A New Old Bench for Our House

William’s summer long hospital stay was followed up by just a few weeks of normal life. After our trip to Washington D.C. and Virginia, John became very sick in late September. After a week of high fevers and abdominal pain at home, he spent over a week in the hospital, had numerous tests and eventually, invasive gall bladder surgery. After that, he had to spend another month at home recuperating and still dealing with some post–surgical issues. Now he and Baby William have very nearly matching (and long) abdominal scars. I’ve always said those two have an uncanny connection, and so it continues.

So, for the month or so that John was pretty seriously ill, it just didn’t feel right to leave him at home or in the hospital just so I could go out and do some of the activities I had planned for this Fall. I did, however, have one great find – an antique bench for our living/dining room. I came across it one afternoon at an antique store near the hospital as I was taking a walk just to get out to get some fresh air and exercise. I had been looking for a unique (and hopefully antique) bench for the wall along the stairs in our dining room for a few years now. I wanted to add some practical seating to complement the large dining room table – to replace the accent table along the wall.

So, I still need to paint the wall and get some more dramatic artwork, but, since that might take a while, here’s a photo of the bench itself for now.

In looking at the shopmark on the bench and after talking with the owner of the antique store (and doing a little research on my own), I found that the bench was made by the Ford and Johnson Furniture Company out of Chicago. They were in business between 1867 and 1913 and were among the exhibitors at the International Universal Exposition in Paris in 1900 (along with Louis Comfort Tiffany).

One of the features I like best about this bench is the shield and star motif across the back of the bench...very American and a nice Arts and Crafts touch.

This particular bench was in Chicago’s Union (train) Station for most of the 20th century. When they remodeled the Chicago train station a few years ago, the Los Angeles Shriners purchased much of the furniture. The Shriners divided up the lots and somehow, this particular bench made it to our local antique store, and now, to our home.

Ford, J. S., Johnson and Company

Maker: Ford, J. S., Johnson and CompanyYear: 1867-1913

Reference: The Official Price Guide to American Arts & Crafts 3rd Ed., David Rago and Bruce Johnson

Notes: Ford, J. S., Johnson and Co. Chicago retailer. 1867-1913. John S. Ford and Henry W. Johnson, founders. Factory in Michigan City, IN. Called second largest chair manufacturer in US; various styles; high quality Arts &Crafts. Red shopmark.

Washington D.C. and Virginia

To some people a vacation means doing nothing. If I want to lay around and do nothing, I’ll just stay home and save the money. To me a vacation means getting out and seeing new places, trying new foods, and, best of all, learning something new. Staying in bed beyond, say, 8:00 (at home or on the road) becomes kind of tortuous for me. I often just get up and leave the room for a walk, jog or to get a snack and read the local paper while my poor exhausted traveling companions snooze away. (Some of my favorite times have often been these little solitary reprieves.)

So, with that, earlier this year, I got an email from United Airlines saying that I had 49,750 frequent flyer miles that were about to expire if I didn’t use them within a week or two. So, back in February, I had to look ahead and think of someplace John and I could fly to later on this year. In the end, (after buying up a missing 250 miles) we just picked Washington D.C. We’re both history nerds and love United States and Civil War history so this seemed like a good plan.

I got a great deal on one of those bidding websites (it was Hotwire...for some reason, I just can't ever remember the name of that website) for a great room at the Capital Hilton (just a block up 16th street from the White House).

That's our hotel across the street there..
….yeah, us and the Obama’s were pretty much next door neighbors for one week in September.

And, who knew, that with our great deal, our room key also got us passage to the VIP lounge on the 13th floor with breakfast and a fridge stocked with pop anytime we wanted it. OK, so, we’re really easy to impress…free breakfast and cans of pop make me pretty happy.

