Dreams do come true!

The best part of single parenthood is that your world revolves around your child.  The worst part of single parenthood is that your world revolves around your child.  Although I've found there are time that this a very good thing and the other day was most definitely one of them!

I had bought B a new bike for Christmas in the hopes that she would want to join me in my runs.  She had told me last year "Mom, running is your thing.  It's not my thing and that's ok I have my own thing.  Maybe when I'm an adult it'll be my thing."  Ya know I was ok with that. She's pretty honest about her thoughts and I could totally get behind that thought process.  But she likes to ride a bike and this bike is big enough that we can do some mileage and we both benefit!

So on Friday morning I took her and her bike to the park and gave her the option of playing in the park or riding next to me while I ran (says the woman who likes to wear earbuds and listen to podcasts as she runs).  So we started on our way...about a quarter of a mile in, she pulled up next to me and talked to me while I ran.  Oh how I love this child!  She just talked the entire time and seemed to enjoy the ride.  She even plans on joining me next week!

Meditation is hard!

Ok so on the path of being more "awesome" this year (thank you Kid President) I have started the 30 day Meditation Challenge via DoYouYoga.com (I highly recommend this site for all of the instructors as they are fabulous!)  Anyway, so as I'm trying to figure out myself - as this is the year of me - I want to try meditation.

I'll be honest, I totally got the idea about meditation through Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.  I will also admit, I saw the movie first but then I had to read the book...and then I read the book after that, Committed which is definitely a book to read a you contemplate marriage and relationships, but I digress.  When Julia Roberts goes to India to Pray she learns some invaluable lessons about herself.  She learns two important lessons, the first is that she is never in control until she lets herself go.  She must let go before she is able to throughly be at peace with her choices, with her love, with herself.

The part of the book that discusses meditation is key and just as influential as places such s the Mayo Clinic which describes meditation as:  "Meditation can wipe away the day's stress, bringing with it inner peace."  Yet the way it is described and shown within the book and movie makes me want to dig deeper into meditation and taking control of my own thoughts and abilities. So here I am in the midst of the 30 day meditation challenge and its hard.  I know I will make the 30 days as I feel extremely committed and I firmly believe in the research that shows the increased benefits of meditation but I just wish it was easier.  I'm only involved with 10 minutes of meditation a day but I have problems focusing and keeping it together for that time period.  I know that at one point Elizabeth Gilbert is able to sustain her meditation and get to the point that you hear about from people who have practiced meditation all over the world.  I have faith that one day that group will also include me but for now it doesn't.  And that's ok as I still have my running.

Happy New Year! Welcoming in 2016....

The new year is a time for resolutions and re-inventing one's self.  People around the world are deciding if they want to make this the year of getting fitter, eat cleaner, start a business, etc.  Each year we start he year by having a desire to reinvent one self but we really never get to that point.  If we start by thinking we need to start from scratch then we get stuck.  On the other hand if we take what we already know about ourselves and say "Yes" we may have a different outcome.  

Shonda Rhimes wrote a book "Year of Yes".  

This book describes the changes that are made by just saying yes.  Yes to all parts of life that are good for you.  Say yes to things that scare you, say yes to things that make you better.  Stop telling yourself no.  The more we deny ourselves the more we find we crave all that we wanted.  So say yes.
I think @melcharbonneau said it best "Remember, it's a new year, not a new you.  You were already awesome...this year your'e just going to be more awesome."  This is all about saying yes and being awesome!  Instead of focusing on the negatives of yourself and who you are, look at the positives and go for it!  For example, I make people feel good about themselves, I listen well.  But what else can I say about myself?  I can list all the negatives - too much grey hair, too many muffin tops, arms are flabby...yes I can keep going but that's not the point.  So this year is my year of yes.  I've already started...I'm writing my blog and am hoping to make it more consistent.  I started the year by running 2 miles, part of the Run the Year 2016 challenge.  I have a race scheduled for next Friday - ok that totally came up due to a bride's wish to run before her champagne brunch but a race is a race.  I am choosing to look at portions and trying to figure out how to balance what I like to eat and what I should be eating.  But I'm saying yes to being healthy and helping my daughter be healthy.  Now to say yes to being ok with my ups and downs....

