Bumpy

Some days are just a little bumpy.  Not terrible like your-dog-just-died days but there seems to be a bump around every corner.  Today was one of those days but at least there is a happy ending.  One common problem with social media is that everyone can present a version of life that is just a highlight reel and perfect pictures.  Often times our blog is about the highlights of life (there are rarely perfect pictures) so today's blog is just a slice of normal life which can be bumpy at times.

This morning I arrive at work and was putting away my keys in my purse when I realize that my wallet was missing.  There was the sudden adrenaline rush but while also trying to stay calm to think through where it might be.  I had gone shopping yesterday and had it at that time.  I couldn't remember if I had taken it out of my purse to pay bills last night but also didn't want to wait nervously all day wondering.  I decided the first thing I could do was run the 4 flights of stairs back down to my car and there it was lying in the floor of the car.  One big crisis adverted.

At work I was chatting with a patient who was working on her exercises and suddenly she started to vomit.  Thank goodness she was standing right next to the trash can at the time.  One lesson I was taught very early as a young PT student is you clean up messes of whatever kind and do it as an act of service-- most of the time patients do not mean to make a mess and feel badly about it and quick clean up with a good attitude is the best way to handle the situation.  Arthur thinks that this is another reason why working with machines is better- no bodily fluids. 

After work I decided to go on a run since it was beautiful out.  About a block from home I stepped on the edge of the pavement and gutter in the street just right to slightly sprained my ankle.  So much for running. And I limped home.  At least it was only a block and not a mile.

I was just finishing up making supper of crock pot chicken chili and cornbread.  It smelled wonderful and as I was pulling the cornbread out of the oven Arthur got a text message.  "Oh crud.  Alex, we were suppose to be at Bible study 15 minutes ago".   So much for hot cornbread and chili as we rushed to find our Bibles and walk briskly (and gingerly on my ankle) over to church.

Once we got to dinner much later and the cornbread was still slightly warm I was making pumpkin bars for dessert since I had been promising Arthur these for weeks.  Right before hurrying to Bible study I had melted the stick of butter for the crust and left it on the counter where it congealed.  I popped it back in the microwave for 15 seconds and also of a sudden I hear an explosion.  Upon opening the microwave I discovered the a whole stick of liquid butter coating every surface on the inside of this appliance.  I decided to deal with this problem after I finished the dishes and made lunches.  I think the microwave might have a greasy, buttery film until the end of time despite my best effort.  At least the liquid butter had moisturizing effects on my hand that were dry and chapped after washing dishes.

However the day is ending happily with warm pumpkin bars and hanging out with my husband.  Pumpkin bars smooth over a lot of bumps.  I posted the recipe for pumpkin bars a few years ago and they are truly a treat.  Omni Vincit Amor. 

That's an Impressive Man Card

You either are a man or you aren't.  The age of manhood may vary slightly from culture to culture; in some traditions there might even be a checklist of rituals one must perform to attain the status, but in the end, it is still a yes or no proposition.  Manliness, in contrast, exists on a continuum; it is generally recognized that one can be more or less manly depending on their actions or attitudes.

I am proud to announce, that as of yesterday afternoon, my manliness bumped upward.  Yesterday, a highly anticipated package arrived in the mail: my safety razor kit.  The cost savings and claims of better performance had me intrigued, so I took the plunge.  

Serious thought was given to the straight razor, but my CFO (Alex) wouldn't sign off on the purchase. Some sort of argument about how when the product invented to replace another has "safety" in the name, the original was probably not safe.  I would argue that if the high voltages and large machinery I work around daily fall into the "acceptable risk" category, straight razors probably shouldn't be a problem.  But alas, marriage brings many compromises, and I am pretty happy with the purchase I did get approval for.

Safety razor is an apt name: the handle design ensures that the razor makes contact only when the razor is held at a specified angle.  There were many times during my first shave that I found myself holding the razor at too shallow or too deep an angle to have the razor engage.  Should you manage to cut yourself, the small length of exposed razor means you cannot go very deep. 