We’d been to D.C. once before back in 2005 with a great group of students and teachers from Grace Yokley Middle School where John taught. Mr. Collin Kenny and Randy Garrett, both history teachers and engaging historians really made that trip come alive for us -- especially, Yorktown, Gettysburg and Williamsburg. But, on that tour, there were a few stops we weren’t able to make, so this time, I contacted our congressman’s office and go tickets for the White House Tour, the Capitol; the Supreme Court, and the Kennedy Center. We also stopped to see the National Cathedral but found that it was closed down from some damage from the huge East Coast Earthquake (did you sense a bit of mocking in that statement?) a week or two before our trip. We went to several of the Smithsonian Museums as well as the Folger Shakespeare Library (I'd just finished reading two good books about Shakespeare "Will in the World" by Stephen Greenblatt and "Shakespeare, the World as Stage" by Bill Bryson) and just had to visit after this place's collection of folios was mentioned in the latter.John in the long dark main hall of the Folger Library

A highlight was a boat tour up the Potomac.

We also went to the National Archives and saw the original Declaration of Independence and Constitution (now I want to see National Treasure again). We ate in fancy pants places and at dives, and, as usual, I like the dives best. Our most memorable meal was the one Saturday night we were there eating at a Peruvian restaurant near our hotel, called, what else, but, The Casa Blanca. Because we were the only people there for a while, we had the owner turn the channel to ESPN. We watched the entire BYU game, cheering for a win even as the place filled up through the evening and we just kept getting refills on our sodas. Another night we grabbed pizza near the hotel and ate it in our room while we watched the TV version of the movie “Gran Torino” in our room. I’ve given a lot of thought to the story in that movie since that night – I’m not sure what the original uncut version was like, but I highly recommend the edited version we saw..

After a few days in the city, we were ready to head out and see a few other sites. We first went by to see the Washington DC temple

then headed to Manassass to the see the sites of the 1st and 2nd battles of Bull Run.

Looking for Civil War ghosts in the basement of an old inn that was used as a hospital at Bull Run.

We HAD to eat at least once at the Golden Corral buffet and it didn’t disappoint (steak, shrimp, hush puppies, okra, sweet potatoes, and lots of desserts.) I don’t know if they have these buffets in California and if there are any near me, I really don’t want to know. Eating at these palaces of gluttony is a treat I want to reserve just for my infrequent visits to the south. And, beyond the food, oh, just the people watching at this place was worth the price of admission. And we fit right in after a long day on the road.

We loved our relaxing day at Mount Vernon (on our last trip we spent a morning at Monticello; they’re both amazing homes).

I dragged John to a Cuban restaurant (Kuba, Kuba) in Richmond I found on the Food Network site. I loved it, he remained reluctant. It was in a great old neighborhood though which was totally worth seeing up close and walking through.

We spent a day in Richmond, toured the Confederate White House & Confederate Museum drove down Monument Avenue and ate for the first time in both of our lives, at a Waffle House. We both liked this place -- what's not to love about waffles and Virginia Ham anytime of the day or night?

From there, it was time to head back up to Dulles for our flight back home. Another great vacation for us. Now, I’ve got to renew my passport, I keep seeing these great ads for tours to the Holy Land and think I want to be on one of them in the next year or two…oh, yeah, there’s also the temple dedication in Rome – sometime in 2013. With that, I need to get back to earning money to support this habit.

The missing weeks…

My last blog was on July 3rd and since then, I’ve had many new experiences, not the kind I would have planned on but the kind that have made me appreciate my faith, the strength of prayer and every member of my family more. It all began in Yosemite.

Our family enjoys camping together. We’ve camped at the beaches for years – Doheny State Beach is a favorite and we’ve camped at Zion National Park and back in 2009 in Yosemite. This year, we had reservations at the Upper Pines Campground in Yosemite Valley. This means that several months ago, we set a strategy – choosing a week and a range of campsites and gave everyone the date and time that the coveted and hard to get reservations would open. On a Sunday morning in March we all woke up early and had our hoped for reservations chosen on the National Park Service Reservation website www.recreation.gov . At exactly 7:00 a.m., the moment the reservations opened, we all pressed enter. I had two computers logged in, kept pressing enter on both, and snagged just one campsite. Other family members, immediate and extended were doing the same thing at the same moment. Between several families, we reserved five sites and the plans for the camping adventure began.

John and I left Riverside on Wednesday, July 6th and met Hayley and Ryan at Uncle Tex’s cabin in Mammoth Lakes. They had gone up to ski on the 4th of July and remained there when Adam had to come back down south to work. Mammoth Lakes was a new experience and it’s a great little town and beautiful area. We took a shuttle bus ride up to the lakes and were surprised by all the snow and ice there this summer. The rivers and falls were massive – I’m not sure all the snow that fell last year ever really melted. By now, it’s probably starting to rebuild again.

