Wonder Why Wednesday: Crashing Down Edition

Posted by Missy in Fitness | 6 comments

Picture it: The gym. 2010. A young-ish woman is in Pilates class.

(If you caught the Golden Girls reference, then you watch too much TV. Also, we could be good friends.)

So. Monday night I was in my Pilates class when one of those summer storms popped up, quite literally out of the blue sky. I walked into the gym at 5:50 p.m., under blue skies dotted here and there with clouds that looked like they could make rain only if they got very organized. As it was, the clouds all looked like high school seniors during the last week of school. They were doodling on their notebooks, daydreaming about being bigger, cooler, college clouds.

Approximately 30 minutes later, as I was prostrate with my feet inside spring loaded loops, focused on zipping up the bottom ribs (huh?), we heard a noise like something being ripped off the roof above us. Less than a minute later, we heard rain. But not the pitter-patter of drops on the roof. More like the sound of running water somewhere very near our heads. My two classmates and I leapt off of our reformers mere seconds before the acoustic ceiling tiles came crashing down, just inches from where our heads were once located.

That noise like something being ripped off the roof? It was the roof being ripped off the building. Apparently the wind caught part of the roof and just rolled it back, like the gym was a can of sardines. There was significant water damage to one corner of the building. In fact, the entire facility was closed today; the Pilates and yoga studios are closed indefinitely.

Of course I said a prayer of thanks that my head was not still on the reformer when the ceiling gave out. And I marveled at the power of nature. But my first thought was, Oh, man. This is just going to add fuel to my mother’s anti-exercise fire.

See, my mom is in nice shape. She looks great and she takes good care of herself. She walks for exercise, but she will not go to the gym. My mother jokes (but she’s not kidding) that exercise is dangerous. And it so happens that my life has been one long proof to her theorem. I continually have some kind of sore joint, strained muscle, over-or-under-active tendon. My fitness history is a series of athletic pursuits, broken up by injuries and rehab. It’s what I do.

And now the gym nearly lands on my head. My mom is so vindicated.

Since it’s Wonder Why Wednesday, after all, I have some questions for you.

My light question for today:
Why can’t I be that fitness buff who rarely experiences setbacks and injuries? Why does the ceiling come crashing down every time I start to hit my stride?

My only slightly deeper question:
Why am I writing so many health/fitness posts lately? We’ll move on to other topics, I promise.

If you feel the need for some depth:
This story has the potential to take us down numerous paths. We could talk fitness (check), nature, spirituality… So I wonder, why can two people can look at the same event or circumstances and walk away with two vastly different views? Obviously our life experiences inform how we see things, as do our religious and political beliefs. I guess what I wonder – what I’d like to discuss – is do we ever choose a different view of something simply because a particular perspective suits us? Do we see things how we want to in order to further our own agenda? I know what I think about this. And I know what I want to believe. What do you think?

6 comments

BlogHer, You Would Have Completed Me

Posted by Missy in Whatever | 15 comments

I’m all out of the funny. If you want to roll on the floor, go visit Kludgy Mom. Gigi’s post kills me and I enthusiastically second her thoughts.

Me? I’m watching the Hallmark Channel hoping for a good cry. Golden Girls just came on and the theme song incited weeping. Pathetic. Let’s all roll our eyes and hate me for a second. Okay. Done. Now, let’s talk BlogHer.

I’m not going. I’ve been playing it real cool. In fact, until this week I haven’t even uttered the word, BlogHer. Yes, I’ve been secretly stalking out possibilities of scoring a ticket for sale. I’ve debated getting a flight to NYC and lurking around the conference, hoping for a scalper with a BlogHer ticket. Nothing says, Hey, she looks like a nice woman who probably has a really great blog! I want to meet her, for sure! more than lurking, univited, around the periphery of a NYC hotel.

The simple explanation for my non-attendance is that I’m new to blogging. Wonder, Friend is coming up on five months old. Holla! No? I thought I would try it out. I’ve always wanted to be able to shout, Holla!, and sound cool. I’m over that now.

Since I’m new to the game, BlogHer wasn’t even a blip on the radar until the tweets started flying around about a month ago. I mean, I’d heard of it. I’m not a shut-in or anything. But I thought it was only for real bloggers. Turns out, anyone can go. Anyone! Even me. Except, as has occasionally been the case in my life: I’m a day late and a dollar short.

(Lots of dollars short, actually. Are you aware that in addition to the plane ticket, the hotel, and the conference admission, there are a few other things I need in order to properly do BlogHer? This post by Mommypants, detailing the BlogHer necessities, is hysterical. Go read it. Funny, yes?)

So I missed it this year. No more playing it cool. I’m a small, tiny bit jealous of all the bloggers who will get to put faces with web sites. And then there’s the location. New York City, the hometown of my soul. The parties. The staying-in-a-hotel-without-the-kids. And, obviously, the chance to talk all things blog with people who are as weirdly attached to this forum as I am.

Aaagh. Yep. Jealous.

BlogHer, prepare yourself. This is one mama who is planning a blogging boondoggle next August.

This post is part of the Not Going To BlogHer Blog Hop, hosted by A New Breed of Mom. Link Up! Read Up!

******************************************************************************

A small bit of housekeeping:

1. You can now subscribe to Wonder, Friend by email! This makes me inexplicably excited. If you’re anything like me, you sometimes forget to check your reader. You may have favorite blogs (ahem) that you love reading, but you get busy and forget to check for new posts. So go ahead, subscribe. Over there, on the right, near the top. The Feedburner thingy. Thank you!

2. If you do read Wonder, Friend on a regular basis, you have my heart. Really. When I started this I said I would write even if nobody was reading, and I meant that. I mean that still. I write this for me, but lately it’s occurred to me that I also write this for you. Thank you for reading! If you leave a comment, you’re on my list of suitable mates should my husband ever meet an untimely demise. I sincerely appreciate your comments. Here’s the housekeeping part - I am now responding to comments within the comment thread, not via email. It just makes things more consistent. I’m working on setting up a comment platform that will send you an email when I respond to your comment. If you have recommendations for a good comment platform, send them my way.

15 comments