Saturday, January 22, 2011
Well, we survived the Resolution Run this morning. It’s a 5K sponsored by a local running store and they give you a $25 gift card to spend there, so it’s almost like the run is free. We had to tiptoe over the ice, so our times were terrible, but my knee held up, so that was a win. I didn’t push at all, but I was glad not to have any pain.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Still dealing with some leftover fallout from our separation. Ceecee forwarded me an email from that guy who has still been contacting her, I thought he was pretty much gone, but she sent it to me this morning and was very apologetic. It was another of those “Can we talk?” messages. It’s not like she hasn’t repeatedly told him to leave her alone, so she didn’t need to apologize for it, but I asked her if she would allow me to get involved now.
Before this, she always asked me not to, but today she said to go ahead, so I replied to it. Maybe this will be the end of it.
Tonight we’re going to a little local place called Tony’s Famous Spaghetti. We’re calling it “pre-race fuel” since the 5K is still on for tomorrow. It’s really just an excuse to eat there because it’s good and inexpensive, but pre-race fuel sounds good. There’s still a layer of an inch or two of ice on the road in a lot of places, so this should be interesting in the morning.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
We got our snow day and had a lot of fun. We walked through the snow to this little place called Homegrown foods where they sell local produce. The actual reason we went was for homemade peppermint marshmallows. It’s not far from downtown and we also went to The Cup, so it’s a very unhealthy snacking day.
We have a 5k on Saturday, which will probably be cancelled due to the snow on the ground that won’t be melted by then. I haven’t run that far since my injury, so I wanted it to be a chance to see where I am in my recovery.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
There’s good eating, and then there’s good eating! Lately, we have been eating extremely well! This is not good for our physical fitness and running, by the way. I mean, we are supposed to be maintaining a certain level of fitness and eating and drinking whatever we want is not exactly compatible with that. Even so, we are enjoying life immensely right now.
There’s supposed to be a big snow storm coming in, so we’re prepared. We made sure we had groceries on hand and those groceries include orange juice and bubbly I made Chile in the crock pot this evening to eat tomorrow (and the next couple of days, potentially) and Ceecee made pan seared tuna and scallops in butter and garlic for supper tonight. Now we’re just crossing our fingers and waiting for the phone call to tell us that there’s no school tomorrow.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
I have a very unmanly confession to make. One of my top favorite movies of all time is Anne of Green Gables. Yes, as in “based on the novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery,” and made for a TV miniseries. And….I own the entire set on DVD and watch them regularly.
I realize that I am now in jeopardy of losing my man-license and I have just written this for the entire world to read. Why am I doing this? I’m not sure, other than this is me and I’m telling it like it is. And Ceecee and I had an Anne of Green Gable movie marathon at the loft today which involved crying.
That’s another thing. I’ve always been a sensitive guy and I’ve been known to get emotional at movies before this, but now, since my change of heart and the things we’ve been through…it’s water works all the time. I don’t fight it, though. I know I’ve been through a lot of healing and there’s a lot of release that just needs to happen, so I let it.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Snow Day! That means no school and Ceecee and I are making the most of it! We have to get up early on school days, so we were already up when they called it. We made breakfast with Mimosas (one of our favorites), then went back to bed. No plans. Just going to enjoy it!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
First Friday Art Walk was a lot of fun last night. The weather was great and we didn’t really have any plan. We just walked around and took it all in. There were some kid rockers playing “crazy train” in the downtown library. None of them looked older than about 13, but they weren’t too bad.
Ceecee has still been swimming a lot and we’re working out pretty regularly again. We don’t have anything specific that we’re training for, so our workouts lack direction somewhat right now. I’ve been trying to gradually increase my running distance and testing out the knee. So far, so good, but I haven’t pushed it, so I don’t really know.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
First day back at school after Christmas break. I had to go to a conference yesterday to listen to a guru tell us the latest philosophy of education, but today I’m back in the classroom for second semester. I’m also still at Macy’s. Break was more wonderful than I can really even begin to express on here.
I’ve always dreamed of love like this, but until now, I’ve never really experienced it. I guess I always believed, deep down, that it was possible. I just couldn’t seem to make it a reality and I’ve lived the past several years in suspension between what I wanted and what I thought I could actually experience.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
So this is 2011; so full of possibilities…starting out with a heart full of joy. This was my Facebook status for New Year’s Day. We’re just part way through the restoration tour and so much has happened.
There’s so much still to do, but it doesn’t seem daunting at all. On the contrary, it seems joyful and wonderful and I can’t wait to continue our journey forward. We are learning, loving, and restoring as we go, with August 6th as our target.
I’m so glad North Point Church has Saturday services. It’s going to be so amazing today to worship the Lord, who has made this all possible, on the first day of the new year with Ceecee and Angie by my side.
Friday, December 31, 2010
What a day for reflecting and being thankful. What a day, period. Make that, What a day, exclamation point!
It’s the last day of 2010 and I’m completely overwhelmed. First of all, we’re back home. We left a little early yesterday to race an oncoming winter storm. It was moving from west to east and we didn’t want to take a chance on getting stuck, so we headed out and beat it back to Springfield.
It caught up to us after we got here and we’re pretty much snowed in, which is just the way we like it. Our loft is right downtown, so if we need anything, we can walk down to the Bistro Market or any of the downtown eateries, but we’re warm, we have a great view, and we have everything we need.
Most importantly, we have each other, and a love that just keeps growing. It keeps getting deeper and richer and I’m treasuring every moment of it. Today Ceecee said I’m the peanut butter to her jelly. That about sums it up, I guess.
It’s new year’s eve and when this year started, I had no idea that our marriage was nearly at its end. I had pretty much been numb for so long, that I wouldn’t have known much of anything about what was going on in Ceecee’s heart or in her life. I was just going through the motions most of the time because I wasn’t healthy and didn’t have any idea what to do.
Of course, the Spring was when our separation really began. Ceecee hadn’t moved out yet, but she left me emotionally before she actually found her own place. I spent the first few months trying to figure out how to stop it all from happening and the next few months changing, getting help, and learning to love her and winning her back. By time school started, I had moved in to her place and we were gingerly putting the pieces back together.
The plan for the year we are calling the restoration tour was birthed then and it has gained momentum with each passing month. There has been so much healing that I can’t possibly even attempt to chronicle it all here. In the background, there is still pain and fear. It comes from what we went through and some things we’re still dealing with, but it becomes less important as time separates us from it all more and more and we continue to make things new.
Today has been another one of those magical days – a fairy tale. It’s the kind of day I had given up on. Here I am though, living the dream. I can’t take the credit. It was God who brought this about and Ceecee’s heart that was willing to be changed to love again that’s made this possible. This was both the worst and the best year of my life, if that makes any sense. One thing is for certain. I will never go back to the way things were.
The Restoration Tour 