Life's Little Lessons

The week of Thanksgiving, Sharon, Sara, Jolene, and I found ourselves on the white beaches of Navarre, Florida. We went down the Saturday prior to Thanksgiving and rented a condo on the twelfth floor overlooking the beautiful waters of the Gulf. The plan was that Martin and Hannah (2-year-old family add-on) would drive down on Wednesday and pick Alvin up at the airport in Pensacola before joining us for the remainder of the week. In the meantime, we set ourselves up for some major rest and relaxation. Never have I gotten to so consistently get 8 hours + rest in the same week. It was wonderful. The first day when I got up, however, I ambled out of my bedroom into the kitchen/dining/living area, and I declare... I couldn’t see. The sun was SO bright, I literally had to go find my sunglasses so I could see.

This was the same day I got the brilliant idea of running down and back up the stairs... 12 flights. The plan was that we’d get a complete work-out in a very minimal span of time. So Sharon and I started off. We had no problem getting to the ground floor (surprise, surprise), but woe unto us about the 5th floor. From there it was a journey like no other. Lungs heaving, we finally made it back up. After recovering a bit, we decided that yes, that >was<>

Monday morning..... We now had possession of the sorest legs we’d ever experienced. For the next two days we could hardly walk, and when we did, it was not without limping, not mention loud complaining. So there went that plan! We chalked the experience up to Life’s Little Lessons.

On Thanksgiving Day when all siblings were there, we spent a while in the exercise room on floor 1. We tried out all the machines. Then Sharon challenged Jolene and the boys to a race up the stairs. I cackled with glee as they roared out of the work out room and into the stairwell. Sharon knew from the beginning to just take her time, but the others took off at a dead run. I took Hannah in the elevator and headed up to meet them at the top. We stood at the top and waited. The stairwell was filled with loud breathing, huffing and puffing. It sounded like a herd of water buffalo! Martin won, with Alvin close behind. By the time we were all back in the condo, the boys were sprawled out on the couches, lungs heaving, gasping for air!

It was not only Sharon and me who learned one of Life's Little Lessons that weekend.