John and I had purchased a new Coleman “Instant Tent” at Target and, let me tell you, this is the way to go. On Thursday afternoon, July 7th, we got our campsite set up within minutes with no arguments maybe for the first time ever. We went over to the John Muir show near the Visitor's Center and learned a little more about an historical figure we admire greatly.During that first night camping, my son, Danny’s little 16 month old baby boy, William, had diarrhea and was just very fussy and couldn’t sleep. I got up to go to the camp bathroom about 3 in the morning and saw my daughter in law, Sarah, pushing little William around the campground loop in his little umbrella stroller. The motion of the stroller seemed to sooth little Willie’s discomfort.

I joined them and made it around the loop a couple of times. We whispered and laughed over by Heidi and Ned’s site, listening to someone in a tent snoring with great gusto. I then went back into my tent. Lying there, I could hear the little wheels of that stroller pass the tent every five minutes or so. I started feeling pretty darn bad for both of them and didn’t think I’d be falling back asleep any time soon. So, decided I might as well go give Sarah a break and take over the stroller duty so she could get a little rest herself.

The campground at 3 in the morning is pretty dark; the only lights are from the bathrooms spaced every 10 or 12 campsites. William and I went around our loop once or twice and then back by Heidi’s tent, William lifted up his little hand to indicate something that caught his attention. I looked up to try to see what he was pointing at. It was hard to make it out, but right there in the light of the bathroom just 15 feet or so in front of us, I made out the silhouette of a pretty decent sized bear. (Maybe what we thought was snoring earlier was that bear?)

I know what you’re supposed to do when you run into a bear; but, in the middle of the night, with my sweet baby grandson, I forgot all I knew and quickly turned around, growled as loud as I could and just ran and pushed that little umbrella stroller away as fast as I could. The bear had been between us and our campsite, so, by turning around, I had to run the long way through the loop to my tent. I didn't dare look behind me. I just kept running, imagining a silent stealthy bear right on my heels. When I finally reached our tent, out of breath and flushing with adrenaline, I picked up little William and, without realizing he was buckled in, lifted him and his attached stroller up till the little stroller crashed to the ground on its side. All this while I jerked at the door zipper and tumbled in.

We laid there together with him on my chest on in my arms for the rest of the morning. I would drift off to sleep and I think William did as well. But, he would squirm and groan in obvious pain every few minutes. Finally, at dawn, with a diaper that just got filled, I was just getting ready to take him back to Sarah, when she came to my tent to get him.

In the meantime, my husband, John, woke up in great pain. (What a morning!) He disappeared for over an hour in the restroom. I sent the grandsons over to check on him, I was so worried about him. He finally came back, pale and with sunken cheeks, looking like death and said to me, “you’ve got to take me over to the clinic”. Well, we unhooked the trailer very quickly and got cleaned up enough to be seen outside of the campground. I walked over to the campsite Danny & Sarah were sharing with her parents and let them know that I was taking John over to the clinic, and as long as we were heading over, they might as well bring William on over with us.

So, just before 9:00 in the morning on Friday the 8th, the four of us, John, me, Sarah and William, pulled into the clinic parking lot. We waited till the doors were unlocked and were the first patients of the day. John was seen first and within just a few minutes, it was determined and confirmed that he had passed a kidney stone. By the time he actually saw the PA, the pain had subsided and he was feeling pretty much back to normal.

By this time, William’s diarrhea had blood in it and this concerned all of us as well as the very professional caregivers there at the Yosemite Clinic. After giving William a very thorough going over, they told Danny and Sarah that they needed to get him down to the Children’s Hospital in Fresno right away. I don’t really know if they gave him a diagnosis at this point, but that would come soon enough. I'm sure Danny and Sarah would have taken William to the doctor soon, but I can't help but think that the pain John experienced by passing that kidney stone might have been a way for us to get Willie to the clinic the minute it opened that morning.

Sarah’s parents were there with all of our family and her brother Jake, and his Fiancée, Amy Swanson. Between the two sets of grandparents and many aunts and uncles, we kept Danny and Sarah’s other two children, almost four year old, Claire and six year old, Carter. Keeping those two older kids with us up there in Yosemite while Danny and Sarah spent their times in hospitals (first Fresno and then LA) helped them out as much as anything else we could think of doing for them.

