Isn't That Interesting?

Yesterday: Strength class day with the highly ripped and all 'round hot Monsieur M, who (though not on my team, sigh) likes to slap his ass during class and tell us to "give it to him." Yes, indeedy, we are always happy to oblige!!

And the rest of yesterday? I: a) ate crappy food (dried fruit? ALL DAY??? take my word for it: don't do this); b) had a discouraging thing happen at work; c) came home to a discouraging letter; d) checked e-mail late at night, reading one from my "new" step-brother that sent me thru the roof; and e) capped it all off by phoning my extremely old, sick, frail mother and yelling at her. All of which led to f) a nice, insomniac night, full of guilt and scary dreams.

So, when 6:30 a.m. rolled around, I was in no mood. But, the key, the KEY, people, as always, is not thinking, which I happen to excel at. Off I went to week three of my 10k training program with my running group, the D.C. Road Runners. I was planning to try running with the next group up from the one I'd been running with, which, it so happens, is the inimitable Coach Bex's group. Which actually has quite a range of runners in it, including some even slower than me. We ran 45 minutes, up and down some nice big hills, and I ran the whole thing, and ended strong, and I was hell freakin' proud of myself.

Then it was off to Starbucks, with my posse: Madame X and her sidekick, Mistress Y, and my personal trainer, Bex, where we proceeded to laugh our asses off.

And then it was off to see the mother I yelled at. Smartly though, before I went to what was supposed to be sleep last night, I cruised the Internet looking for something, yea, anything that would calm me down. Someone recommended this yoga teacher to me (and I am all about the yoga these days), so I looked her up and you know what she said to me? She said this:

Whenever I can, I try to observe what is happening within me and around me using the curious mind of a sociologist. I observe what others say and do; I observe what I say and do, all with an open heart and non-judging mind. I sometimes use this phrase silently to myself, “isn’t that interesting?” as I observe.

Here are the results of my first attempt:
Mother: "I'm leaving the nursing home and moving back to West Virginia, the place I hate, even though I can't walk yet or take care of myself."
Me: "Isn't that interesting?"
Mother: "My husband is checking himself out of the hospital against medical advice and driving himself and his ostomy and his heart attack home on Monday."
Me: "Isn't that interesting?"
Mother: "Can you write checks for these 30 overdue bills for me today?"
Me: "Isn't this (I had to mix it up a little) interesting?"

"New" step-brother who I specifically wanted to see today, because he is leaving for California tomorrow, and who, when I called him at 1 p.m. from the nursing home, was still in bed: "I think I have food poisoning so I can't see you today." (Why is it that whenever I hear "food poisoning," I always think "alcoholic?")
Me: "Get the eff over here so we can figure out what to do with your father."

Isn't that interesting?