Today’s morning ritual was different. There was no clashing or clanging and there was an alarm clock. I had to make sure I was up in time and prepared, both mentally and physically, for a walk. Before putting on my new purple Puma tennis shoes, Emily performed a little procedure on me. She popped a blister for me. It oozed and a band-aid promptly covered it up. Mark, Emily, and I all ate fruit and applied sunscreen (although apparently I didn’t apply near enough) before venturing out into the world.
We walked from the house, down along the beach, up through Torrey Pine, down through Torrey Pine along the beach, and back to the house. It was a long 6.5-mile walk. I was super proud of myself. I am not generally one for exercise and actually made it on our “hike”. I don’t think I even really slowed Mark and Emily down until the end of the journey. I kept up more than I anticipated I would.
When the walk was finished I collapsed as soon as I walked in the front door. Upon inspection of my feet, there was no blood and only one new blister. I traded out my Pumas for a pair of flip-flops and went along for the next adventure. We went to spend some time with Mark and Emily’s friends and their kids at their cute house. One of the boys lost a tooth and the other got a time out. I ate a lot of M&Ms and even got some on my shirt, old school Emily style.
It was time for a trip to the grocery store, but yours truly opted out and went back to the house to nap some before the private yoga lesson. I completely conked out and didn’t rise again until the doorbell rang. It was Mark and Emily with all of their goodies from the grocery store. Now that I was up, I decided to play with Larry and Remy until the yoga instructor showed up. Just as I mentioned yesterday, I love how well Remy fetches. Larry was running around and being cute and playful too.
Finally the yoga instructor showed up. I had been warned that he has long hair and is somewhat of a hippie. I was, however, not ready to see a Hanson brother ready for yoga. He was a nice, young (I can say that even if he is only a year younger than me), and encouraging instructor. He gave praise when our postures looked good and encouraged and modeled when our postures and positions needed improvement. He seemed impressed with my flexibility when he learned that I’m a complete newbie to the whole yoga thing. I had to duck out of the session early to shower and pack in order to get to the airport on time, but first he showed me a more intense stretch. It involved facing a wall, putting my body up against it, spreading my arms out as if I were flying, turning my hips out from the wall, and facing one arm out perpendicular from the wall. I did that for both sides of my body and then another variation to the same stretch while Emily did the same on her mat. From the praise I got, I must have done fairly decent. I was nervous at first about having a private lesson and doing things incorrectly, but after awhile I became comfortable and actually enjoyed having the one on one and the chance to get to bend and stretch in the proper way. My new goal is to touch my toes when I stretch.
Shortly after showering and packing up, I was at the airport eating a really nasty little cheese pizza and waiting to board the plane. It wasn’t a long wait, although I did almost fall sleep. On the plane I sat in between a man (originally from KC, now living in San Diego, on his way to Topeka) and a woman (from KC, visiting San Diego). The conversations were light, fun, and informative. I like it when you are able to enjoy the company of strangers on a plane.
I have now arrived back home to KC 25 minutes early and am waiting for my ride. While I’ve been waiting I have had time to check out my massive, and kind of painful, farmers tan from the walk this morning. Aloe bed here I come…
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