Blessings Come in Many Different Flavors

Some times blessings are obvious. They come in the form of loving family, supportive friends, a surprise visit from a long-lost someone, or Christmas bonuses. It's easy to embrace these blessings, because we've spent our entire lives building positive connotations around them. Some times, however, blessings are not so obvious; frankly, some of them are tied to so many negative connotations that it's almost impossible to see them for what they really are.

Like getting laid off from your job just 2 weeks after your soon-to-be-officially-ex-husband kicks you out of your own house and requires you to make appointments to get your stuff and see your own cats. Like your townhouse closing moving until after the divorce, rendering you tehcnically homeless (read: staying in a really shitty extended stay hotel in a crappy part of town because it's all you can -not really- afford) for an additional 3 weeks. Like collecting a new beau and having to re-start your training program after a bladder infection and stomach flu destroy your body. Like getting a lecture from your boss about how he thinks you're addicted to your prescriptions, which scares you so bad you stop taking them and then pass out in the sound booth trying to put in your 55 hours that week because it's not enough for him that you used your sick days - you have to make up the time, too. Like being forced to drop your classes for the semester because your body just can't tolerate the stress. Like eating shitty and gaining a few pounds because cheap food isn't healthy.

All sounds pretty shitty, I'm sure. But, if none of this had happened, I wouldn't have learned a bunch of things. Like how to close on a new home. Like how bosses shouldn't be good friends because they get too into your personal life (And since when did being someone's friend give you the authority to give them medical advice?) Like how to deal with being jobless when you're a single-income household a month before you were supposed to be. Like learning that there are boys out there that will WILLINGLY be your sherpa because they're so proud that you train for triathlons. Like getting extra sleep and taking the time to look for a job that suits you. Like teaching you to deal with stress and crisis ('cause God knows I suck at that and can sure as hell use more practice.) And like getting back into the swing of HIM training, and not a moment too soon, because you can use the mental and physical clarity the training and focus will bring.

So far this month, I'm having the most consistent week I've had since training for FL HIM '08 started. I've only had one "off week" - every other week has included at least a few workouts - but I haven't really been TRAINING until this week. But boy does it feel good to be training. This is, of course, thanks in large part to the ELF, who has been extraordinarily supportive about all my personal, physical and mental issues, and a group of very special friends including Tea, IM Able, Duane, and a pile of people I know from "the real world".

And THAT is a blessing.