We didn’t have electricity at our campsite, so I was constantly trying to keep my blackberry charged up in the bathroom. The lack of a charged phone, combined with limited phone reception, made it hard to keep in constant touch with Danny & Sarah while they were gone. However, they were pretty quick to identify the fact that William had an e. coli bacterial infection. And, a pretty serious e.Coli 0157 h7 strain at that.

We hiked, rode bikes, swam and rafted in the Merced River and just tried to help all the grandchildren enjoy a wonderful week in the beautiful outdoors. The bear William and I saw on Friday morning, romped through the campsites in our loop on Saturday morning. We kept busy, held a special family prayer and felt comfort knowing that William was receiving good care for his condition.

Vernal Fall

After a couple of days in the Fresno Children’s Hospital, they found that William was one of the 5 - 10% of e. coli cases to get a horrible complication, HUS (Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome) that shuts down the kidneys and adds another extra level risk. With this new information, on Sunday, July 10th, William was airlifted from Fresno to Los Angeles.

We all stayed in Yosemite until Wednesday the 13th and stopped by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to see our little grandson and to drop off Carter and Claire on way home that evening. I think we looked like the Beverly Hillbillies driving down Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood in our Expedition with the heaped up trailer filled with camping gear and covered up with blue tarps and bungee cords. We didn’t care. We stopped by a Target in Bakersfield to get some clean clothes to wear in the hospital.

It was tough seeing our little whirling dervish of non-stop energy just lying in a hospital crib hooked up to I.V.s and, worse yet, a dialysis machine. At this point, his belly had swollen up quite a bit. Something wasn’t just right with the little fella


I went back to work on Thursday and showed up on Friday morning as well only to find out that William had another worst case scenario. His colon had necropsied and ruptured. He had to be rushed into emergency surgery to remove the dead colon and to clean up from the rupture. From here, William’s day to day situation, progress and support is well documented in this blog www.williamantoniotodd.blogspot.com . You can go back to the oldest posts and see the details. What it all comes down to is that for a few days there, we weren't sure just what God's will for little Will was but through prayer and faith, we felt comforted and just had to trust in whatever God's will was. We had several little sayings that helped us through this ordeal. One of them was, “Where there’s a Will there’s a way” with so many meanings for us. About every second or third day for the 5 or 6 weeks that he was in Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and then Kaiser Sunset, we’d drive from our home for about an hour to stay with William for a few hours and then drive back home. One night, I spent the night to let Sarah go home and get a real night’s sleep. Knowing that Sarah had been doing that every night, my respect for her grew immeasurably through that exhausting long night. On August 8th, we celebrated Claire’s fourth birthday at the Ronald McDonald house and on the 29th, Danny’s birthday in the Kaiser Hospital cafeteria. These were memorable new experiences. But, all of this is why my blog ceased to be updated for these weeks


William had his surgery to reconnect his colon a couple of weeks ago and is now home. His kidneys were compromised and will have to be carefully monitored for the rest of his life along with a modified low sodium, low potassium diet. His shortened colon means he will be using the bathroom more than he would have otherwise. But we’re a grateful family. We’re all getting back to a little more normal life and our usual routines once again – especially the younger Todd Family -- Team Todd. And, I’ll be getting back to the usual weekly blog updates now.

Life is always interesting and often unpredictable. We’re glad that our love and faith helped us weather this unforeseen trial and come out stronger in faith and our love and support of each other. We’ve seen overwhelming expressions of love from friends, acquaintances and even strangers – many of who are now friends.


This summer will be one we will never ever forget. Our memories will be of hospitals, fatigue, and worry and of prayer, faith, love, friendship, family and answered prayers.

Week 24, U2 Concert

We've had tickets to U2's 360 concert tour for a year and a half. We got them as part of a package of Angels baseball tickets I got for John's Christmas gift back in 2009 (for the concert in June 2010). Bono injured his back last year and the concert was postponed. So, I've had yellowing concert tickets pinned to my bulletin board for 18 months.

