A healthy dose of perspective

For me at least, life has a way of helping me maintain my perspective.  The whole "look for the good in your life" thing is so cliché, but so true.  When you allow yourself to stop and step back, it's hard not to appreciate how wonderful and cheesy life can be.

Last March, when I'd messed up my ankle(s) and gotten the news that I'd have to stop running for a while and pull two races off my schedule, I was crushed.  I remember that afternoon vividly:  I stopped by Kroger on my way home from the doctor's to pick up some little donut cushions that let me wear shoes with backs without feeling like my heels were on fire, it was raining, and I was doing all I could to keep from tearing up in the grocery store.  As I passed through the sliding doors on my way out of the store, this little old lady stopped me and asked me to bring her a cart so that she could use it to help her walk into the store.  I gladly helped her, and another woman stopped and thanked me for helping her as I walked to my car.  The force of that experience nearly knocked me over and made me take a good hard look at my pity party.  Yes, not being able to run sucks, but helping that woman reminded me that I was totally capable of walking, and that's really something.  

I'm spending my summer in Blacksburg, and naturally I managed to catch a cold immediately.  On my way back from Schiffert, I was trapped under Whittemore by a freak rainstorm/flash flood/tornado watch (typical Blacksburg weather shenanigans).  Lucky for me, I have a friend in town who was willing to rescue me.  I do spend more time alone now that I'm out of the dorms, but I have friends nearby that are down to watch silly movies, run nine miles in the forest, and go on spur of the moment adventures.  This again, forced me to stop feeling mopey about being sick and marvel at the wonderful group of people that surrounds me.

Adventures thus far:

a quick trip home to see my family and my favorite four-legged friends and read as much as I possibly could, moving back to my new home in Blacksburg, lazy river days, a spectacular sunrise hike, a couple of trips to Roanoke, several great dinner parties (I feel so old writing that), classes that are actually stimulating and not overly work-intensive, and a bunch of quality time spent running in the woods.  Life is so very good.