The Accidental Olympian

KINDNESS & KARMA WEEK, THE FRIENDSHIP EDITION

I like having posts with 'editions'.

Does that make me quirky?

Ha, who am I kidding. Being ME makes me quirky.



So, here we are at the end of a week about kindness, karma, and good o'l fashion happiness. I don't know about you, but I feel better.

One of the things I've tried to focus on this week is looking at all the pieces in my life that are working. All the layers that fit together to make this life I live a lot higher on the AWESOME spectrum and much less leaning towards the LAME spectrum.

There was a time, right after I relocated to Olympia where I believed that besides Adam and my dog, I was alone. Alone in this world, alone in this city, and Adam and I would simply be forced to soldier on together, two against the world.

And yet today I am able to stand here and say that this is so very far from the truth. Making friendships, especially lasting friendships as an adult is one of the most trying experiences next to moving and job hunting. Yet somehow, some way, we all manage to make it work.


Some friendships in our lives are less traditional. In this age of social media, the bloggosphere and the Internet it's amazing that I can stand here and proclaim to you that I believe I have managed to make and build meaningful friendships that truly enrich the quality of my life with some of you wonderful people who visit my website. Sometimes it is something as simple as connecting with another blogger and feeling as if we might actually be twins separated at birth (I'd link to some of you wonderful people, but I don't want this to become some weird popularity contest. Believe me, you all know who you are. I love you biatches!).

Sometimes it is watching as a friendship once unbreakable in elementary school/junior high then fizzled out in High School/adulthood is rekindled using the magic of Facebook. Who knew Facebook not only helped cure boredom and increase stalker tendencies, but it also helped rebuild friendships!

Then there are the kind of friendships that continue to be felt even when states and timezones separate your bond. These friendships aren't able to be felt on a day to day basis, there are no happy hours or weekend barbecues yet after a year apart, as you stand in your kitchen catching up like old times and you realize the time, money, and effort this friend sacrificed just to be there with you on your 25th birthday, you can't help but thank your lucky stars for their existence in your life.

What about the people who've known you for so long, you now consider them family? Hell, what about true family! I mean, who doesn't love having people in your life who will always know you a little deeper than the rest of the world? Even if in knowing you a little better than everyone else means they are able to embarrass you with ease!

Then we have the friendships that take you back and remind you of milestones long passed, but never forgotten. These friendships are precious because when you're together, it's as if you suddenly have the power to time travel.

Of course you can't forget those friends from life in your everyday either. By some grace of good luck I have found amazing women in this town, women who welcome me openly into their lives, women who make plans, take walks, sip wine, attend birthdays, women willing to reach out and give me support through a tough decision, take a walk along a pier, listen to my fears, invite me to a Zumba class because they know I need to be cheered up, carry my secrets, laugh with me. These women have made Olympia so much more than a stopping point in my life, but an actual home. Without them this city would indeed be a friendless wasteland, but with their acceptance and friendship, this town has become a place I love. 


Thank you to all the people in my life, both big and small. From the comments on this blog that BRIGHTEN my day, to the emails, the ghat conversations that stretch on for weeks, and the two hour marathon phone conversations, the happy hours, or Facebook repartees, dinner parties, or reunions, long walks, exercise classes, and practices, YOU NAME IT, I love you fools.



MAN, this is probably going to go down as one of the most sappy of sappy posts I've ever written! Forgive me for ending this week so damn hopeful and elated if that sort of thing gets under your skin and the only reason you ever even started reading this blog in the first place was the fact that you liked that I was snarky and mean. If you're missing the angry woman who's down on her luck and ready to snap, I'm sure she's still down there lurking around. Somewhere.

But before she rears her ugly head, come in here and give me a hug.

You know you wanna.  

Ashley, the SAPPY Accidental Olympian

KINDNESS & KARMA WEEK, THE SMALL THINGS EDITION

I have a strong feeling here that I am sort of bastardizing this whole Kindness & Karma Week concept, but I feel that I must soldier on. Forgive me Grumbles if I have wandered off the path, but I've come to interpret Kindness & Karma Week for myself to be a lot more about finding the happiness in my own life once again, to pulling myself out of the funk I have been swimming in, and less about making a concerted effort this week to being kind to others.

Now, don't get me wrong, I haven't been running around punching strangers in the face or anything, but where Jamie is using Kindness & Karma Week to reach out and say, buy the person behind her a cup of coffee, I am using it for self reflection. I heartily believe though that in getting back to the happy place in my own life, I will be able to spread the joy to others as well. 

For 'The Small Things Edition' I found that with nearly zero effort I was able to identify a multitude of things in my life that require absolutely no additional work and absolutely no eye squinting or head tilting to feel joy, appreciation, elation, and happiness about.

