Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

this weekend's doings

Last night while watching the game, I realized that I screwed up this weekend...instead of my usual sleeping in, I'd managed to arrange it so that Saturday was as early as a normal day, and Sunday earlier.

Today I had to get up early to meet my sister for the Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk. A few weeks ago we decided to sign up for several charity walks...for me, I'm forcing myself to get off my lazy ass, for her it's a chance to let her husband spend some quality time with all three of their kids. (My BIL isn't a bad guy, but he has the...shall all I say "old fashioned"...mindset that it is mom's job to rear children, and when he has them it is babysitting.)

Anyway, we were able to find fundraisers for every disease or condition that has affected our family or friends, I think. This week, for example, we had our pick of an American Heart Association walk, the Tour of Hope for cancer research, and a walk for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

We decided to the Memory Walk because this past year my BIL's father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. It's already...tough, and that sounds like a dumb way to put it as I type this. Duh, it's tough. Tough is an understatement, and it's going to get tougher. My niece is just starting to notice that things aren't quite right, that Pop always forgets what she just told him. My sister is dreading the time when the kids are more aware and their grandfather less so.

Anyway, when the alarm went off this morning I was regreting the idea, but it turned out to be a beautiful day, and the walk (about a 5K, I think) was in a park, around a lake and through woods. It was crisp and sunny, perfect walking weather. And the sponsors had some good swag. (Now you know...I don't do it for a cause, I do it for t-shirts.)

Tomorrow it won't be as scenic; I have a chemical safety conference in Crystal City. That means four days of early mornings and late evenings, but except for that I actually love being around safety geeks. Every session of the conference opens with someone pointing out the fire exits. It's also the only place where I can use "methyl ethyl death acid" in casual conversation and nobody says "huh?" It's so nice to belong.

Posted by Nic at October 18, 2003 01:28 PM | TrackBack