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By Sandy, March 1, 2010 10:27 am

I cried during the closing ceremonies, and not because the USA Hockey Team lost to Canada in overtime.

I cried during Neil Young’s performance of “Long May You Run.” It’s not the first time I’ve cried during a song.

It was a combination of emotions. The way the Olympic games make me feel, the power of the athlete’s stories and performances, a year’s worth of sleep deprivation, and the end of February.

This time last year I was a couple weeks into recovering from childbirth, which for me was an unexpected emergency c-section. I was sore, exhausted, hormonal, depressed, and my boobs hurt from breastfeeding. My body felt completely foreign to me.

After a year, I am finally beginning to feel normal. Over the weekend, I put Oscar into his Ergo and took a walk around the block. I couldn’t get over how tired and out-of-shape a simple walk made me feel. But for the first time in years, I felt like doing something about it.

This morning I stepped outside on my way to work and there was something in the air. Maybe it was my revelation over the weekend, maybe it was the Neil Young song, maybe it was the fact that it’s March 1st. It was cold, the thermometer stood at 31 degrees, but the air had a strange liquid quality to it. There was dew on the windshield instead of ice. The air had a different smell to it. I thought of the end of the Sylvia Plath poem, “Wintering,” where she writes about bees waking up from their winter hibernation:

Winter is for women —-
The woman, still at her knitting,
At the cradle of Spanis walnut,
Her body a bulb in the cold
and too dumb to think.

Will the hive survive,
will the gladiolas
Succeed in banking their fires
To enter another year?

What will they taste of,
the Christmas roses?
The bees are flying.
They taste the spring.

My perfect moment is that this morning,  I could taste the spring. I could feel a lengthening and stretching in my body, a reaching toward the spring, toward the summer, toward the sun. There is still snow on the ground, still three more weeks of winter, and there will still be more snow and more frigid nights and mornings. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I’ve decided to commit myself to running a 10k race this summer. There is one on Saturday, June 26, which is roughly sixteen weeks away. I can’t wait to run again.

We’ve been through
Some things together
With trunks of memories still to come
We found things to do
In stormy weather
Long may you run.

Long may you run.
Long may you run.
Although these changes
Have come
With your chrome heart shining
In the sun
Long may you run.

For more perfect moments, visit Lori

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By Sandy, February 27, 2010 9:29 am

Today I tackled my wardrobe.

Although I am currently under my pre-pregnancy weight (thank you, breastfeeding), many of my clothes still don’t fit, due to changes in my body. I decided that now that Oscar is a year old, these clothes are never going to fit, and it’s time to let them go. Hanging on to clothes that don’t fit creates a kind of psychic weight for me that I want to be rid of. Some people find this motivating, but for me it’s a burden.

So I ruthlessly paired down my clothing, asking myself the following questions:

• Does it fit?
• Does it flatter?
• Do I love it?
• Do I wear it regularly?

I took several bags of clothes to Goodwill, and now my closet and dresser feel so much lighter. I feel lighter too!

Last week I organized Oscar’s toys.

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By Sandy, February 22, 2010 10:04 am

Last night I watched the premier of Olympic Ski Cross. Because there aren’t enough sports that make me hold my breath and bite my nails while routing for the underdog and simultaneously hoping somebody bites it…hard. Cuz I’m twisted like that.

One of the favorites, Chris Del Bosco from Canada, was in bronze metal position toward the end of the final race. As he headed toward the last jump he should have checked his speed, which in skiing terms means going into a little snow plow to slow down. However, as he later said during an interview, “I didn’t want the bronze, so I went for it.” He took HUGE air, and then biffed it bad. It was fantastic. It’s what the Olympics are all about.

This is why I am not an Olympic athlete. While driving through the snow on my way to work this morning, I wasn’t content with bronze metal position. I was content with last place. In bad weather, I drive so slowly that everyone passes me, throwing a look at me as they fly by that says, loser. That’s ok, because they don’t give medals for coming in first place.

I just drove slowly, enjoyed the beautiful snow in the trees, and let myself have a perfect moment.

For more perfect moments, visit Lori

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By Sandy, February 20, 2010 2:15 pm

I first heard about Simplify Saturday here. I love the idea of stepping back each week and taking a careful and critical look at my belongings, asking myself, “Do I really need this?” or “Do I really love this?” and “How often do I use this?”

When Oscar was born we were showered with many thoughtful, generous, beautiful, and practical gifts for our new baby. We will always be grateful for the ongoing generosity of our friends and family.

However, recently we have become victim to what a friend of mine refers to as “toy creep.” Oscar has more toys than we know what to do with and that we have room for. This week I made a decision to pare down and organize his toys. I’ve found that he will get really excited about toys that he hasn’t seen in awhile, so I took some toys to my office at work for him to play with there. I will rotate which toys become “work toys” so that Oscar gets a break from his toys and gets to rediscover forgotten toys.

We also hope to avoid too many plastic toys that make noise and need batteries, although I don’t mind the ones that are educational. My favorites are wooden toys, puzzles, books, and toys that inspire creativity and imaginative play.

This is Oscar’s current favorite:

A simple set of nesting blocks, purchased at a locally owned toy store and made from BPA-free plastic. Oscar will literally play with this for hours, and has recently learned how to fit the blocks into their holes.

My goal for now is to be able to fit his toys onto a bookcase, so that I can put them away at night. He does have more toys than this, as we keep some in the living room as well. However, I’ve found that the fewer toys he has access to, the more he plays with the ones he has.