Safety razors may not do any better job than disposable cartridges making your face smoother (they are certainly not worse), but they definitely have an advantage around the upper lip and (if your beard forms this way) right underneath you ear lobes.  In my experience, cartridges have enough bulk to them that they can't reach where a man's beard usually begins underneath the perpendicular projection of a man's proboscis.  The safety razor is capable of easily reaching these areas.  I have been more satisfied with the finished product of my shaving than I ever have been.

There are of course some accessories to enhance the shaving process.  My next step is to purchase some actual shaving soap, not the foamy stuff that comes in an aerosolized can.  Then I'll be able to use my badger hair shaving brush (speaking of manly, who do you think they get to shave the badger?) to form a rich lather and do work.  This, too, is projected to be cost saving in the long run, with the added bonus of being a more environmentally friendly endeavor.

So anyway, manliness takes many forms.  The dapper James Bond with his tailored suits and impeccable grooming has for years served, for better or worse, as a paradigm of manliness.  Of course, his immaculate ablutions are also tempered with near omnicompetence and the ability to thrash his enemies.  So it is that I, too, will set out for work, well shaved, and those inefficient manufacturing processes best get to cowering in the corner before they find themselves in a world of hurt.  I leave you now with our customary closing that might seems out of keeping with this closing paragraph, Omnia Vincit Amor.

Lost in translation

Everyone knows that communication is important.  There are college classes on written communication, seminars on body language, courses in foreign languages, books about persuading others with your words.  Communication is supposed to be key in marriage, the workplace, relationship, ect.  However "good" communication is important not just words alone in all these situations.  Sometimes just plain communication can actually make the world even more confusing.  I have had several examples of this in the past few weeks so I thought I would share.

- I got a text from a friend asking if I could bring a bag of buns and a package of beats to an Oktoberfest gathering.  I texted back asking if she wanted beets?  Arthur and I both despise beets and I didn't know what they had to do with Oktoberfest.  My other thought was maybe she wanted us to supply music and "beats" was just a code name.  It turned out that our assignment was to bring brats and buns instead of beets.  This sounded much more appetizing.

- Arthur and I were talking about some project around the house and jokingly I meant to say something along the lines of "I such a stupendous housewife" however it came out as "I am such a superfluous housewife".  Arthur looked at me and commented "I don't think that is quite what you mean."

- I have been getting together with several friends frequently this fall and getting ready to invite a few over for our Wednesday night accountability group.  I was running this by Arthur just to confirm that it was okay and told him I was appreciative of his support of me spending time with friends since it takes away from time we spend together.  I then said, "You'll never be as important to me as my friends".  He gave me a puzzled look and said, "I don't think that is quite what you mean."

-While we were dating we were eating at Wendy's and I was enjoying a Frosty.  I said, "I think I like Frosties more that you."  Instead of comparing our degree of liking a Frosty Arthur interpreted it as my degree of liking a Frosty was greater than my degree of liking him.

- As I have mentioned often recently I just got a new computer at work and I have to train the dictation software, Dragon.  I decided to keep a list of some of the slip ups.  Here is a piece of documentation with what Dragon would type.  Below is the actually intended medical documentation.

This patient emulated into the clinic with hurricane.  She apologized for missing her last appointment since she slipped into lake.  She just had an x-ray which showed some decorative changes in her low back.  She is scheduled to have an epidural from Dr. Fathead next week. She has pain with most daily active TVs. She also had a score of 65% impairment on the Oslo Street Lowfat Pain scale.  Past medical history includes Arab vision to her left total need, dislocated sterno clinic killer joint, and emperor from property.  She has an Antartic gait pattern and is unable to a friend in decent stairs. These fleas test was positive for pain. Her strength was ache consulate lower tree.  Treatment at her next visit one crew Maine Law therapy at L4-L5, lower trunk rotations, anchorages.  At the end of the treatment she will have E-stamp amyloids T pectoral.

