I was out on my long run on a muggy Sunday morning. It was fairly quiet when I started, but by the time I turned around to head back home, more people were awake and heading out for their morning exercise. I’m lucky we live just a short distance from a multi-use path which makes running so much easier and safer… most of the time.
There’s always a few people making it less safe for those of us who do follow the rules of the road. I’m never quite sure if it’s because they genuinely don’t know or if they just don’t care and are doing whatever they want, other people be damned. Either way, I get all hot (and not just because I’m sweating already) and bothered about it. I read an article in Runner’s World a few years back about a lawsuit between a biker and and a runner. The runner made a u-turn in front of the biker and bam! Both people were injured in the collision. The court ruled the runner at fault for not yielding prior to making a change in direction. This is just one case where injuries resulted from someone not following the rules of the road. I’m sure there are plenty of other examples. There are several offenses I get feisty about.
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I’ve only been to the Caribbean a couple of times in my life, but I am unequivocally in love. Every time I go, I leave a piece of my soul which I intend to come back for some day. Unfortunately, hurricanes are a part of life in this beautiful part of the world. It’s as if its part of the price you pay for having a piece of paradise on earth.
Y’all, we have hit the thick of summer. As soon as July arrived, the thermometer decided to go
above and beyond pushing temps to uncomfortable levels. If you live in the south, like I do, you get the joy of having dew points in the 70s to go with highs in the 90s, meaning the second you step out the door you start sweating. There’s a billboard on I-26 leaving Charleston for an AC company that says “It’s hotter than Satan’s house cat.” This pretty much sums it up. Despite getting into running eight years ago and living in South Carolina for the last six of those, I still never seem to remember how miserable it is to run in this heat. The draw of a stunning course with the fiery reds, sunny yellows and deep orange of the foliage to stare at, the crisp feel of the northern air and the reward of a spiced ale or cider at the end tricks me into signing up for a fall race more often then not. But then I remember, I have to train for this race two to three months in advance. For me, the sweet spot in training is about 12 weeks. So, a September-October race date has me starting my training in late June or July. Talk about dedication. When I wake up and it’s already in the 80s, the idea of going for a run doesn’t seem so bright. But there are ways to make it work. Trust me, I’m still alive and still running for that matter. Mississippi is one of those states where the craft beer scene has yet to really take off. The number of breweries is rather small at only around 10. And while we were there, we had a chance to visit a brewery in its final days prior to closing. We are lucky enough to have the inside scoop on the scene thanks to our relationship with Matthew McLaughlin, the beer lawyer of Mississippi and Executive Director of the state Brewers Guild. He and my husband, Brook have become good friends since they both have similar roles in the beer industry. So we had the hook up at a few of our stops along the way.
Admittedly, I’m not the most adventurous person when it comes to trying new foods. I’m the gal who orders the same #2 with fries and jamocha shake at Arby’s that I’ve been ordering since I was five years old. But as I work my way through my 30s, I’m pushing myself to try new things, especially when I travel. My first day in Puerto Rico, I was introduced to the magic that is guava. I ate breakfast at a small, but adorable spot in Dorado called Cuatro Sombras. There was only one table and a couple of bar stools. The mocha was rich and smooth and the breakfast sandwich was loaded with ham and cheese. But most importantly, drizzled on top was guava butter. I didn’t know such a decadent thing existed. I knew immediately, I need more guava in my life and such would be my mission for the rest of the trip. Our last project for the week was the most challenging but also the one with the least satisfying result. A tarp covered a barely-there roof. The tarp ripped and water leaked in every time it rained. The woman who lived in the home was rather shy. But the story translated to us was her brother owned the house and passed away. But somehow, she wasn’t able to prove she owned the home so it was a struggle to get money from FEMA to fix the roof. While this woman desperately need a new roof, we couldn’t give it to her. And to be honest, our group wasn’t qualified to tackle the project anyway. Much of the rafters were gone. Part 2 of the My Mission to Puerto Rico series
Read the first in the series In January of 2018, I traveled to Puerto Rico for two weeks on a mission trip. During my first week I worked with a fabulous group of people from central Pennsylvania on three different service projects. This is our second project: By Tuesday afternoon, we headed off to our second project. Two tarps draped over Tatia’s roof, kept water out of damaged areas, yet rain still leaked into her home through another, unfortified spot. Bob was the one in the group with some construction experience, but several of the other men had been on previous missions involving construction work. They all assessed the roof and decided instead of just fixing the leak, we had enough materials and money to give Tatia a whole new roof! When I decided to leave my job, I knew I wanted to do two things: spend Christmas with my parents and sister for the first time in 11 years; and go on a mission trip. In my 33 years, I have never taken a trip for the sole purpose of volunteering. I settled on a trip to Puerto Rico to volunteer with the recovery from Hurricane Maria. I contacted Lutheran Disaster Response, which only five months before my trip, had just set up their operations in Puerto Rico. The group is one of many dedicated to the recovery process on the island, often times working in connection with FEMA to get money for the many projects needing to be done.
During my first conversation with Everidys, the volunteer coordinator, she asked how many people were coming with my group. I startled her when I said, “Just me!” She’d never had a solo volunteer reach out before. Although, once I was in Puerto Rico, she told me they have since had several more single volunteers call. Everidys advised me to come in January when she already had a group of volunteers on the books. As a meteorologist who spent many years forecasting in the Southeast, I know how devastating hurricanes can be. In the last several years, the Caribbean and the US were dealt several major blows. The response in the immediate aftermath of a storm is strong. But unless we are one of the ones directly impacted, it is so easy to forget about the last storm once another comes along. Since Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico within two weeks of each other in September of 2017, we had two devastating hurricanes impact the US. Hurricane Florence wreaked havoc on North Carolina and Hurricane Michael set records by impacting the Panhandle of Florida with strength never seen in that area before. For all of these areas impacted by these disastrous storms, we need to remember that the recovery process takes years. It’s 2019 and areas of the Gulf Coast are still rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
I went to Puerto Rico in January 2019 on a mission trip. I flew into San Juan and to be honest, the city looks to have rebuilt pretty well. The high-rises are fixed up, the hotels are open for business, and the tourist areas are bustling with life. A few buildings here and there have blown out windows and pieces of the building that are missing, but it’s hard to say if those were always that way or if they just never made a comeback after the storm. San Diego Zoo - April 2016 After 11 years of pouring all of myself into a career I love, I made the very difficult decision to leave a job that just wasn’t making me happy any more. After a year of sending out applications and resume reels and even several interviews, my contract at the job was up. I had nowhere to go, but I knew I couldn’t stay there. So I took a giant leap of faith and jumped into “retirement” as I’ve been calling it. Although if the right opportunity came along, I’d jump at the chance to go back.
With all this time on my hands, I’ve been thinking about what I truly enjoy in life; the things that away from work make me happy. I arrived at four things I’d be hard pressed to give up. Even if a doctor told me this is going to kill you, I’d have to think long and hard before giving them up. |
ChrissyI have a passion for traveling, craft beer, cheese and running. Archives
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