I Was a Swinger Today!

Hey, if the title of this blog didn't get your attention, you must be dead!

HA HA HA HA HA

I went to the soccer field at Central Avenue School this morning to watch grand niece Casey, almost 8, in her final game, but ended up pushing her sister Jamie (you met her in yesterdays' blog) and another wee one named Addison (a total stranger whose parents were watching another soccer game in a different field) on swings. I stood between the two swings, more or less, and pushed first one, then another, leaning back and forth each time either of them came my way. Tonight my arms feel like they've been tweaked pretty significantly -- by tomorrow I may be in the throes of serious regret for pushing them both for over 45 minutes. "Higher!" "Higher!"

When I well and truly wore out, I told them I had to stop, so they decided to go to the play area with different kinds of slides, where both girls -- and a third, older and heftier girl -- began to slide down a fireman's pole. All three were scared at first, so I had to reach up and be sure they were firmly attached (hands and feet) around the pole before I allowed them to slide down by letting go of their rear ends. We did that a good 25 times each (at least I was using different muscles for this new task); then Addy's dad came for her (introducing himself, thanking me, and asking me how much he owed me for babysitting! Funny guy!).

Then Jamie and the hefty girl wanted to swing from the monkey bars. Both were too little to make it from bar to bar without some serious help, so I was back and forth with them, holding them by the heels so they could do their thing.

After the other gal was taken home by her parent, Jamie decided we should play "keep away" in a soccer field that had been relinquished by another team. So we did that for a while. I had to keep chasing Jamie down... only managed to get the ball from her about three times, because she has been well-trained (already) by her mom, Wendy (a great soccer player and the girls' coach). Because I couldn't get the ball from her, I didn't have much chance to control it and slow down, so I was all over the bloody field, wondering when Jamie would get tired. She never did. T'was me who got tired!

So if I need help getting out of bed tomorrow, it will be no surprise! I spent an hour and a half playing with kids who wanted to get things done -- with lots of help, of course!

This afternoon I sat in the recliner to watch a little TV and within three minutes was fast asleep!

If I'd just do this kind of thing every day, I wouldn't have a weight problem, would I?

The weather was sensational today. It was 62 degrees... almost a record for this time of year up here in the Pacific NorthWet. (The record is 64 degrees.) It felt like a Chinook wind was blowing most of the day.

I fear we're going to get some serious rain and cold soon, though. These are the waning days of fall. It's pitch dark by five at night and doesn't get light again till close to six. On December 21st (shortest day of the year) we'll only get eight hours of daylight in this latitude. Not a lot of fun, but during the summer we get sixteen hours of daylight, so it all balances out. It's just hard to remember this time of year. Jackie has SADS (Seasonally Affecting Disorder, or whatever it's called), so I have to keep her spirits up by acting like a silly lunatic whenever I go over to her side of the abode. She started playing Christmas movies and plays Christmas music in the car starting about mid-October as the sun sets earlier, to keep her mood up. She loves Christmas and said if it didn't come in December she doesn't know how she'd get through winter. So we're fa la la la la'ing and laughing all the way... and walking when we can. It's helping us both, although I don't have SADS. I have the HAPPIES because Obama will be our President in less than three months and until then I can just watch his young family and grin, and grin, and grin... and house sit for critters and their people, and write... and... play with the grand nieces whenever they come within range...

If I wasn't so broke, I'd be the happiest lunatic on the planet! So here's proof that you don't need to be well off to be happy. You just need to be in the thick of things and count your blessings!

If I started counting my blessings right now I wouldn't reach the end of my list until May 18, 2010! You, too?

Happy days are here again!