Monday, May 21, 2007

Yesterday's Blowout

So there I was, cruising home on the Capital Beltway (outer loop in VA), on my way home after a very emotional day of farewells to the wonderful people at St. David's Church. You see, yesterday was my last day serving them as pastor and priest - so we had lots of good things to say to each other, lots of ways to celebrate, remember and cherish our time together - and we topped it all off with a huge delicious cake - actually two huge delicious cakes.

And then, on my way home with my mom and three kids in the car...there I was, cruising home on the beltway...and suddenly it sounded like a helicopter was hovering overhead. Except that I quickly realized that it was not a helicopter but a very loud noise that involved rumbling and shaking the right rear passenger quarter of my Honda Odyssey mini-van...then simultaneously my mother and I saw the smoke and my little girl began to cry saying, "Mommy, I'm really scared!"

I pulled over as quickly and safely as I could to discover that my right rear tire had blown out the sidewall - you can see the photo above - both on the right and left sides of the tire. After AAA told me that while they would make me a top priority because of our location, normally routine roadside assistance calls take about 1.5 hours to get to in this area. Thankfully, a Fairfax County K9 officer pulled over, blue lights on, and changed my tire for me. And, thankfully I was only two miles from my exit, with only about 7 miles total to get home.

Once home, I crashed. I felt about as deflated as that tire looked - just plum wrung out emotionally.

So today I went out early and got four new tires for the van (they were due for replacement anyway) and then I decided that I needed a new start to my time off - some new tread for me. So now I have new cycling shoes and shorts, new running pants, a new pedometer and a new weight-tracking bathroom scales. I'm geared up for reclaiming my physical health and putting new wheels on this tired, way-too-fat bod.

I'm hoping that having new stuff will get me past the initial excuses of "nothing to wear that's appropriate and/or comfortable" but now I need accountability. Anybody out there have any good suggestions for me????

5 comments:

Gallycat said...

Well, I have my 52 pounds in 52 weeks commitment. but I could always use a buddy+ on the journey.

Maybe we can take evening walks together when I'm in town.

Jennifer+ said...

Sounds great...let me know! I've thought about your 52 pounds in 52 weeks and that sounds pretty reasonable...of course, reasonable is not what I REALLY want ! :)

Let me know when you're around!

C. Robin Janning said...

Reverend Mother,

Your blog is wonderful, I have just discovered it. I really appreciated this in a previous post:

"However, our understanding of the word "believe" has changed over the last few centuries - the original sense of the word really is more like "I give my heart to..." This understanding implies a path, a journey, a movement forward into something that is beyond ourselves right now"

Reading that helps me on many levels.

52 pounds in 52 weeks seems ambitious but not scary.

Robin

Gallycat said...

will do. now that i'm kinda through the past month's insanity and into a more ordinary time, I think i can safely say that tuesday nights and some monday nights will be my safest bet.

and i'd like to come with you to the falls church loyalists sometime!

Jan said...

Hey Jennifer...I'm looking for a walking pal too, but I'm not gonna be able to go as far as you as quickly. I'm so excited for you about your new posting, and envious of the summer "sabbatical". Maybe we can walk and talk a bit...
Jan