On Friday night, we were so excited to go to the concert. We went to Lone Star for dinner on the way (yea restaurants.com). We paid to park, got a good spot and as we were going through security, we were told that the old tickets we had were for Saturday night. (It was impossible to find out -- I searched on the internet and even called and talked to someone at the Angels tickets office.)

We got our $25 parking fee back, went to McDonald's for ice cream cones and just went home -- we both tried to have a good attitude knowing we'd be coming back the next night -- which we did.

Saturday night felt like a total deja vu experience -- at least up to the time we actually used our tickets to get in the gates. As usual, were there a little early (I am kind of a freaky about getting places early -- or at least very on time.)

The opening act was Lenny Kravitz -- amazing. I've always loved the song "Are You Gonna Go My Way" (great guitar). Kravitz's playlist included that song as "It Ain't Over Till It's Over," "American Woman," and "Fly." Once U2 came on -- it was just an amazing spectacle -- the staging was phenomonal and it was hard to imagine that all that great music came out of these four guys!JHJohn and I are not rocker fans and generally avoid large arena/stadium venues,

but, we had a rockin' good time --

an enjoyable event to add to this year of doing new things.

Week 23, Painting an Old Bench

I was still tired from running that half marathon last week, so last week's "new thing" was just renovating an old bench. It had been sitting in the middle of my front flower garden getting sprinkled every day and it was either the trash or the paint brush.

Before

After

It's not much of an ambitious project and

I still may take some dark finish to it for an antique look.

But, for now, it looks better and,

after my recent physical challenges,

I have nice place to sit and relax and just read!

Week 22, Completing a Half Marathon

Several months ago, I decided it would be a great accomplishment to complete a half-marathon. Why? I really haven't figured that out -- but I will say there is a great sense of accomplishment having now finished one -- the Fontana Days Half-Marathon on Saturday, June 4th.

The training was tedious. I've been waking up early and running on my own on weekdays since January and doing long runs with April every Saturday. Some of these training runs were great fun. We ran for miles by the orange groves and beautiful homes along Victoria Avenue in Riverside with Sarah and her friend, Jessica. A few times we ran with Heidi from her house through the hiking trails to Lake Perris and then across the top of the dam watching the birds, fishermen and water skiers as we did.

We were all looking forward to the run on one hand, but, I have to admit, I was pretty scared. There was a posted minimum pace to keep and I wasn't sure I was up to maintaining it for 13.1 miles. But, hey, if I didn't finish, its not like people would have called me on it. Nobody but me really cared how I did or if I even did it at all-- but for me, it meant a lot to get this thing done!

On Friday night, the whole family and some of Sarah's friends joined up for a Pasta Loading party at the Spaghetti Factory in Riverside.

On Saturday morning, we got up at 5 to be in Fontana to catch a bus which drove us up, up, up Lytle Creek Canyon for the cold start of the race. April and I stuck together and did our best to help each other mentally prepare for this great challenge. We enjoyed visiting with a lot of friends while we waited for the race to actually begin -- and we stayed to the back of the pack -- knowing we weren't going to be sprinting with the superstars -- not even at the beginning. It was here where I spotted the weaker-looking runners -- the elderly and obese. Knowing they were there in the field, gave me comfort in thinking that I should at least be able to stay in front of them.

It was there that April's friend, Holly Hull gave us the great-looking, pink, Run Like a Girl shirts to wear from her family business http://www.thresholdcycle.com/. It was sort of like we were sponsored -- even though it was just a free shirt, it was cute and it made all of us who wore them look really cool. I've always been a little bit envious of runners with matching shirts -- it gives the impression that they're regulars at this and really good at it. And, well, every group has to have one person who's the slowest -- for our Run Like a Girl group, that was my role.

From the cold start at 7:30, it was all downhill -- literally. My strategy was to take a walk break at each of the watering stations set up every two miles -- to hydrate well and walk for a minute or two while I made the most of the little paper cups of liquid. That strategy worked really well for me and the mile markers just seemed to keep flyin' by for the first 7 or 8 miles-- even though I lost April at mile 2 or 4 (I can't remember which) because I didn't want my middle-aged strategy to hold her up.

The last 5 or so, the mile markers were no longer flyin' by. I started doing a walk/run combo after mile 8 and then when I passed mile 10 I just put myself into a slow run trance, just staring at the pavement in front of me and just kind of zoning out. I guess you could call my state semi-deliriousness at that point.

