A Series of Unfortunate Events

Yesterday was one of those days.  A series of unfortunate events combined against me, only this was no Lemony Snicket novel...it was real life.

First, we got socked with a heat wave that pushed temps to the mid-80s.  It was so hot, that I decided to push my training run to the night so as to escape the heat of the day.

Second, I had a big work project that kept me chained to my laptop through the heat of the day.  At least I was inside where it was cooler, but I couldn't take my kids to the beach or do something fun.  I am pretty busy during the week, so I try hard to keep my weekends free to do family stuff with the kids.  Yesterday would have been ideal to hit the beach, but my project made it impossible.

Third, our good friends (Royal and Nicole) are moving to Arizona and their farewell party was yesterday afternoon/evening.  The party was fun and the food was fantastic.  Nicole is pretty much a gourmet baker of desserts and her talents were on full display.  I consciously had to hold back for fear that my workouts would never be able to keep up with the calories I was consuming.  I'm happy for Royal's great new job, but selfishly I'm going to miss both of them. A lot.  Royal has been a great race partner and Nicole has always been super nice to me.

During the party, I handed my iPhone to Baby M. to keep him occupied.  Big mistake.  Baby M. decided to channel Cy Young and threw my iPhone down onto the concrete.  My iPhone responded by giving me the "Dreaded Green Screen of Death."  Hence no pics of Royal and Nicole's party.  The phone is barely functional.  Worse, I hate breaking things and losing things, so breaking my phone at the party that was already making me sad did nothing for my mood.

My brother came up after the party and we were supposed to do our run together, but that didn't happen.  I was consumed with trying to get my iPhone fixed and I found a kiosk at the mall that claimed to be able to fix it.  I jumped into my car to drive to the mall only to find that the battery was dead.  Kaput.  I got the car jumped just as my brother arrived.  The car turned on [barely] just as he pulled up and made a horrendous sound.  My brother diagnosed the problem for me...my engine was blown.  Those were unfortunate event numbers five (dead battery) and six (blown engine).

It doesn't look that old does it?

At this point I was too despondent to deal with R.'s complaint that his Kindle wasn't working.  I told him to charge it overnight and we'd check it in the morning.  I think at this point I was afraid of anything else that I owned falling to pieces!

My brother was kind enough to drive to the mall.  I figure that my day had finally hit rock bottom with the realization that my car (which has nearly 245,000 miles on it) was going to be towed out of my driveway and I'd never see it again.  I can tell you that I had plenty of other things in my budget to spend money on.  My car is 8.5 years old and nearly a quarter of a million miles on it, but I was in no hurry to replace it.  When you have kids, it seems like there are always things that they need more than I need a new car.  In addition, I really don't have an ego about my car.  It works great and doesn't cost me a lot to get around.  I'm good with that.

We got to the mall and the kiosk guy "fixed" my iPhone.  The battery on my phone was dead, so I had to charge it before I could start using it again, so I went to the Verizon store to charge it.  I got the phone charged and guess what...still broken.  :-/

At this point, I had the Verizon guy check the account and turns out I had free replacement coverage on the phone through my job.  After what seemed like an eternity, I left the store without a phone (bummer), but with the promise that my brand new iPhone is being shipped directly to my office for Tuesday (yay!).

Then we got home.  It was late and my brother and I were both tired. I grabbed my keys and walked over for one last look at my poor car.  I distinctly remember saying to my brother as we walked over to it: "It's too bad you can't give a car a priesthood blessing."  His reply: "Yeah, but that would be like trying to heal a 100-year-old man.  It's had a good life."

Yes, it has, but I started it up anyway.  To my surprise, the car started and worked!  I got back in it today and was able to drive it to church. It was "good as new"--as if nothing had ever happened.  I really and truly do believe that it's a miracle.  I wish that I could say that it's because I was living right or that I somehow "deserved" divine intervention.  But I don't think that's the case.  I do think that it was an example of Heavenly Father being merciful though.  And for that I'm grateful.

La Ferrari -- My next car?  ;-)

It has got me thinking that I should be prepared to replace my car at some point.  It is probably unrealistic of me to think that I can get it to drive a million miles--or even another 250,000.  Anyone have any good ideas?  :-)

So in the end, it all worked out.  I was so relieved that I was able to replace my iPhone for free and that I wouldn't have to spend thousands of dollars on a new car, that it overshadowed the series of unfortunate events that had befallen me earlier in the day.  So much so that I was almost tempted to name this post after another book--Shakespeare's "All's Well That Ends Well."

PS--I also fixed R.'s Kindle today too!  What can I say, I was on a roll!  :-)

My Independence Day

This was my view two years ago today...

Two years ago today, I stood on the edge of this pool and stared down the lane.  I was not a good swimmer, but my brother had challenged me about four months before to do a triathlon with him at Camp Pendleton.  I debated within my own head for months about whether I should (or even could) do the triathlon.  I had always wanted to do a triathlon, but since I didn't know how to swim very well, I wasn't sure that I could do it.

The Camp Pendleton triathlon was a 500 yard ocean swim that had a time cut-off of for the swim portion of 30 minutes.  Deep down, I wasn't sure that I could handle the indignity of starting the race and not being able to finish because I got pulled from the ocean by some life guard.  I knew that if I were to have any chance at doing the triathlon, I needed to get better at swimming.  And fast!  There was only one month to go until the triathlon and it was put up or shut up time.

So on that Independence Day 2010, I made the decision to jump in and start swimming.  My swim workouts were only 500 yards in the pool, but they were tough for me.  The first few days, I took me more than 15 minutes to swim the 500 yards.  In addition, I wasn't able to do the freestyle for the full distance.  I was only able to do 300 yards or so before I had to flip over and do the rest with the back stroke.  Pathetic, I know!

But I kept at it and kept swimming.  I didn't swim on Sundays, but I was probably in that pool for at least 20 days in the month of July 2010.  And I got better.  =o)

Pioneer Day 2010 -- I'm sure E. thinks I look pretty funny!

Then, on July 24, 2010, I did a mini triathlon that our Stake put on in honor of Pioneer Day.  I set a new record for myself in the 500 yards in the pool (11:56).  I'm not trying to kid myself or you that that was fast or even a good time.  It wasn't, but it felt good to see improvement and to feel better about myself.

I went on to do my first "real" triathlon at Camp Pendleton in August--one month after my fateful Independence Day decision.  It was hard, but I completed the swim in time (without drowning) and finished the triathlon.  And then I kept on doing triathlons.

2010 Camp Pendleton Triathlon
I promise I didn't die, even though it looks like I'm about to during the run portion here!

A lot has changed in the past two years.  We have a new house and a new baby.  I've made new friends and  gotten to know others better.  I've lost some things as well, including about 20 pounds and my fear of swimming (if I could survive the swim from the Ironman St. George, I can survive anything!).  I'm in a lot better shape and I feel a lot better about myself in a lot of ways.


In short, even though life isn't perfect and I'm still far from it (perfection that is...), I feel like things are better.  And they are going to continue to get better.  I believe that.  I can trace a lot of those positive changes in my life to that moment, two years ago today, when I stood on that pool deck and thought about jumping in.  I'm so glad I decided to take the plunge!


So Happy 4th of July everybody!  I hope you and your families enjoy "your" Independence Day!