Gateway to the Weekend

If Wednesday is "hump" day, then Thursday (according to Nora) is the "Gateway to the Weekend." She came up with this term one day when we still lived in Maryland. At that point I was working at the same high school she attended and I 'm sure I was whining about not being able to make it through the week. My own Pollyanna created the term to cheer me up. I love her positive appproach to surviving the work week. Every Thursday morning I wake up to the celebrate the "gateway." I know it's silly, but it does seem to make the day pass more quickly.

Love my Friday afternoon walking group, too. A group of women from school meet in the parking lot at 4 p.m. and head off to a beautiful location for a therapeutic walk. We talk, breathe fresh air and release the tensions of the week. Emily, Judy, Vicky and I are the regulars and others come when they can. Yesterday we parked at Refugio Beach and walked down the coast to El Capitan beach and then back. 6.12 miles, according to my pedometer. This seemed like an impressive accomplishment at the end of the week. The return half of our walk was a little slower and included a few more stops to look at otters, seals and the beautiful scenery. At the end we tailgated with some apples, cheese and crackers--a nice treat after our exercise. Last night and this morning my legs were stiff but the slight discomfort was worth it. We wanted to try this walk before Daylight Savings time kicks in--don't think we'd make it in the darkness of November.

The exercise is great, but the friendships are better. The four of us all grew up in the Bay Area and share many common reminisciences. Three of us remember things like Happy Holly and the White House department store. Emily, our youngest group member, handles these discussions with grace. She tells us we don't "jones her mellow." Laughter reigns.

Today was Paul's first trip outside of Santa Barbara since his injury. A beautiful drive along the coast to Ventura and even a trip to Target for me. The day reached perfection status when we watched Stanford beat USC. I've never rooted for Stanford before but I was cheering them on today. It's possible that CAL could be ranked # 1 after a weekend when they didn't even play. What a crazy football season. GO BEARS!