Part of The Team

We never realize it when we are younger but learning to be a part of a team will follow us throughout our lives. Teams come in all forms, from families to sports to co-workers, and if we learn teamwork when we are young then as we grow we will take those lessons with us. I mean that is generally how learning works this is no exception.

I loved playing sports when I was younger, heck I love playing them now, but there were times in the past that I didn't understand what my parents were trying to teach me about being part of the team. Though I am not super clumsy I still have my moments when something doesn't go exactly right and I get hurt. When I was younger there were a couple of times when I hurt myself enough to actually have a cast or crutches. During those times you can bet I was part of some sort of organized sport.

I remember the first time I had crutches, I was playing softball at the time. I could barely get around so of course playing in a game was out of the question. To me at the time that meant maybe sitting in the stands and watching my team win without me. My parents had another idea however. I was in uniform, on the bench, with my crutches yelling and cheering with the rest of my team. At the time I thought it was a little too much, why be there in uniform when I can't play. As I got older and again was on crutches, this time for the high school basketball team, it was the same thing. In uniform on the bench, cheering and being the support I could be for my team.

I never realized then what those lessons would teach me about being part of a team. As family we are always there to support physically and emotionally, as sports teammates we are there to cheer on those that might need to hear the encouragement, and at work we are there to cover for each other when sickness or vacations might arise. The thing to remember is that sickness, pain or other ailments may present themselves, but sometimes you have to continue to be there for the team. When you start to let the team down they notice, when they have to constantly cover for you they notice. No one is really keeping track but co-workers, family members and teammates will always remember when those times as they may become more frequent. Sometimes we have to be weary of how much we are letting our teams down.

Birthday Wishes

It has been well over a month since my actual birthday and I have had the best intentions of posting about what an amazing time I had but I guess it has had to wait until now. the thing about my birthday is that I don't hate it but I also don't like planning it for myself, it has always just felt like something someone else should do for you. Don't ask me why I think that, I can't tell you where that line of thought comes from. So now that I am older I just kind of go with the flow when it comes to my birthday. I might plan small things but no big parties, at least not until I am turning 30... only a couple years away *sigh*

This year turned out to be the best, somethings just came together and somethings I planned but overall it turned out pretty great and in the end what more could I really ask for. It turned out to be a weekend event type thing without me even trying, I had to work late that Friday night but still wanted to go out after work even if just for a little while. On the way out of work I found a $5 bill just hanging out on the ground. I feel like that was a good sign of things to come. I spent a couple of hours after that with friends at a local bar, drinking some cherry coke and listening to awesome karaoke. But I couldn't stay too late because the next day I had to be up early.

That Saturday was the day before my birthday, this year it happen to coincide with the San Francisco Color Run, also known as the happiest 5K on the planet. My friend and I got up early, especially for a Saturday and drove to San Francisco where we really did have a great time run/walking our first 5K. After we were tired but she wanted to take me to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner, neither of us had ever been there but it was great. We were sunburnt and tired, the robotic snake was ridiculous, and we got stare after stare from people because we were a pink color, but let's face it I would of stared as well. It was great!

Finally on Sunday, the real day of my birth, I went to church and then hung out with family. Well sort of my adopted family, that is what we are calling it anyways. We had pot roast for dinner, watched a movie, opened some presents, had some cake, and played Skip-Bo. All in all it was really a great day, I even enjoyed that my Dad used his Facebook to wish my an additional happy birthday. He is learning the ways of technology, I am so proud!

How does it feel to be another year older? Sometimes I wonder what the heck I am doing with my life. How did I get here and where am I going? But then I realize how very blessed I am, I may not have everything in the world that I expected to have at this age when I was younger, but I have a lot of things that I never could of dreamed of having at this age when I was 20. My own apartment and my little Guido, great friends and family, two jobs and a church calling, my health and the ability to do activities that I enjoy. I may not have everything I expected to have at this age, but I have come to realize that there are so many things in this life that I will obtain, I would just be spoiled if I got it all at once, and I wouldn't appreciate the things I do have nearly as much.

Back To Work

I was debating what I wanted to post about today, the easiest topic of course won out so today I am thinking a lot about my decision to go back to being a gym member. I feel like it was a split decision because I walked into the gym with no intention of joining, I was just feeling lousy and knew that a good work out would help me feel better. And since I could just buy a day pass and work out with my friend I thought this was no big deal, $10 to feel better, I will take that. I decided anyways to ask about joining and see what it would cost, thinking that if I could work it into my budget then I could join within the next month.

Well I got the numbers and went to work out and think about what I was going to do. I have had a nagging feeling lately that I just needed to find a way to get myself working out again. I told myself months ago when I quit my last gym that I could just work out at home and save the money for other things. Lots of people work out at home and they do just fine. I should have known from past experiences that I am not one of those people. It is not that I don't like working out I really do and I know that my apartment is no gym but I also know that it is big enough to burn some calories, yet I never did anything to get the work outs going.

Call me lazy if you want I don't care, I know that I have a tendency to be on the lazy side, especially when I feel like everything is piled up against me. A lot of times that means I will fight back but when it comes to working out or house work I tend to let the laziness take over. These days it seems to take over easily between having a second job and my chronic neck pain/ headaches. I know deep down I couldn't let this all continue, I needed to make this change and work on helping myself feel better.

Luckily my friend was there to help me think through the idea of joining the gym.Don't you just love friends! We talked it over, what it would mean for financially, what it would mean for me physically and mentally, even how it might work better in my schedule than trying to get to the gym right after work like I was doing before. By the end of the work out I had done strength training for my arms, cardio on the elliptical and treadmill and shot some hoops at the converted basketball court. And I knew that I should sign up right away, so I did. I feel good, I feel stronger, I feel like sore :) Though I had some trouble getting out of chairs and lifting my arms over my head yesterday and today, it is a good feeling, I don't know if it is actually possible but I can feel my body growing stronger right now, healing it self and getting out all the junk I have been putting in there.