Take for example, the tiny little plants that are coming to life in my kitchen as we speak. 

There is nothing exceptionally exciting for YOU about tiny dill plants, or miniature carrots sprouting on my kitchen table, but for me every morning when I see them stretching their little bodies towards the window I know that soon they will live in my garden, the garden Adam and I built, the garden we will tend, and eventually they will grow into strong beautiful plants that we will enjoy. And that, that just makes me happy. 

Additional smile worthy moments in my life include things like finding a 45 minute window in our CRAZY CRAZY spring weather to take my overly energetic puppy for a much needed run. Having monsoon rained on and off all day yesterday, coming home and having the sky open precisely when I needed it was almost as if Mother Nature was saying, "Go child. I'll hold back the rains just for you."

Thanks Ma, we needed it.




Suddenly I can't help but pick up on all these little things I might not normally notice that fill my life with simplistic joy. Minuscule things like standing in my kitchen getting ready for work, a task that might normally induce a scowl of epic proportions and seeing this. How in the world can I scowl when I look out my window and spot our beautiful backyard that started as a bleak wasteland of nothing and is ever so slowly being coached into a world of luscious grass, a newly leafing (is that even a word?) tree, and my first ever naturally grown tulips? When I look at this I can't help but think of the summer nights we're sure to spend sipping on cocktails, throwing the ball for the dog and barbecuing.

And my friends, there is NEVER any reason to be frowning about barbecuing and cocktails.

Write that down.

And lastly I leave you with a part of my life that I must admit I forget to get down on my knees and thank my lucky stars for everyday. When you let the sludge of life creep in, sometimes you find yourself unable to truly remember all the wonderfulness found in your very own living room. So if nothing else, this week has helped me to remember to thank the two individuals (well, one individual, and one furry monster) that stand by me even when I feel like I'm a flailing mess.

So now it's your turn.

Tell me about the little things in your life bringing you joy.

Sorry, did I forget to mention that this was an order and not a suggestion?

Great. Glad we're on the same page.

Ashley, the Accidental Olympian

KINDNESS & KARMA WEEK, FAMILY EDITION

So here we are, in the middle of Kindness and Karma week. I will be honest in saying that the simple existence of this week, this week dedicated to being happy, to myself, to others, to changing the way I think about life has already been seeping deep into my way of thinking. In a most immediate sense, I found a way to stop with all the silly fence straddling, and finally picked a side.

And you know what?

My crotch thanks me.

But mostly my mind thanks me.

I'm not entirely ready to tell YOU all what I decided on/about, but I promise one of these days soon I'll lay it all out and let you in on why I was wasting my time straddling metaphorical fences in the first place. For now just know I'm off, and life feels better.

In other Kindness & Karma news, I think one of the truest ways to be kind to yourself is to never be afraid to try something scary/different/foreign. Especially if you weren't doing something at the expense of your own happiness. I am famous for denying myself things I want because I am afraid, but someone in my life who constantly demonstrates the power of living life bravely is my mother. At the end of the day I have her to thank for time and time again showing by example the true joy that lies in conquering a fear. Without her examples, I'd probably be cowering in a corner somewhere right now.

My mother called me in late March to tell me she was going to be going on a trip. Where I asked? Oh, well she'd decided to hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, camp in the canyon for a few nights, and then hike back to the top. And she said it like that too, like it was going to be something maybe she did on a Saturday after step aerobics or something. Like it wasn't the most awe inspiring WOW of a statement to be telling her daughter.

And damn it if my mother didn't actually fucking hike her way DOWN and then back UP the Grand Canyon.

Here she is, standing at the top of one of the most spectacular sites this country has to offer with one of our family friends (who also happens to be my oldest friend's, mother), ready to descend into a place most of us will never see even if we manage to visit the edge of this impressive landmark.

Then, over the course of many many hours, and many many switchbacks, (see below)

they arrived at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The BOTTOM. When you stand on the edge and peer at the tiny little specs below, who knew that beauty like this lies buried in the crevices?

Can you imagine? They camped in the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I mean, how cool is that? Maybe I'm weird and this is something people do all the damn time, but for some reason camping in the belly of something that is listed near the top on a list of of the most heavily visited National Parks, a place that is known for having one of the most striking vistas in our nation, well that renders me as absolutely speechless. Just thinking of those canyon walls towering above you, it gives me the shivers.

After the trek down, and camping in the belly of the beast for a few days, my mother hiked her way back UP the canyon. Repeat, she walked from the bottom of the canyon, winding her way back up to the top of THIS.

Walked and walked and walked until she stood once again on the edge of this impressive landmark.

