Toots and Sally Ride Again

Here are some quotes:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Mark Twain I’m so worried about missing something. People at REI ask me why I travel, and others that I meet…you all know, here, that we travel because we have to, etc………………………

I do not ever want to get to the end of my life and realize that I had some kind of opportunity that I missed that I could have taken or that I disregarded because I thought, “Oh, I shouldn’t. I have X responsibility, or I have Y thing that I have not yet taken care of…”

Maybe that’s why Toots is running never-ending marathons. I worry about this a little, I have to admit. I worry about the stress to your body. …Another discussion for another wine-laden evening. Either way, some of us have to go further and push and run and travel and taste and breathe and live something that is beyond ourselves… we are those people. We are The Limit. We are The Great Experiment. We must know what happens after the normal human experiment. I plan on Dublin ‘09 being my own next marathon experiment/race, but there is much more between. Frankly, doing French teaching, Running for Women, She Runs, and working is pushing beyond. Frankly, being a mom, running, working, living with people who need you, is going beyond. I feel like we’re all tired, and we all have stuff to deal with, yet we come here and post and go beyond.

“Let your memory be your travel bag.” — Alexander Solzhenitsyn -Why not have a purely Russian quote when I’m going to Russia???!!!!

“Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.” – Benjamin Disraeli

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” — Martin Buber

“A man of ordinary talent will always be ordinary, whether he travels or not; but a man of superior talent (which I cannot deny myself to be without being impious) will go to pieces if he remains forever in the same place.” — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ***I’m willing to put myself, Toots, Lumpy, and Banana in this same category. Am I being cocky?????!!!!

“Why is it that traveling Americans are always so dreadful?” — Dodsworth by Sinclair Lewis

OOOOOH, This is my dread, traveling in the summer in Europe. May Lumpy and I blend with appropriateness. Please, dear lords and goddesses.

I leave tomorrow. If you have not have had time to check Katie’s blog, please add. I think that all of us here at Toots and Sally could add something to her monthly theme of resilience.

Think about who you are. I do, and I think, more so than that I love you, I think that YOU COUNT.

Here’s her post. I didn’t forward you all her email, and that’s on purpose…

http://katherinedunn.blogspot.com/2008/05/stay-strong.html

My response was via email and much more elaborate, wordy, too much to deal with, etc. I am sure that they are on to a new theme, but KD helped me take a beautiful and forgiving look at my life, as well as a hard-ass, I f*ing took on everything look at my life and I’ve been very grateful this month. I’ve been overwhelmed and tired and her questions have challenged me when I needed them to challenge me. KD might be the one person I know who has the best timing, yet might not even know me the best. I love it. I love her, I love the memories, and I love the timing, the challenges, and I love the possibilities with her. Love. Love is good. Love is my furries. Love is Lumpy. Love is what makes it possible for me to keep going, not have any family connection, having Lumpy, having KD, having you all, having The Fuzz, and having ME, who has busted ass to go to places like Russia, etc. Love has allowed me to post stupid shit that I would never tell anyone, and to GO FORWARD. Thanks, folks. Someone has to safeguard the cheese, here. It looks like that person is me. I’m cool with it. Just don’t mock me too much.

P.S.- Lumpy is bringing the laptop over on the 19th. We’re meeting in Munich. What I have to say is that IIIIIIIIII, the Sally, is NO LONGER RESPONSIBLE FOR TRANSLATING. We will not be in a single French-speaking country, and I DO NOT HAVE TO BE THE TRANSLATOR FOR THIS TRIP. Caps on purpose. Jus’ sayin’. I’m tired. I’m hoping that this tired translates to sleeping the whole f*’ing trip. I leave tomorrow and I’m tired. I’ll be out of touch the two weeks at camp. Other than that, we hope to be able to post after that, and I secretly hope to find a 5k somewhere in Central Europe to run. WOULDN’T THAT BE THE BOMB!!????!!!??!!!!!??

You all make my day. KD, you make me be thoughtful, and proud of you. I love your wit.

Love. I love to end this on a note of REAL LOVE. Toots, I still await the results of San Diego. I never stop thinking about you and the fact that we could actually have an entire series of childrens/womens books about the adventures of Toots and Sally, I just don’t have the time to write it right now. Don’t think I won’t write it. I’m ending this run on and on and on and on post, because it appears that I may be actually able to sleep for a few hours tonight. I hope to sleep most of the way to Amsterdam tomorrow. The problem is that I don’t travel until 15h15 tomorrow afternoon.

Peace and manic running be with you. I know they will be with me. I’m hoping for a trail run with G before I board the plane.

Boy, I love you!!!!!!

**Random caveat to this post…** I really did intend to stay up this late…**Lumpy and I talked about most of this stuff before he had to bail and go to bed…**I can’t wait to sleep on the plane….**None of this was written in a state of inebriation that was too far gone to be believed..**I’m now officially wasting time before I have to go to bed and fake sleeping next to the snoring Lumpy and the cuddling Lily, which frankly, adds up to staying up all night and sleeping on the plane tomorrow.

***Forgive me if this all sounds crazy. I’m not drunk. No, really. I’m trying to be drunk, it’s just not happening. Could I type this well if I were??????!!!!?? Heh. Talk to you all in a couple of weeks!!!!! Have fun, run, be safe, healthy, and have great stories for me.