Saturday, August 18, 2012

Summer by the Numbers

I just finished an interesting book about a young Mormon philosopher questioning her faith and really, really wanting to have sex.  Those two concepts walked hand in hand.  The book, "A Lost Argument" is a 3 star deal, for you Goodreads aficionados.  In the book, the protagonist goes to Germany, has a great year which the author conveys in the form of a checklist.  One of my issues with the book is that a great year gets a check-list and the longest angst-filled summer gets a third of the book.  A reversal might have popped it up to 4 stars.

Here are mine for the summer:

1.  Number of deaths: 2
2.  Number of states visited: 3
3.  Number of books read:  16
4.  Number of good books read:  6
4b.Number of pamplets on how to handle grief given to me by my son: 3
5.  Number of relatives seen:  22 (not counting aunts/cousins nobody knew at the wake)
6.  Number of yoga classes:  About 15 thanks to a little coffee shop in Austin that provides a free
     yoga class in the mornings as long as you order something.
7.  Number of times I fantasied about moving to Austin:  4, after yoga while drinking my decaf latte, listening to a rocking pedal steel player, drinking a Shiner Bock on a 100 degree day, and running on South Congress during dawn.
8.  Number of times I cooked for 16 people in a week:  3, truly a record that can stand
9.  Number of runs I went on over 5 miles:  4...one of the things I enjoy most about summer
10.  Number of bike rides I went on:  3
11.  Number of times I got lost on bike rides:  2
12.  Number of times I tried "skimboarding" in Maine:  2
13.  Number of times I skimmed:  0
14.  Number of times I went kayaking:  3
15.  Number of things I made:  0
16.  Number of camps my children attended:  5
17.  Number of amusement parks/museums/"Worlds"/mini-golf places attended:  5
18.  Number of times I miss Gert:  daily
19.  Number of rooms decluttered with some help:  4
19.  Number of weeks until this is all just a memory: 1

I'm not sure if the numbers tell the whole story but I see that we all continued on, despite feeling overwhelmed and sad.  I would like to add the number of friends/family who gave us love and support:  too numerous to count.  I know that is the main number.  Love to you all!

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