The Funk

I never finished writing about my trip to Solvang.  While I covered the bike ride and the events leading up to it, I left out the fun we had on our day of traveling back to Texas.  We got up at the crack of dawn (no, really!) for the third time in four days, left the hotel at 4:45 a.m., and drove the long, windy, dark roads back to Bob Hope Airport. 

Why didn’t I write about the fun we had on the airplane, the pictures we took in the engine (the plane was off, obviously), and the gambling we did in Las Vegas’ airport?  It’s actually quite simple… the let down of the event being over created a sadness I can't begin to explain.

Yesterday, I came across a quote that said, “”You can’t focus on your Blessings and your Problems at the same time.  The one that has your focus will shape your thinking.”  I am more blessed than I sometimes remember, and this quote reminded me it.  I rode 104-miles in memory of my dad, raised over $5,500 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and had the best support system I could have ever asked for.  Talk about blessed!  My sister-in-law also sent me a poem she reads often, and it was what I needed to pull me out of my funk.

First Lesson, Philip Booth

Lie back daughter, let your head

be tipped back in the cup of my hand.

Gently, and I will hold you. Spread

your arms wide, lie out on the stream

and look high at the gulls. A dead-

man's float is face down. You will dive

and swim soon enough where this tidewater

ebbs to the sea. Daughter, believe

me, when you tire on the long thrash

to your island, lie up, and survive.

As you float now, where I held you

and let go, remember when fear

cramps your heart what I told you:

lie gently and wide to the light-year

stars, lie back, and the sea will hold you.

Today, I counting my blessings while I lie gently.