I survived...I mean WE survived....

First trimester has been difficult to say the least.  Between work which has included multiple co-teachers, inspections and figuring out new students it's been a bit crazy.  Add in that I've begun writing blog posts for ESL101 (see my links at the bottom) and deciding what I want to do next it's been a bit crazy.

My poor daughter has born the brunt of all of this chaos and has taken it like a champ.  As a parent we always complain about our kids but at the same time we love them unconditionally.  She has stood by my side even through my crazy stress levels and a desire to try to work a bit more to do what I can.  And she has been amazing throughout it all.  My little girl is growing up and there is nothing I can do about it except love her the best way I can.

She is doing so many things that I can be proud of!  She has gotten perfect scores on all of her Spelling Tests and her Math Tests.  B has shown she loves to learn and my job is to love her and help her grow.  So how can I help her grow?

My daughter is being homeschooled so that she can work at her own pace and do what she needs to do.  This is a child who at age 6 (not even a month into it) she is able to read chapter books with ease.  Teach herself math at her own pace and work well ahead of her age peers.  So I let her go.  I let her learn and become her own person.

Today she started writing a book.  She got up this morning and began to write.  I started to read it and was told "No, it's not finished.  I'll show it to you later."  My 6 year old is writing a book that is already multiple pages and paragraphs.  I hope she continues to grow and stay a caring, kind person.

Now we are heading into the holidays.  The time where greed comes into play.  In our house we work on giving and spreading kindness.  This year we have introduced Elfika our Elf on the Shelf.  She is showing B that kindness is key as well as helping out around the house.  It's a process but B LOVES every aspect of Eflika and looks forward to finding her everyday.

As we go into the holidays I do what every parent does and worry about money and time and making sure it all works out.  My only goal is that the magic stays in the holiday season.  Ideally we keep this magic of kindness and giving throughout the year.

Visitors and what we can learn from them...

I love having company!  Company means new adventures or sometimes even old adventures that are new again because you get to do it again!  The opportunity to have friends or family share the adventures that you get to do as everyday part of life is what makes the whole process exciting!  And that excitements makes the old normal things new again!  We love showing off our 'home' country.

And that's one thing to share - this is our 'home' country right now.  We no longer call the US home, at least it's not where we keep our things or do our everyday activities.  The US will always be the part that started us and began us but currently the UAE is our home.  And this home is important not only to myself but to the development of my daughter and her future.  Having the opportunity to share this with friends and family is part of the great gift we get to share.  We get to break the barriers of the Muslim world with the Western World as these are two very different worlds and that must be taken into account.  Yet as different as they are they are very similar in many ways.

These two worlds believe that family is important.  They believe that people are important.  They believe God/Allah is important.  They believe that happiness is part of daily life.  These are things we share.  These are things we believe.  In each case we have a different way of approaching it and how we see it.  That's ok.  We each believe that someone else is different but then we see that we are all very similar and that's a plus too.  We see that people just want the same things and both of these worlds help show that.

Having our visitor the last week reminded me of all of this.  Our visitor was from the US and on each trip learns a little more about the culture we live in.  Each time they go away surprised but pleased on identifying new attributes of this already great nation.  I am grateful for everyone we get to share this with.

Huh - maybe I am doing something right....

Surprise surprise this was a crazy busy long weekend.  Although we didn't find out about it until Sunday (my workweek in the UAE is Sunday through Thursday) we made plans for the extra day.  Thursday we headed to the beach.  She was bummed that she didn't have any of her friends going but her Aunty joined us and that always makes her happy.  Plus she ended up finding a friend!

