It is *NOT* the Hope That Kills You
It鈥檚 a funny thing, hope. Equal partner to joy and to crushing disappointment. I heard a man say tonight that being sad was not the worst thing… that the worst thing was being sad alone.
It鈥檚 easy to forget sometimes how not alone we are and how many people have helped us along the way. And how many people that we, in turn, will be able to help. And how much that matters.
The world is a busy and hectic place, and we its people merely players. But we should remember that there are people who care about us. Who care about our dreams and our hopes and our disappointments. Who will be there for us if we let them.
We humans, we’re a team. Every day there are people fighting to stick together. They know that it is better to win together, and to lose together. Every day people come together when it would be easier to stay apart. They know that it is better to celebrate together and to mourn together. Every day people help each other. They know that defeats are softened and victories sweeter when we do them together. There is magic in our humanity if we can but grasp it.
Sunday 7 March 2021
Today I did an “Olympic” “Triathlon” with Jesse and Amelia. I guess it was a triathlon – I did each discipline. But I cheated a bit on the bike and went and tried on Jolyn swimsuits for a considerable portion of the run. (How could I resist, when they have a booth on our improvised run route? Especially since the Rep turned out to be a Wrightsville beach lifeguard with whom I had a blast talking marathon swimming.)
I had a really good time. There was a bit of an upper hamstring (code for groin) issue (from some ocean breaststroke the day before) as I got off the bike, but I feel OK now, so no harm done. I have definitely missed triathlons as I have focused my training on marathon swimming. But I’ll be back!
The 1650 yard swim was my first swim of any distance without fins in two months. Yay! I did not cover myself in glory when it came to speed, but baby steps, man, baby steps.
My splits always crack me up. Granted, it’s easier to split evenly when you’re going at easy to moderate effort… but I always swim like this, and it amuses me greatly:
