hard as I arrived at 3rd base standing up. I felt great! We wound up losing the game in the last inning but I still took that bright point away feeling more confident than I had in quite some time. A win would have been a great finish, but it was a nice day regardless.
In the end, Paige, Kathy, Jody & Natalie can relax a little. I did enjoy the ride and I certainly plan on doing more of it. Will I become a "horse person"? Probably not. But I can definitely see myself enjoying it from time to time. One thing (ok, LOTS of things) this last year has taught me unequivocally is that you never know what can happen at any point in time. If you had told me a year ago that I'd be married, living in a house with 5 animals, own a horse, have a seizure, sell my house and move to a small town I'd likely recommend cutting back on whatever it is you're smoking. And if you told me I'd be happier than I likely had been in the past 20 years, well, I guess I would have considered that as possible. :)
In all, it was a very good weekend.
Doc