A note on suprises

Life is always full of little surprises. (And NO, I am not pregnant. That's not what I mean at all.) I mean that time and time again, in small ways, and occasionally in bigger ways, Life reminds us that we insignificant humans are not really in control of everything. Of course for those of us that are (semi?) control freaks, that can be hard. But on the other hand, what I am learning, is that it can also be quite the relief. Since we *can't* control everything, we are relieved of the burden of *trying* to control everything. It just won't work. Sometimes, we just need to surrender to what IS.

I have been listening to this yoga podcast, which has completely been the jackpot of all internet finds for me. This amazing woman Kelly posts podcasts of yoga classes that she records, and she wonderfully posts images of the sequence of postures, so you can scan through and see if it's a class that sounds good to you at that moment or not. Plus there are so many to choose from, one that is only 23 minutes when you are crunched for time, 40 min, 60 min, or a full 90 minute class. Plus, she is a FANTASTIC teacher. I love her. She doesn't annoy me at all, and I like her sequences most of the time. I have never had this dedicated of a home practice and it feels so wonderful. (Find her blog here.)

One of her classes is dedicated to that whole idea of surrendering to what is. When you get a flat tire, there's no use to moaning, Why did this happen to me? You need to just accept that the tire is flat, and it needs to get fixed. I was pleasantly surprised when I had this reaction on Monday...I came home to find that when Alex took Gatsby out, he got sprayed by a skunk!!!! Alex was expecting me to be mad that he "let" it happen...but all I could think was, Wow, I am so lucky this happened while I was at class and you already bathed him!!!! (But seriously, it SMELLED SO BAD....I can only imagine how the poor dog felt, having just been sprayed straight in the face.) Anyway..sometimes stuff happens. What can you do but just deal with it?

We had a *happy* surprise on Sunday. On our adventures out and about in the Miata, we happened across a farmstand. We pulled over to see what kind of goodies they had, and it turned out to be a TOMATO TASTING. We seriously got to taste 15+ varieties of tomatoes for free, on a gorgeous, warm, late summer day, after driving around in a convertible. Does life get any better?

Sometimes it is so much harder than it seems to roll with the punches, but sometimes, it's the easiest (and only) option!