Sometimes proofreading my work feels like a giant game of Mad Libs. Here's the real version:

This patient ambulated into the clinic with her cane.  She apologized for missing her last appointment since she slept in too late.  She just had an x-ray which showed some degenerative changes in her low back.  She is scheduled to have an epidural from Dr. Fahed next week.  She has pain with most daily activities.  She also had a score of 65% impairment on the Oswestery Low Back Pain Scale.  Past medical history includes a revision to her left total knee, dislocated sternoclavicular joint, and diabetic neuropathy.  She has an antalgic gait pattern and is unable to ascend and descend stairs.  Thessaly's test was positive fore pain.  Her strength was 8 pounds on the left lower extremity.  Treatment at her next visit will include manual therapy at L4-L5, lower trunk rotations, and bridges.  At the end of the treatment she will have e-stim and moist heat packs.

Words alone have little meaning.  If linked together correctly we get rousing speeches, Shakespearean plays, and love letters.  If linked poorly we get chaos and confusion.  And this is all in the same language.  Sometime I will share stories of my attempts to communicate with my Spanish speaking patients with my 100 word vocabulary, with half of those words usually mispronounced.  Omnia Vincit Amor.

3 weeks in 3 minutes

We were on such a blogging roll for awhile, posting on a regular basis and then all of a sudden we fell off the band wagon.  I am frankly blaming it on the beautiful October weather.  It is way too nice to sit inside and blog.  So we haven't.  Deal with it (I'm feeling a little lippy tonight as Arthur says).

If I remember right in one of the last posts I was slightly disgruntled about work or all the tasks that were keeping me from getting work done.  This was further compounded by getting a new computer at work last week.  My love for new technology as also been discussed on recent posts.  For some reason the most important things on my work computer-- my favorite exercises and my dictation files can't be transferred from one to other.  This meant that for a few days all the exercise handouts I gave patients sported lovely stick figure drawings-- I didn't know in college that an intro to drawing class would be useful in my future.  Our dictation software, Dragon, tends to be the bane of my existence.  Being able to dictate does save a lot of time typing but accuracy is significantly altered.  With the new computer I had to train Dragon all over which is quite the process and I'm still working on a lot of fine tuning over a week later.

With all of this going on at work I decided to skip town for a weekend.  Actually not but we did take a Friday off to road trip down to Dallas with my family which was an adventure in itself.  We all were going to Texas to attend my cousin's wedding reception in the US.  He and his South African bride got married in January in the UAE and were finally back in the States for a few days so we could celebrate with them.  We loaded up in Burt, my parents' SUV and headed south.  Our three year old niece was in the back seat and she had been told we were headed to Texas where all the cowboys live.  She was excited about the idea of cowboys and horses.  When we arrived in Texas she wasn't thrilled that there weren't any cowboys or horses to be seen in Dallas rush hour traffic.  You could tell she thought the 8 hour car trip was a crock. The extended family went out to eat at a Tex Mex restaurant and it was a delightful evening.  Catching up with family and eating large amounts of delicious Mexican food was wonderful.

We shared The Whole Enchilada which was a sampling of an array of Mexican food on a ginormous plate-- it was soo good we clean our plate until it sparkled.

 Our niece was still on the lookout for some real cowboys but the waitresses wearing cowboy hats didn't cut either-- they were girls.  Outside of the restaurant they had a few of the mechanical horse that move when you put a quarter in to ride.  Some background information is needed about my somewhat deprived childhood.  Whenever we saw these mechanical horses outside of Wal-Mart my parents would let us sit on them but we never knew they actually moved.  On one fateful day when I was about 5 or 6 we walked up to a store and saw a kid riding on one of these horses and it was moving.  My brothers and I were in shock and the jig was finally up.  Keeping that in mind my same parents have transformed into completely different people-- grandparents.  "Pops" (my dad) was able to come up with a handful of quarters and even my aunts decided quarters was a small investment to watch a child's joy riding horse wearing her cowgirl vest and hat-- these are not the same people from my childhood at all.  This three year old was not fooled though.  It couldn't be Texas since these weren't real horses.  The next day we all went to see more "horses", the Mustangs at Las Colinas.  This is a series of horse statues and fountains outside of some office buildings.  Once again pretty cool but citified horses. That evening we headed to the party which was hosted by a couple that my cousin met in the UAE who now lived in Dallas.  The party was a their beautiful home in the Dallas suburbs and it was a gorgeous clear September evening.  It was a great weekend for sitting around and sharing with family.  In fact at home point Arthur and another cousin sat for about 2 hours at a table in the backyard in almost complete darkness discussing who knows what but happy as clams.  The next day on our drive back I was backseat buddies with my niece.  I think Texas was still a little bit of a disappointment to her since Dallas didn't have the cowboys (real ones, not a football team) as promised.  However when she found out we were headed back to Kansas she wanted to turn around and go back to the hotel to play. 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words but I wonder how many words it would be worth if I could share how wonderful this smelled.