As the weekend progressed she didn't get to hang out with any of her friends but she did get to do a special date with her Aunty (they go to Starbucks and Mom goes for a run) and with me.  I would say I am not only pretty happy to hang out with her but she's a pretty good kid.  We spent the weekend running around Abu Dhabi and then Dubai trying to get things done and do the shopping we don't usually do.

And ya know what?  My kid has gotten cool.

Serious!  She'll be 6 next month but wants to just window shop.  She's just as content about playing in the store as she is at home.  We can wonder around a mall for a few hours and she's happy.  She asks questions like an adult and contemplates the answers.  She thinks before she asks the next question.  She is just cool to hang out with.  And better yet she shows gratitude on the things that are done for her.  I no longer have to remind her to say thank you.  She does it!  She says please when talking to someone.  She will ask the questions to the clerk (as long as I'm close by).  Overall my kid is cool.

I found out this weekend that when I'm over the shopping and running around it's not because of her.  It's because I'm tired and cranky and sick of running around.  If she's telling me she's hot - guess what it's because it's hot outside!  If she's tripping over her shoes - she's tired.  And she's learning how to tell me that!  She actually thanked me for the weekend and for running her around all weekend.  She didn't even complain she didn't get to see any friends!  We had these crazy conversations that made me realize she pays attention to EVERYTHING!

The problem is that this means she's growing up and if she's growing up there are some things we lose.  We lose the extra snuggle time.  We lose the holding hands in the stores and the mall and when we're just walking.  We lose the carrying her around.  But I'm finding I'm gaining this person who makes other people's worlds good again.  I'm gaining the ability to have a conversation with her and see the world from her eyes.  And that's ok.  I'm actually totally ok with it.

I think maybe I'm doing something right after all....

But I don't want to run!!!

The final "F" - fitness.  The easiest and hardest part of the 4-F challenge for this school year.

I became a runner about 4 years ago now...give or take.  Once my daughter was born I needed to drop the baby weight once I started nursing.  I turned to walking and then running and I loved it!  I was able to get into a rhythm and even trained and ran a 15k, a half marathon and a 25k.  It was an amazing part of my running.  And then things changed...I did my rest period after the 25k, I stopped running for a bit.  I finished my 2nd Master's and then found a job overseas.  I took my 3 year old and flew halfway around the world....and stopped running.

We were living in a hotel for over a month and I had a new job to start and figure out what to do with my 3 year old in this new country.  It was definitely not a great time to run or do any physical fitness that didn't involve my daughter.  So I did what I could.

After a few months we were able to get settled in and I began to run again.  I tried to up my mileage and go back to the fitness level I had been...without the prep time.  I got injured - I was in a new country - on new surfaces - and old shoes.  Totally not the best combination for running again but you see I have a runner's personality.  So I kept running.

The following fall I had trained for a half marathon - my first international race - and although my foot was flaring up in pain I wanted to compete and refused to switch to the 10k.  Should have switched to the 10k as my 10k time was like 1:05 - I rocked it.  I won't even share what my half time was as I had done a 25k in that time a year and a half before.  I couldn't walk - I puked (and now everytime I go for a run she asks if I'm going to get sick).  It was a horrible experience so I took some time off of running.  I am moving to the 1 year anniversary of that race...my mileage is low and almost non-existent but I'm walking instead.  The weather here is still in the 100s over the day so the goal is start running during my daughter's gymnastics once it gets cooler.  It's just too hot at this point.

But let's be honest I hate the treadmill and that's why I haven't been running as much - 30 mins is about all I can handle on the treadmill.  So I've switched to walking and doing the hills on the treadmill in the morning - adding in circuit training and strength training a couple days a week too.  It's not that I need to run - ok I've been running long enough to know that it IS a need but I need to know my limits too.

So this weekend I have an appointment with a podiatrist to try to get my feet fixed.  I just want to run without pain again.  This is my fitness plan.