I got a minor shock today when I suddenly realized it’s been an entire week since Bradley and I took the kids to a Great Wolf Lodge. It seems like we just got back the day before yesterday! I was surprised when I logged onto my website to see that I hadn’t even posted about it! Or anything else, for that matter! I must be busy… Isn’t that always the truth, though?
We are packing the days as full as we can. We’ve been hiking, we went to Great Wolf Lodge, we are shopping, creating, beaching, swimming, painting bedrooms… All of those things that go away with the warm weather and long, empty days that are replaced by blustery ones that are bustling with school and activity. This was a fantastic summer. We called it a staycation because we didn’t have a big vacation planned outside of visiting family. We were lazy and self centered. We did what we wanted, when we wanted and I haven’t felt this free and unencumbered in years. The vacant, ‘boring’, summer was one of the best and most healing things we have allowed ourselves in years.
While we were at Great Wolf, I decided that it was my moment to trust my body, strap myself into a harness and conquer my fear of heights for once and all! Mind over matter and all of that good stuff! I had looked into a ropes/zip line course elsewhere and learned that the bill would be over $400 for my family to go. At GWL, it cost 12 per adult and 10 per kid-or thereabouts- and if you’re wondering, no. Entry wasn’t included in the room cost at the Grand Mound location in Washington, but compared to the $400 I would spend elsewhere, it seemed like a steal.
I did awesome! I was so proud of myself! I promised my ego that I would go on a zip line and I would attempt a tightrope on the second level. I zip lined within ten minutes of getting on the course and, full of cocksure bluster, courageously climbed the stairs to the second level where I almost instantly grabbed hold of the support column and hung on for dear life and couldn’t let go (the levels were about the same as a house, so it was like standing on a two-story house’s roof but with just some ropes under me). I started having an anxiety attack, even as I tried to let it subside, and had to go back down to the first level. Have no fear, though because after about 30 minutes on level one, I took on level two, with zip lines! Then Bradley convinced me that I could, indeed, do the third level- yes, like standing on the roof of a three story house made of ropes and air😳. I got up there, crossed two slack lines and suddenly caught sight of the ground 45 feet below me. I grabbed hold of the nearest beam and started up with the anxiety again, except this time there was nothing anyone could do for me, no stairs were nearby, I had to pull on my big girl panties and walk the line, literally.
I tell you what- I was like the wind, getting across those two ropes, down the stairs and out of my harness! I was all done. I loved it, but it was pretty stressful. I’m proud of what I did, but I was glad when it ended!
Other than that, my days have been filled with my classroom. We had a nasty windstorm that knocked our power out for a day so I got all busy producing all kinds of materials and posters that I never usually have time for but admire longingly. It felt good but I was over my smelly markers and glue sticks when the power came back on. I shouldn’t have complained- several of my friends were without power from Saturday until Monday evening! Today I finished unpacking my classroom (!!!) and actually started making it homey and cute. It feels soooooo good to be ready for the year. Last year I had four days to unpack before I had kids in the room. This year I sorted through every single box before tucking things away; I feel organized, prepared and ready. That’s a good feeling.
What’s not a good feeling is the one that’s in my back. Packing and unpacking boxes does no favors for my back. The past two moves I have done have made an horrible impact on my shoulders and back, and now whenever I get into moving mode my back starts acting up. Ever since I’ve been back in my classroom, ever since the return to my ridiculous boxes, again, I also have the return of my back and armpit injuries. I’m now thinking that my ‘boob related’ injuries have very little to do with Zumba and everything to do with moving since the past two years of moving have resulted in the exact same injuries at the exact same times in similar places when I’m doing the exact same activities. Suffice it to say that I’ve been laying low and not working out a whole lot. That makes me nervous, but I’ll get back into the swing of things as soon as the year gets rolling.