On a completely different note, I have another kitchen adventure to report on.  I made yeast bread.  At the State Fair I picked up the Kansas Wheat Commission cookbook and decided I would try bread.  Arthur is the one in the family who decided we needed a bread pan on our wedding registry-- I had never used on for my limited baking.  I chose a Golden Apple and Cheddar Challah.  I had no idea what a challah was-- and actually still didn't until I googled it moments ago.  I was drawn to the recipe because of the picture in the book.  It was beautifully braided loaf.  My philosophy in the kitchen is that grand presentation can cover up a mediocre taste.  I'm more of an artist than a cook at heart anyway.  Amazingly on my first try everything seemed to rise appropriately.  Just smelling fresh bread baking throughout the house was enough to convince me to make bread more often, or at least for a second time.  I pulled the final product from the oven and I was pretty impressed.  Arthur and I sat down and ate about half a loaf at once.  One of the best pleasures in life is eating warm, oven fresh bread.  Omnia Vincit Amor.

Masterpiece

This Saturday morning we were awaken at 6:15am by a phone call.  I jumped out of bed because any phone calls early in the morning before the sun usually means it's something of importance.  It ended up being my older brother calling just to tell me he was driving by the exit to our town on the Interstate.  I'm too little to beat him up but next time I see him in person I'm going to have Arthur rough him up a bit for waking us up on a Saturday morning when we could blissfully sleep as long as we wanted.  The other problem was that we had stayed up until midnight on Friday which is very rare for us.  I had been at a Pinterest party with several friends and while crafting time just kind of slips away and all of a sudden it was time to head home so my husband wouldn't worry.  At our party we had snacks and spent the evening painting blank canvases with ideas from Pinterest.  I had decided to paint a piece of art for our bathroom so I consulted Arthur on if he had any opinion on the verse I used.  He selected Ephesians 2:10-- For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  A few translations use the word "masterpiece" instead of workmanship.  I decided to use the phrase "We are God's Masterpiece" on my canvas.  At the party we started pouring paint to make the first coat.  I wanted something to match the colors in our bathroom-- browns, sage greens, slate blues-- and the colors of paints my friends had were all bright colors-- pinks, purples, aquas, lime greens-- so it became obvious I would have to pull out my inner Bob Ross to mix the right color.  During this process it looked like my color was going to be a disaster, a lost cause, and I should cut my losses and start over.  However it actually turned out to be the perfect shade that I wanted when it was all said and done, jut very muted compared the color explosion on all the other canvases.  Next was the tough part for me, creating the design.  My best art is usually done looking at a picture and I can get pretty close to creating a similar representation but when given something blank and having to create my own I am lost.  So I decided to eat some snack and hope for inspiration.  After a few helpings of little smokies and chips and dip I dove in without much of a plan.  I don't claim to be a creative person, and I am very thankful my job or career does not depend on my creative juices on a daily basis.  However on occasion it is freeing and relaxing to sit down and create or work with your hands on a special project.  Watching an idea in your mind take shape into something tangible that you can share with someone else whether this be art work, music, writing, etc.  Here's my finished product from the evening:

This verse has come up in my life a few times this week which usually means I need to take closer look at it.  Also I found carefully painting words makes you think about them and meditate on them over and over.  To give a little more context here is Ephesians 2:8-10

 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.    (ESV)

As readers of this blog you are probably tired of hearing about workmanship but here it is again.  The picture of God as a master craftsman.  He is the potter and we are the clay, he is the silversmith and we are the silver that needs a refining fire to remove impurities.  Jesus was a carpenter.  God is the ultimate Creator.

