What I Learned?

Sunday morning I learned that the key member of our Irish 4 x 400m relay was injured. Yes, after getting up early to cut the lawn, why do it early? Cos the weather is so hot here in Atlanta now, that I can only bare to do it really early, or really late. But anyway, I check my e-mail and there is a message from AAI, the Irish Federation breaking this news to me.

I was sure I read it wrong, so I read it again and sadly no, I was not wrong. At this stage they are talking about not sending the team, cos the chances of us hitting the qualifier without our key member now are very slim. I’m told I will get a phone call Monday morning to discuss the situation. Bare in mind I’m due to fly to Italy this Tuesday, as in today.

Monday morning, the call comes. What are we going to do? Do we send a team even though qualifying is now a long shot? We to and fro about the pros and cons of our given situation and in the end we decide, Yes, lets do this. Lets assemble the best team we can and lets send us out there to do our very best and see what happens. We have not yet run together as a team so this is the perfect opportunity and hopefully when we compete again in 3 weeks our key member will be back to full health and we can build on this weeks performance and take it to the next level. Positive attitude all the way.

Also this past week I went to see the Sex and the City movie. Yes, it took 2 days to get a ticket but I got one. The movie theater was packed, which meant we had to stand in line just to get in and we all know how I feel about lines, but this was Sex and the City we’re talking about, so I endured and I have to say it was so worth it. I won’t go into too much detail, just in case you haven’t seen it, but I was crying, I was angry, I was hurt, I was happy, I was relieved, I was jealous (of the clothes, bags and shoes), I was numb, I was all of it. The whole spectrum of emotions. Ladies and Gay Gentlemen and all you Straight Men, who are closet fans, go see this movie. It’s fabulous.

On the book front, I got some great e-mails and comments full of suggestions. So I have a nice long summer reading list assembled. Geeky? Maybe, but I don’t care. However, for this trip I will be bringing “The Other Boleyn Girl” by Philippa Gregory. Thanks Beth. I was going to get “A Thousand Splendid Suns” as suggested by Caitriona and Cormac, but after reading Hosseini’s first book, “The Kite Runner”, which I loved, loved, loved, it was a tough read emotionally, so am concerned that his other book will be similar and probably not the best choice for getting my competitive athletic edge all fired up. So a good bitchy period novel about 2 sisters fighting for the love of Henry the VIII, King of England might be just the ticket.