Mothers Day Ramblings

THE HORIZON

The triathlon season has ended in WA and I have had a week of absolutely no training. The shoulder and neck remain a concern as I have little strength in the left arm and will have to begin the slow road to recovery and strength building.

With the rest week , there has been time to enjoy the space of nothingness .A period of no physical activity . The week ended with a picnic with Brad and the training squad on a wonderful Perth day. That evening I attended the Exceed Tri Club Meltdown party and Awards evening and the night before I attended a Leukaemia Foundation fundraiser organised by Bec Lenzo .I had the opportunity to be introduced to Ron Sammitt who is an awesome triathlete and been to Kona several times and I believe is headed back again.

I also caught up with Jason who got his Kona spot at Port Macquarie with a 9.18 finish. That is with having finished and getting his medal knew he had only done 39 km on his Garmin and went out and did a further 3km and still finished in that time.Another awesome effort.

I live for and enjoy these moments of talking and discovering what really makes these triathletes so superb. No easy answer . lots of training , some ability and talent and lots of determination and attention to detail.

This weekend I enjoyed the time with the family , mothers day lunch. in the city , visiting my parents , my sons constant laughter and fights with his older sister .All simple pleasures brought home by the  life experiences shared during the fundraiser . When facing life's challenges , and especially a Cancer and coming away with a second chance , there is a sense of appreciation of the value of every minute . sometimes rushing each day is possibly not packing everything in  ,  quite the opposite , its letting everything rush by.

The thoughts of a young cancer survivor was echoed again as I watched a documentary on Maurice Sendak , the children's writer and illustrator who died on 8 May 2012. He cried for the friends and his mate of 50 years.he cried for the fact that he would not see them again and the wonderful things in this world but he was ready to die. ( he did not believe in an afterlife)

In the synopsis the commentary suggest an obsession with death partly due to the hard childhood, parents in constant mourning from losing their family in the holocaust and witnessing a childhood friend die when being struck by a car.

I did not get that impression but a sensitivity from mature years and a preparedness for the inevitable.

Synopsis of the HBO Documentary : Maurice Sendak

Whilst not being too obsessed on death , individuals at the end of their lives or having being in a life threatening illness or a near death situation have a unique viewpoint of having looked over the edge of death can appreciate the view of the horizon so much more than myself and many others.

It is the perspective of life that makes for our happiness or dissatisfaction as is in every race done. We crave for the epic and the perfect but lose sight of the joy of just standing and embracing the joy of being at the start line and even finishing a race. I look back at those tough days and those tough races I had , I am thankful for the opportunity of making it this far.

Sometimes we make it complicated when really just being in life and enjoying all the senses is reward enough.