  First I wanted to look at the definition for masterpiece-- I love definitions of words and I don't know why.  Masterpiece is defined as a work done with extraordinary skill; a piece that is considered the greatest work of a person's career like a magnum opus.  When I reflect on God's natural creation I am in awe.  However the natural creation- sunsets, starry nights, oceans, mountains with their all their beauty and majesty- is not His defining work.  We are.  However this is speaking about much more than a physical creation but a spiritual creation such as in 2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

In verse 8 and 9 of Ephesians 2 we are reminded that our salvation is not because of anything we have done but by faith in Christ and what He did.  Furthermore, we do not make ourselves into "masterpieces" but it is God's work in us.  If you were to go to Europe and view Michelangelo's David or de Vinci's Mona Lisa, you don't give credit for being a masterpiece to the stone or paint but to the artist, the one who can make stone like flesh and paints take on life.  In the same way, if we are God's masterpiece, what people see in us should bring them to give the glory and honor to God, the artist, not the art itself which did nothing in the process.  However this process, sanctification, is still taking shape as the Artist has made the final brush strokes yet.   (The following was one of my favorite "church songs".  I like that we could sing about planets in church since at a young age that made more since than being washed in a fountain of blood and as a child there is a hankering to continue growing so it's nice to know God's still at work and I won't be small forever.)

He's still working on me 

To make me what I need to be 

It took him just a week to make the moon and stars 

The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars 

How loving and patient He must be 

'Cause He's still workin' on me 

There really ought to be a sign upon my heart 

Don't judge him yet, there's an unfinished part 

But I'll be better just according to His plan 

Fashioned by the Master's loving hands 

In the mirror of His word Reflections that I see 

Makes me wonder why He never gave up on me 

But He loves me as I am and helps me when I pray 

Remember He's the potter, I'm the clay

In verse 10 it says, "We are God's workmanship or masterpiece."  I find it interesting that in the previous verses (Eph 2:8-9) the pronoun "you" is used and then verse 10 it becomes the plural pronoun, "we".  God's masterpiece is not us individually but his children or church as a whole.   Verse 10 then goes on to the second half,  "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."  The purpose we are created for is good works.  Once again, distinctly different from verses 8 and 9 where it states that we are not saved through our good works.  Faith and good works seems paradoxical but in Charles Sprugeon's sermon on this passage he says, "Faith doesn't come from good works, the fruit of a saving faith is good works."  Good works are God's intention for us as new creations.  However we are not doing good works for God, but God is performing His work in and through his believers.  Naturally we have no capacity or inclination towards good works on our own but in Christ he has made us new for this purpose.  He has laid out a path of good works in front of us and we are called to walk that path.  This is our personal choice to follow this path.  The term "walk" also denotes more than existing in one place but advancing forward His kingdom. 

 In an orchestra or symphony a single instrument may play glorious music but when the entire ensemble plays together the music is deeper and richer.  This is why God's masterpiece is not an individual but His chosen people.  We don't do good works for God but we are the tools or instruments he uses on a grander scale.  And finally the Creator has a design, blueprint, or musical score in which He has give each of us a specific role and purpose so he isn't scrambling to find a part for you to play.  Each of us has an important part to play.  Our good works are not just something we might do if we have some free time here or there but our calling and vocation from God.  

So each morning getting ready in front of the bathroom mirror hopefully this verse painted by unskilled human hands will reminded us that we are true masterpieces, God's greatest work.  And throughout that day what we do will reflect glory and honor of the Artist. Omnia Vincit Amor.

