Flashback Friday: A Collection From Old Blogs

Small sweet victories

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

Sometimes it's not the elephants in life that make everything worthwhile - sometimes it's the itty-bitty, teensie-weensie pleasures. Like a nice, fluffy down pillow and a hot water bottle on a cool night. A warm, heady kiss; a bold, rich glass of red wine; unexpected laughter and water lapping at the edges of a rocky shore. A soft, clear day with a dry, almost crackling breeze and a perfectly transulcent blue sky; the whisper of change on the air and electric energy in your stepwhen you're thinking creatively. The silence of a blissfully quiet and unoccupied stretch of hours spent in unplanned meditation; even a wrong turn that makes a drive last a little longer than expected when a good song is playing.

That's the kind of weekend I've had. Oh, there were plenty of elephants. But I managed to nibble through most of them. Enough of them to come away from a grueling 48 hours of work with my head still on straight. Enough to learn a few lessons and earn a few compliments. Enough to connect with some old friends and make some new.   All the stress aside, I felt like a human being . . . not a human doing. And yes, next weekend I'll be running a marathon, and yes, 26.2 miles and 3 days in a big city alone and a first-class flight are all well and good . . . and huge. And I'm sure I'll be very satisfied and proud of myself when it's all over.

But sometimes the sweetest victories are the smallest.

-circa 2007