Its hard to explain the feeling I had on Tuesday night when I was out on the lake going through my training with LivingSocial. We had a training session for our next event - paddle boarding - and the only way you can work the actual event is to do the training session. After working a full day, I was so close to calling Kate, my LivingSocial manager, and telling her I wasn't going to make it. On top of work, I was going to have to drive to the location since the public bus didn't stop close enough to the beach. It would not have been such a problem had it been in the morning or afternoon. But, I knew we wouldn't get out of there until after 9:00 and I didn't want to make that 20 minute walk back to the bus alone. I have common sense.
The thought of getting stuck in traffic and trying to find a parking spot was causing me minor anxiety. If there are two things that really make me uncomfortable they are traffic and large crowds. If I am not the driver, the traffic is never a problem. As far as large crowds go, I usually have to mentally prepare myself for events with large crowds (the trip into a baseball stadium, leaving a sporting event, etc). But, that's a whole other issue.
So, as I walked home from work, I decided not to punk out and just deal with the traffic. If nothing else, it was an extra $50 that I would miss out on if I didn't go to the training. Well, in reality, it would be a lot more since I then wouldn't be able to work the event at all. Another reason to slightly panic: the instructions in the email said "wear your bathing suit and bring a towel for when you get out of the lake." Ok, I KNEW we were going to paddle board training. But part of me was secretly hoping that we would not have to get in the water if we didn't want to. Have any of you felt the water up here in Lake Michigan? Its NOT warm. Its not even cold. Its miserable. So, I put on my bathing suit, grabbed my towel and said a little prayer that this was a joke and we wouldn't have to get in.
Being 5:45 on a work day, I knew I was bound to hit some kind of traffic. The destination was only 4 miles away. However, on Monday night, Matt and I had a dinner to go to for the basketball team and it was 9 miles away. It took us an hour to get there - I wish I was exaggerating. So, I alloted 30 minutes to get there on time and talk about perfect timing! Thankfully, I was going the opposite way of traffic. The only thing that slowed me down was Google's directions. It took me the most awkward way possible before getting on the highway. I am going to assume it took me so far out of the way so that I would not get stuck in the traffic that gets off close to where we live. For now, thank you Google Maps.
I arrived a little after 6:00 but had trouble finding a parking spot. The park by the beach was filled with cars since it was a gorgeous day. After squeezing my little Hyundai into the smallest spot I have ever parallel parked in, I grabbed my towel, change of clothes and tried to figure out where the heck I was going. I figured my best bet was to follow the black-top path back to where I had seen a building in the distance. Deep down I was thinking if I wasted enough time "getting lost", I might be able to skip out on getting in the freezing cold water. But, the path led me straight to the Dock Restaurant where the rest of the LivingSocial group was waiting. I had met a couple of the other part-timers on my tubing trip, but the majority of the young crowd consisted of new faces. I joined the circle of staff on the beach where the wind proceeded to throw sand in our faces. Kate told us that she had originally reserved tables for us on the patio of the restaurant but Lance, one of the guys in our group, decided it would be cooler to sit on the beach. Coincidently, his back was to the wind so none of the sand reached his face.
After about 30 minutes of housekeeping things and having my face sand-papered, Kate directed us over to Kayak Chicago, the company that we will be working with on this event. And this is when my fear became a reality. We were given life vests, paddles for our boards and told to leave anything we didn't want to get wet up at the building. "Anything you don't want to get wet." Oh lordy, this is really happening. I should mention that at this point its 7:00 at night so its already started to cool down. Fabulous. Even the sand was cold at this point.
However, my competitive side kicked in and I decided there was no way I was going to be the only person to not go in the water. After some brief instructions, we were told to head down to the lake, grab our boards and walk waist deep into the lake. No, No, No, No, No. I was hoping I could just sit on the board and have someone push me into the water. Anyone?
I braced myself for the worst as I struggled to pick up my board. It wasn't so much heavy as it was awkward with the wind blowing. I was trying to balance this huge board with the wind blowing directly at me. Graceful. So, I waddled into the water and all I can say is that someone was watching over me that night and sensed my anxiety because the lake was like bath water. It was amazing. I almost cried I was so thankful!