When it rains, it pours

This morning I drove to work through a rain shower.  It was actually a beautiful experience.  In the east the sky was just beginning to peek over the horizon casting everything a orange-gold.  The clouds in the western sky were a dark indigo with flashes of lightening here and there.  Some of the storm clouds were tinged a deep purple as the sun rays coming up caught the cloud just right.  I watched the line of orange blending pink into indigo precede west as the marker where night was turning into a new day.  The rain drops on the windshield also acted to blur all of these brilliant colors together.  While I started my day in the rain, it turned into a figurative downpour quickly.
Yesterday I opened my mailbox to a grim letter from the Kansas Board of Healing Arts-- the state organization in charge of licensing physical therapists.  It was informing me that I had been selected for a random audit of my self-reported continuing education hours.  This meant taking the time to comply all the forms and papers, double checking dates, and faxing 18 pages to prove a few times a year I attend seminars related to PT topics.  The rest of my co-workers gave me a hard time that I was getting audited already and I have only practiced a few years. 
My next situation was dealing with several people in the registration department.  Our patients are set up as reoccurring visits rather than one-time visits.  A few days ago one of my patients was set up incorrectly, and in fact she was originally registered under her twin sister's name which caused some confusion.  I tried to put in charges the day before and her account had already been discharged.  We had to jump through the hoops of opening a new account and making sure all the charges were correct-- no charges are showing on my computer but someone somewhere assure me that it is correct even thought I have a blank screen. 
Later I got a phone call while eating lunch that my documentation was being audited by the billing department and the billing charges were not aligning with what I wrote.  As it turns out the problem was that the date was wrong.  I saw then individual at 5:00pm on night so I left it on my desk to do the paperwork the following morning-- I never leave something undone for the next day.  I forgot to turn the date stamp back to the previous day so my documentation was dated the wrong day.  Of course more than 5 days had passed so I was locked out and couldn't make any changes.  This led to a call to the Help Desk to open this file so I could change the date.  I called the Help Desk 3 times over lunch and was told due to the high volume of calls a representative was not available.  I have a hard time believing that everyone and their dog is calling over the lunch hour but I finally got through and explained my situation.  Twenty minutes later our secretary calls me to the front desk because someone in IT wants to speak to me to verify they were opening the right account.  Finally I was able to get in, change the date, and then made three follow up calls to close the account again and to have my work rechecked by the auditor.  At this moment I really wished everything was still on paper because then instead of spending 30 minutes of 7 different phone calls I could simple cross out one date, write a new date, and initial the change-- if only it were that easy. 
By this time I felt like I had a target on my back.  My next phone call was informing me that IT was coming over to replace several computers in the office so I wouldn't be able to work on mine the rest of the afternoon.  Wonderful, just throw the computer out the window for good.  As it turns out they didn't get around to mine and are unsure if it really needs replaced or not but will be back tomorrow to work on it.  Can't wait.  Throughout this day I did somehow manage to see a few patients too.  I do love my job but hopefully tomorrow is the calm after the storm.  Omnia Vincit Amor.

Keep Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Saturday morning the alarm went off at 5am and Arthur wasn't happy.  His reasons were as follows: 1. the alarm usually goes off at 6am so he should still have an hour to sleep. 2. It was Saturday and therefore he should get to sleep in later than usual.  At this point I think he started mumbling things about his wife under his breath.  We had to get up so we could drive to Newton since we had signed up again for the MCC Flatlander.  For some reason all physical activity that requires him to get out of bed on a weekend is his wife's fault, especially with the foggy mental processing that the 5am hour brings.  As his wife I will admit that usually it is my idea to do activities that require an early start.  However this year Arthur even made sure his weekend plans allowed this weekend to be open so he could ride his bike.  Spirits probably weren't increased as he then had to go out in the dark morning and try to put the bike rack and bikes on the back of the car.  I know that from past experience Arthur's cloudy disposition clears up once the sun comes up or when he gets started with whatever crazy athletic event I "signed" him up for.  Actually the time I have seen Arthur in best spirits was when he had to wake up at 5am so he could drive me and my brother to the drop off point for a half marathon.  He was chipper that at least he wasn't running so getting up early wasn't too bad.  On Saturday we picked up my cousin Eleanor and her bike (since our anniversary present to each other this year was a bike rack that can carry 3 bikes).  My aunt asked if Arthur wanted anything for breakfast, or more so 2nd breakfast since he ate Cheerios at home.  She whipped him up some peanut butter and toast with a few sausage patties and he was a completely different man, almost excited to get to ride his bike.  Thanks Aunt Shari.

The MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) Flatlander is a bike ride that raises money for water projects in 3rd world countries.  This year the donations were going towards a farming community in Tanzania for clean drinking water as well as crop irrigation.  Last year we did the 65 mile route and I think it was one of the toughest things I have ever done.  I wasn't too excited for that so I decided to invite a few friends who do some biking but have never participated in an organized ride to join me on the 35 mile loop.  Arthur, being a manly man, opted for the 65 miler again.  All week it had been terribly hot and windy so I had been concerned that the conditions for the ride might be miserable.  However Saturday was absolutely perfect.  No noticeable wind which correlates to a moderate breeze on a bike and much cooler temperatures.  The ride started with over a hundred riders so we quickly lost Arthur in the sea of spandex and bright neon green.  Our group of gals held up the back of the pack pretty well.  Hillary and I used to ride about 20 miles together one day each summer.  Eleanor has just recently taken up biking since an injury has kept her from running which is truly her first love.  Rachel purchased a bike a few years ago and cruises around her city's bike paths on occasion.  We made it through the first 8 miles to the SAG stop well and climbed over the only "hills" on the ride which was an overpass by the interstate.  I must admit that riding with this group was rather refreshing.  We chatted as we rode discussing work, lives, the scenery, etc.  We even stopped a few times to stretch our legs in between official SAG stops.  At the SAGs we weren't in any hurry to get back on the road but enjoyed the cookies and made small talk with the volunteers.  It was considerably laid back compared to riding with Arthur.

Meanwhile Arthur was pedal to the metal flying down the back country roads.  I was a little concerned about him doing the 65 miles by himself since Arthur has some issues with navigation.  Since being married I don't remember a time when he's gone off on an adventure to an unfamiliar area such as hiking trails or a bike ride without me.  He tends to be very focused on what he is doing and I was afraid he wasn't going to notice the little signs on the ground the size of a pizza box at each turn. He texted me at his stops to let me know where he was but never any details beyond "@4" or "SAG 5".  I found out later that he did enjoy biking by himself since he didn't have to keep checking on if I was able to stay up with him or not.  I also learned that at about mile 40 he started developing some knee pain with every downward stroke of the pedal.  That makes for a long last 25 miles.
My group remained in good spirits throughout the ride.  There was the usual "biker's butt" complaints but other than that everyone did great.  The wind was slightly from the north so we had a pep talk before heading 10 miles into the wind that this was the point where the rubber hits the road.  However, that was probably my favorite stretch of the ride.  There was less traffic so we could ride two across which made it easier to talk.  We had great conversation.  Also Hillary decided we needed to do a selfie so while riding a bike she grabs her phone out of her bag and takes several great shots. 

We had a wonderful time but were glad that none of the more serious bikers were around.  With about 3-4 miles to go more people were mentioning that they would not be disappointed to get off the bike sooner than later.  We finished the 35 miles all in one piece and I think everyone was excited to say that it was a new personal record since they had never biked over 20 miles before.  We grabbed some lunch and talked about other adventures, vacations, or get-togethers we want to have.  This seems to be a common topic with us, however the consensus was the next activity should involve staying inside and eating.  After lunch we headed down the block to a coffee shop to hang out until Arthur finished his ride.  We indulged in cinnamon rolls and the first bites were followed with a series of delighted moans.  I maybe felt a little bit bad that my husband was somewhere on an uncomfortable bike seat with excruciating knee pain while I was licking the frosting off a cinnamon roll.  We remarked that biking does go well with eating-- a hand full of cookies at each SAG stop with some fruit, lunch after the ride, and the cinnamon rolls to celebrate-- not too bad.  Finally Arthur texted that he had finished so we headed back.  Rachel and Hillary then headed off and we loaded up the bikes after Arthur ate lunch to head home.  Even with his knee bothering him Arthur reported that he had a wonderful time and was glad that I "made him get out of bed" to ride his bike.  He enjoyed the quiet personal time, pushing himself to the limits, and zen-like state of being able to focus his mind and body on his task.  I had a wonderful time enjoying the beautiful countryside since fall is one of my favorite times to bike, sharing a new experience with friends, going at a comfortable pace without my legs cramping or burning, and having wonderful fellowship while tooling around on  a bike.  It is interesting that we enjoyed the "same thing" for very different reason and had different experiences.  I love that in our marriage we have a great time doing things together- hiking, walking, biking, traveling.  However this was a great opportunity where we did our own thing and had a better time than if we had been together.  Omni Vincit Amor.