Disparate Thoughts

The new scarf that I love, not the old one that I didn't love.

When you start a scarf for your husband for Christmas and then you hate it and so you go out and buy new yarn that you like, that makes you happy, and even though it's only five days to Christmas, you are able to knit over a foot in one day because you like the yarn, you like the way the scarf looks and it actually excites you to knit it. This is why I knit. Because you can make pretty things for people that you love.

When you don't run for a week, even though last weekend you were able to run 8 miles no problem at a 10 minute pace, and you start the run feeling thirsty, you most likely won't be able to run 6 miles at that same pace, and you remind yourself why you need to run at least a couple of times during the week.

When you are feeling frustrated at this world because you feel so ineffectual about your ability to make any real change outside of expressing your frustration on Facebook, and you have a nihilistic conversation with your husband that even protesting is playing into the same system, it's best to remember that all you can do is try to make the world a better place and that small changes can add up.

When you have a son that takes dance class at school and they put on their own version of the Nutcracker called the "peanut" cracker, and he becomes obsessed with Nutcrakers and asks to watch the Nutcraker with you, and he keeps asking when the "Russian" dance is because that's the music he danced to, that's when you remember what a great thing it is to have a child.