When they started at the bottom it was in the high 80's, and by the time they'd finished, people, it was SNOWING. Even though they were physically exhausted, and pretty confused, what with the snow and all, they had completed their mission. Although I can't help but sort of laugh at my mom's face (she's in the green) because in all honesty she sort of looks miserable having just accomplished an awesome task.

The most amazing thing about talking to my mother afterward? She says to me, "You know, it was hard, and I could definitely feel how strained my body was in the end, but I never once got to a point where I thought to myself, 'If I have to take one more step I think I will just die.'"

Turns out it takes a lot more than hiking back up the Grand Canyon to kill off MY mother.

This is all a really long winded way of saying that if I grow up to be even half the person my mother is, I think I will have done more than ok.

Mom, I want you to know that more than anything, you inspire me. 

Ashley, the Accidental Olympian

KINDNESS & KARMA WEEK *UPDATED*

So I know I have mentioned Jamie of Grumbles and Grunts A LOT lately, and I want to promise you that A. I don't know her personally, and B. we aren't on some mission to infiltrate your mind with her lovelies, it's just, I think she might live inside my head because our thoughts are becoming creepy and all too similar and I'm a tad worried she's stalking me.

UPDATE: Lets be honest, I'm the one who's doing the stalking of Mrs. Grumbles. I could only be so lucky to be stalked by her Grumbleness.

I am currently thrashing around in my head trying desperately to come to some sort of decision about a certain topic. I feel like for the last couple weeks I've been straddling a metaphysical fence if you will, and if any of you have ever ACTUALLY straddled a fence for more than a moment, you know how painful that can be on the lady bits.

There have been a few days where I've been so torn up over this decision that I've actually felt as if I was wearing a backpack full of rocks. Or lead, or maybe even a few small wiggling puppies. It is uncomfortable, I feel dangerously wobbly, and most of the time all I want to do is lay down so it will stop causing me such trauma.

And I can't help but think that this isn't how you are supposed to live your life.

As my therapist has said time and time again, I'm supposed to be doing things that make ME happy and not giving a flying fuck what the rest of the world cares already.


And then, in the middle of all my wavering, hemming, and hawing, I read about Jamie's newest invention, Kindness & Karma week. A goal to STOP being consumed by the bad, and to instead let things that bring happiness and content back into our lives, and then go out and freely share them with one another.

And you know what? I can't help but think that this sort of forced exercise might be just what I need right now to remind myself what in this world does in fact make me HAPPY. Possibly by identifying those moments I can allow myself to stop straddling this damn fence and give my crotch a much needed break.

So Jamie, count me in.

I suggest if you too have found yourself doing a bit of fence straddling lately that you take a second and read what Jamie has to say about this pledge. It might encourage you to take a step towards figuring out what you want so you might finally get off that damn fence and stop looking like such a fool.

Ashley, the Accidental Olympian

ROMP BY THE RIVER

Spring has finally arrived in the Northwest. This means we now suffer from skitzophrenic weather patterns, SUN, rain, SUN, rain, SUN, SUN, SUN (cue the hopeful feelings), then rain, rain, rain (cue the depression as you start to believe the sun will never return and you actually somehow slipped backwards into winter).

With that being said, when the sun decides to arrive, it is in everyone's best interest to head outdoors.

After raining all morning suddenly the skies opened and I realized it was time to capitalize on our fortunes lest we be blessed with rain all next week. So I gathered my leash and my pooch, and headed to the Deschutes river, also known as my next door neighbor.

I wont lie to you and say that sometimes I don't ache all the way down to my toes for Seattle. That I don't long for the days when I could jump on a buss and 15 minutes later be in the heart of downtown Seattle. But something I always felt was lacking from Seattle was this.

Sure, there were lakes, and parks, and wilderness 'areas' in Seattle. But on a day like today, you bet you'd run into 70 other people. Here, I walked for 15 minutes, and suddenly I was playing in my own private wilderness.

I guess it makes up for the lacking of hip happy hour options.

I love how Oly's face is a little deformed by the slowness of my iPhone's camera. Even with the deformity there is no denying that this is one happy pooch.



Yes, that is my dog trying to eat the plants growing on the bottom of the river. She's special like that.

 

I tried to capture this moment a million times. Having Oly run in front of me, then crouch down with my phone at the ready and call her back. In the end this shot made the cut because not only does Oly look happier than I've seen her all day running loose in a field as dogs always long to do, but the rays of sunlight in the top corner make the shot even more euphoric.

But I could just be sun drunk at this point.

It's hard in the Northwest not to get excited about a warm spring day. You'll have to excuse me. I'm sure if it rains tomorrow I'll be back to my gloomy self.
 

Ashley, the Accidental Olympian