Saturday, January 13, 2007

sledding & the movie

Nothing like a good story to chase the blues away. I woke up this morning disgruntled over work. I’ve vowed for various reasons that I’ll never speak about work here and so I’ll keep that and not explain why I may have been disgruntled. But the feeling wouldn’t be shaken off. The day progressed and we did some errands and still the cloud hung over my head. Not even a new spatula would turn the tide.

We went sledding which I very much enjoyed and I didn’t think of work once out on the hill. It was great fun. I went down about 4 or 5 times. It was as fun as I remembered but I don’t remember taking long hot showers to recover when I was a kid. The memories came back only when I was flying and bouncing down the hill. They came as flashes mostly, not sustained. Memories of sledding at church (the hill behind St. Stephen’s) Whitnall park, and traying down the hill in front of Liz. I ended my sledding career today with a crash that nearly tore my knee out and left me sucking in air. I’m getting too old for this nonsense but it was fun. Thanks to Jay who wouldn’t stop bugging us about it. I came away from the sledding as I thought I might, a bit energized from the fresh air and the exercise. My mood was fine but it was my body that benefited (even as it was beaten) from the sledding.

It was the movie that reset my temper. We saw Night in the Museum. And while the beginning was slow and it was a simple film, I found it to be just delightful. Full of surprise and excitement yet nothing too frightening, perfect for our kids with a lot of good themes of loyalty, perseverance, friendship, and teamwork. I was really impressed after not being all that thrilled about seeing another children’s film. So many of them can descend into the very base elements. In either case, I found myself happier when I left the theater. And it seems to have stuck. It was the right story for me today. A good story well told. The very best thing.

Oh to be such a story teller.

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