Friday, November 26, 2010

Day 57

     The holiday season is going by quickly while I maintain my hooping challenge. I was happy to have my overeating symptoms go away as soon as I picked up the hoop yesterday after Thanksgiving dinner. Hooping gets a lot of my emotional energy out after sad episodes happen in my life. Yesterday my grandmother died after a long battle with cancer. She had won a few times, but her third and final cancer finally got her in the end. I hooped briefly yesterday but only a small amount before bed. I know when I finally get that long hooping session going I will cry for her.
     I had a startling vision heading home today after work. My dogs have been climbing over a 7 ft. tall chain link fence corner to run around in the graveyard near our house. Sadly, my beautiful year and a half old black pit bull/bull mastiff mix Wrinkles, was hanging on the other side of the fence. He jumped over but was choked to death by his chain, which we put on him before we returned to work to keep him from getting out of the front of our fence. We figured he got out by jumping between the two walls in the corner. We didn't know he'd try to get over a wall by itself. It was horrific to see him hanging as we approached the house with his brother circling his lifeless body. His brother got out of his collar before he jumped over the fence and Wrinkles was likely trying to follow him.
     I know this must not be what you're expecting to hear in this blog. But death is real and our way of life often distracts us from it. It becomes even more real when a loved one is facing death or when you have slipped out of its grasp. Hooping helps with coping for me. I hooped when my ex broke up with me, I hooped when my grandfathers died. I have and will continue to use hooping as a means to bring comfort to my soul when I am experiencing sadness. Furthermore, I don't believe that hooping masks the sadness, by diverting my attention to athletic pursuits. Rather, I think it clears my mind and allows me to embrace the sadness. I feel it is a beautiful tribute to the lost one or to the lost self when a sad event changes who we are.
    RIP Grandma Phyllis Fahey (11/25/2010); RIP "Wrinkles" (11/26/2010)

And as for my experience, death occurs in threes. So please, everyone be extra careful :)

Accomplishments: I hooped even on a holiday! I was sure I'd be too busy but I made hooping a priority and I got it done. I also have been hooping in the cold despite not being able to grip. I realized that if my hands have moisture they don't suffer the grip loss that cold weather causes. So if you are hooping in the cold: bring some hand lotion to keep your grip on that tape (I tried just spitting on my hands every few minute - gross I know - but the wetness isn't very good for the tape.) Maybe lotion isn't either, but it sure is less gross;)

Goals:I am trying to get up earlier so I don't have to hoop in the dark at night or hoop in my house, where space is limited.  I am shifting my work duties to earlier times so that I have everything done by 2 or 3 and have a nice chunk of daylight left to hoop. I have been reinventing hoop moves that I haven't done since I began hooping. They look a lot better executed by someone who has been practicing everyday for the past 57 days!

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