run on sentences

My friend Velda's funeral was today.  Her son asked me to speak at it, and below are my comments. My friend Velda was part of a group of women I lovingly called my “Church girls”. We all sat together each Sunday and got to know each other over several years.  My “girls” became one of the main reasons I went to Church regularly. Velda was the oldest of the three Church girls.  She was born in 1914.   The year she was born was the beginning of World War 1.   Woodrow Wilson was president and in May he signed a proclamation for the first Mother's day. Joseph and Rose Kennedy got married.  The first stainless steel items were invented.  Many important people including Jack LaLanne, Dylan Thomas and Joe Dimaggio were born that year and Velda outlived most of them.  My father in law, who is still living, was also born this year. The cost of a stamp was 2 cents. Edger Rice Burroughs published Tarzan of the Apes. Velda's long life spanned man...

Today I didn't want to run.  I got up plenty early enough but felt nauseous and headachy and besides it was threatening rain or snow outside, not that this usually stops me.  I was just looking for an excuse.   I have sore shins from running aggressively down Millcreek canyon on Saturday in a 5k race for Colon Cancer.  I ran like I was a 16 year old boy or something!  The race was 1.5 miles uphill and than 1.5 miles back and I am much better at going down.  I passed many of the runners who passed me on the way up - men and women, I might (don't mind if I do) add.  It was the first time since my broken leg that I could fly downhill without feeling a weakness in my Achilles tendon.  And I was first in my age group.  So I was somewhat proud of the shinsplints in a sadistic way. Jack the dog followed me around the house all morning,  looking hopeful.  So I said "Okay Jack" give me 30 more minutes.  I unenthusiastically got all my...

Last night my friend Velda quietly "passed away" as her son told me when he called this morning.  She was 97.  We had planned to visit her on Wednesday, one week after her 97th birthday but she was hospitalized instead for pneumonia.  I think she was tired and was ready.  While I am saddened by her death part of me understands that it was her time and this is what happens.  I remember when older friends of my mom died I often wondered why she didn't seem sad.  She probably was on the inside but I think you come to a point where you are more accepting of death as inevitable and just another experience in life - because yes, death is a part of life, just as birth is. Velda was one of my "church girls".   Now there is only one left - Mary Alice who is 87.   Thelma died several years ago - she and Velda became good friends after both of their husbands died in the early 90's.  They both took water aerobic and made jokes about old ladie...

Sometimes a run turns into a surprisingly good run with no warning.  You glide along effortlessly with all systems in working order - nothing aches, no stomach cramps, no having to stop and pee or squeeze the sphincters tight so you don't pee your pants - or worse. The planets are all aligned and life is good and the running is good even if it is a race where you don't feel like you trained enough.  It's like a good dream where you are running and your feet barely touch the ground and you are passing all of the people who in some way, have done you wrong or so it seems.  I have plenty of dreams where I can't get my legs to run, but a few great ones where I am just passing everyone. Such was the case in the Moab Half Marathon this year.  It was one of those rare runs that, while hard to describe, you know it when it happens.   I  had trained pretty well but had been sick the week before with a cold that left me feeling pretty crappy for an entire week and ...

Until I was revised (that's what my phone wants to say instead of "retired" when I send text messages), I didn't realize how much time work takes out of a person's life.  Usually I got up at 5 or 5:15 and met my friend Becky for a run, came home, showered, got dressed and was at work at 8.  Some mornings I was there earlier for various meetings.  I didn't leave till 5p or 530 - later if there were staff meetings or meetings with the night shift crew.  I did this 5 days/week for the last ten years - prior to that I worked four ten hour days.  The work ethic seemed to be that the longer you stayed at work and the more hours you put in the better you were at your job.  Nurses don't only eat their young, they eat themselves because it seems expected.  If you weren't stressed and talking about how stressed you were, you must not be working hard enough.  It was a good job and I made a difference - I know that.  But it did start sucking the life rig...

A few days ago, our backyard looked like this: Jack in our back yard, March 8th Bruce and I spent a lot of the morning shoveling about 10 inches of snow despite our bad colds.  Today it will reach 60 degrees and here's the same back yard two days later: That's March for you.  Bruce and I both have bad colds - neither of us are sick much,  but this one brought us down so that we both did nothing for a few days other than use a lot of Kleenex and cough in unison.  My sister told me to try putting vicks on the bottoms of my feet and then put socks over them and sleep like that...Jan Tucker guarantees that it is the best thing for a cough.  I did sleep better but it might just be a coincidence.  The smell of Vicks Vapo Rub brought back memories though...of my mom rubbing it on my chest and under my nostrils and putting a dab of it in the vaporizer when we were sick.  So maybe I was comforted by that.  Nothing makes one appreciate health like bei...

March is a weird month - it's not sure if it's quite time to be spring, but trying to run away from winter. Supposedly it comes in like a lamb and goes out with a lion.  So far the first part is true. Or is it the other way around? There's reasons I like March - the big one is that it gets lighter earlier and earlier each day and stays lighter into the evening. Daylight saving time starts. March makes me feel lighter too - the winter fog starts to dissipate a little bit and I feel more awake, alert and oriented, as we say in the business. While I was gainfully employed, my running typically took place at 5:45 AM during the weekdays. During the cold winter months the only things that get me out there are 1) Knowing that my friend Becky is waiting for me,  2) my clothes are waiting for me near the heat vent in the bathroom, 3) Jack the dog depends on me,  and 4) I know I will have a better day if I make myself go out there.  The hard part is simply getting dresse...