I was too excited about the water temperature to notice what was brewing. Other than showing us how to paddle, we didn't learn anything else. I assumed that's all we needed to know. I mean, its paddle boarding. We got the paddling down. All that's left is the board. What they didn't tell us is that steering the boards is a little difficult. So, by the time I finished silently celebrating about the water, it was too late. I had crashed into a cluster-F of other paddle boarders. There were about 4 of us who hit each other before we had even attempted to stand up on the boards. So maybe "crashed" is too strong of a word. It was more like "floated" and the awkwardly tried to straighten out.
After about 10 minutes, people finally started spreading out on the lake and the brave ones started to stand up on the boards. No way was I going to be shown up by the blonde with a high pitched voice who looked like she had not eaten in days. So, I hopped up. I owned that board. No problem at all. I started thanking Jillian Michaels again for her kick-ass ab workouts that were clearly paying off when I noticed that almost everyone else was up on their boards. Ok, so maybe the boards are made to make it easy. Whatever. So then I decided to turn it into a secret competition. I started keeping track of how many people fell off their board before I did. Most people did. I started to get a little cocky when people started commenting about how athletic I was and that I was "rocking" it. Yeah, I know. If only a wave had not snuck up behind me at that point and knocked me right off the board. Perfect timing. And OBVIOUSLY I feel gracefully off the board as my butt hit the board, the paddle hit my knee and then I back-flopped into the water. That is why we sign waivers.
I resurfaced and tried to get back on my board. Former collegiate athlete here trying to drag my washed-up self back on the board to regain my dignity. Did you know there is no dignified way to climb back on a floating board in water when you can't touch? Found that one out the hard way. Its more like trying to roll back on. And with a life jacket on, it looks hot. Very attractive. Some people, after multiple falls and being stripped of their dignity of trying to get back on the board, just stayed in the water and floated around in the waves for the rest of the time. Had I not been so locked in on taking the blonde barbie down, I might have as well.
About 45 minutes into our hour and 15 minute trip out on the lake, I started to notice the waves picking up. And that I was not going anywhere. Ideally, you paddle board in an area that has no waves. If you saw the picture on the LivingSocial website, it shows a woman gently gliding along a gorgeous body of water with the only "waves" being the ripples made from her paddle. The only thing that picture got right was the sunset in the background. Because apparently Lake Michigan was NOT the body of water in that picture. Our instructor told us its easier to paddle into the waves because they won't knock you off balance. I am no expert, but I am not convinced that's true. In addition, its very hard to paddle INTO the waves. I was using my Jillian Michaels' "sculpted" arms to paddle as hard as I could. I swore I was making progress. Until I turned around and noticed people were catching up to me and catching up fast.
In my defense, they were paddling along side the waves and not into them. Nonetheless, still a little blow to my ego. Once I stopped cursing our instructor in my head, I looked up and the view was absolutely breathtaking. To the left of us was the Chicago city skyline. To the right of us, the sunset. My mind just went blank. There are no words to describe that moment when you realize how great life is. As cheesy as that sounds, I had that moment. The only thing I was thinking about was how the only way this moment could be any better would be if Matt was there to experience it with me.
Only a couple hours earlier I almost talked myself out of doing this because I was worried about the traffic, the water and all other things that I had no control over. But that moment out on the lake, it was just an overwhelming feeling of being truly blessed and taking full advantage at what life throws at me. Everything I have done since I have been here has made me realize that I was becoming very comfortable in Richmond. While Richmond has been the best home I could have asked for the past 24 years, I was doing things that were too familiar. Right down to eating the same food at the same restaurant every single time. This move to Chicago has forced me to take risks, face adventures head on and truly enjoy every aspect of them. I think it all started with the Cheeseburger pizza that Mom and I ordered at Gino's East on her last day here in June.
Next up - a trip to Indiana this weekend to see some great friends. So excited to see Ciara, Donny and baby Magnolia who are visiting Ciara's parents. Even though I just raved about the move, my home will always be Virginia and the amazing people who built my 24-year-old foundation.
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