An Austin Kind Of Week

Monday July 9th seemed to confirm that this month was going to be a rough one. Life’s little and big trials were getting me down. Now normally I would stay in the daily grind until I had a complete melt down, but on May 11th, everything that was normal changed forever. On that day the unthinkable happened. However I quickly observed that no matter how overwhelming the grief was, those of us who had come to know and love Austin were going to be moving forward from that awful day embracing life like never before. We were all going to “do it for the story”.

That’s how I got to where I was Monday night. Since that devastating May evening, I stop and consider my choices now, and consider what I want my story to be. I had a choice because I was going to get a story out of this week either way. I could go back to work Tuesday morning and most likely continue to have a really horrible week. Then my story could have been about how much paperwork I had to shuffle, or how my boss didn’t appreciate me, or how I got my laundry done but was too exhausted to do anything else!

But then I wouldn’t have had a blog worthy story to tell. So Tuesday morning I called in “sick” and decided to have an Austin kind of week. I work with mental health professionals so a mental health day (or two) is never out of the question. Even though my choice was intended to change my attitude for the better, it took me most of the morning for that to happen. I got out of bed slowly and it was early afternoon before I got out of my jammies. Not an epic start, but my intent was to rest my weary self. I think Austin would have approved.

Tuesday afternoon I decided to have a wonderful lunch with a new found friend. What was supposed to be an hour lunch extended into a four hour gab fest! By the time lunch was over it was time for dinner. There are new opportunities on the horizon, and in another decision inspired by Austin’s legacy, my husband and I headed out the door for an exciting evening with friends.

Again not epic, but definitely better than sitting behind a desk all day.

Wednesday I was trying really hard to feel guilty about not going to work the day before, but I just couldn’t seem to get there. I saw that as a sign that I should probably rest my mental health just one more day. Besides I had already decided to go kayaking.

By 10:30 AM I was at Sherri’s house. Sherri had already kidnapped Julie so that she could rest her mental health from work also. And we all waited patiently for Janet to arrive so our little adventure could begin. Now let me just say that middle aged women do not just dive into an adventure, even spontaneity requires that we take some care. What has almost become ritualistic, we first spend a few minutes or more (usually more) discussing our hormones. Hormones have absolutely nothing to do with kayaking, or anything else for that matter, but when you are on the verge of menopause, hormones work their way into just about every conversation. Hormone talk provides a natural segue into a discussion of the latest aches and pains, which reminded Sherri that she has tennis elbow from not playing tennis. Her injury was sustained from pulling her suitcase through the airport on a recent adventure to Japan. Don’t laugh! I hurt my knee putting the cover over our EZ up. And crossing our legs can lead to some serious muscle cramps. Be very afraid young people, getting old is not for wimps!

As Sherri strapped her elbow up tight with a piece of fuchsia duct tape the rest of decided to pop some ibuprofen before heading out, just in case. At our ages you never know what you are going to pull or strain next, getting out of the car could lead to hip replacement surgery!

Eventually we got to Sunset Beach, parked the car in a few different locations (street sweeping day is the pits) made a quick payment to the nice kayak rental man, and off we went. Janet and I, verses Sherri and Julie. Well it wasn’t supposed to be that way, and not that I am competitive or anything, but Janet and I did win.

We paddled up one side of Huntington Harbor and down the other. We talked about the old days at Mother’s Beach with our babies; we talked about Austin and our other kids and how fast life is moving and how quickly things change. We hit a few nasty head winds, the kind that make you want to stop paddling, but when you do the wind and current send you backwards and thwarts all your progress. So then we talked about how sore we would probably be tomorrow. Best of all, we talked about our next adventure. Normally we would just talk, normally we are only talk. But as I said before, life isn’t normal anymore. We have some fun things planned and I can’t wait because I have no doubt now that we will do them….. “for the story” of course!

Kayaking ended with us all starving so we headed to a friend’s shop for a yummy acacia bowl of heaven. We parted ways after that. I headed to Burke Williams for a massage, and then ended this perfect day with my daughter and some of our friends on the beach roasting marshmallows and watching the sun set. Now I know this was a day Austin would have approved of.

Thankfully I was on a roll now, so even though I couldn’t find any good reason to miss work on Thursday, by the evening I was back to making more memories. Julie and Cammy, along with Janet and I and our two daughters headed to a local theater to watch our favorite musical. Singin’ In the Rain, the original movie with Gene Kelly, was being shown on the big screen to a sold out audience. It was so much fun! The light, warm rain that fell from a tropical storm just added to the specialness of the evening.

Friday a staff retreat at the state beach was the perfect way to end the perfect week. No matter that Monday wasn’t a great day, in the end it turned out to be an Austin kind of week!

Love,
Mary, Sherri, Julie,& Janet