Finally, as I got within a quarter mile or so of the finish line, I saw Heidi in the distance waving at me. She ran back up the street to meet me and run down with me for a few minutes. I have to admit, I started crying when I saw her coming toward me. I cried because I was happy that this self-imposed ordeal was almost done and that I had actually done this very hard thing; and I cried partly just because I love her so much and really appreciated her coming back for me. I guess the delirium had something to do with it too.

Heidi and me running into the finishing zone.

I'm seeing that finish line ahead and nothin' can stop me now.

Oh, this was the best part of the entire day.

I'll always remember the great feeling of running over those timing sensor carpets! My time was 2:33 -- not bad for a lady running her first half marathon at almost 52 years old!
It's over -- and here I am with my support team April, Heidi (me) and Sarah-- I love these daughters of mine. Thanks for dragging me along with you girls!

Week 21, Disney's World of Color

Our family has been Disneyland annual passholders every year since about 1994. We generally buy the least expensive passes which, unfortunatley, include a lot of blackout days -- especially during the summer. I don't mind; The days that are blacked-out on our passes are the more popular days when the parks are more crowded anyway.

So, I know Disneyland and the California Adventure parks REALLY well. Some of my favorite things in the two parks are: Soarin' Over California, Toy Story Mania and Buzz Lightyear (we're a very competitive family),

the Mission Tortilla mini-factory & samples (we're a very hungry family too). and the teacups.

If I'm with the grandkids, I like whatever they like and just enjoy being with them. If I'm with the little kids, I love to go on It's a Small World, the Carousel, the Storybook boat ride and anything else in Fantasy Land.
I used to love the Electric Light Parade -- especially that synthesized soundtrack. It makes me happy still when I hear that never-ending song -- wherever I am.

Last week, I decided I wanted to see the Wonderful World of Color Show before my summer blackout dates kick in. It started showing at California Adventure last Summer and we still hadn't had a chance to see it.

I had heard that you could buy a dinner which included reserved spots for the World of Color show. In my mind, I thought that buying the special dinner package would mean enjyoing our dinner while we sat and watched the show.
But we found out that you just pick up a reserved meal (we had the cold fried chicken dinners; they were pretty decent except for the cole slaw). The dinner is eaten by the winery long before the show begins; you're just give a special pass for the show. -- and that meant that we got to stand around with everyone else -- but in a specially designated standing area -- not necessarily at the front of the crowd or anything but not bad. John and I just sat on the pavement and enjoyed watching the people around us and the Mickey Ferris Wheel across the water with its colorful changing light patterns. I loved the way the show began with the theme song from the old Wonderful World of Disney television show from the 60's...."the world is a carousel of color". Anyone around my age (you know, 52) has some great memories of Sunday evenings watching "Disneyland" with the family. The show featured some other favorites too, A Whole New World and for this watershow, the song "Just Around the Riverbend" worked so well too. Anyway, we both enjoyed the show -- it was just great to be outside on a nice early Summer evening at the Happiest Place on Earth.

Week 20 Tinman Triathlon

So, you've heard of an Ironman Triathlon right? A real Ironman event consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a full out 26.2 mile marathon.

Well, I did complete a triathlon on Saturday morning -- but instead of an Ironman, this one was a Tinman.And, well, I feel pretty darn proud of myself and had a surprisingly really fun time doing it! The Riverside Tinman http://riversidetinman.com is a free triathlon sponsored by the Riverside Stake (Mormon term for a group of wards or congregations). The event, held at Riverside Community College (RCC) consists of a 150 meter swim, a 5K or 3 mile stroller friendly (of course) run\walk and a 10 mile street & mountain bike finish. My total time hasn't been posted yet but I think it was around 88 minutes for all three events.

I completely stunk at the first event -- the swim. But, hey, the only swim lesson I ever got was when my dad threw me in the deep end of the Douglas, Arizona public pool when I was 5 or 6. I figured out how to struggle to the top, gasp for air and how to doggy paddle from that harrowing experience. Shortly after that, my parents divorced (his method of swimming instruction played no part in that but it does give you just a brief glimpse into his smoth people skills). But after that, as the kid of a single working mom, there wasn't a lot of money or means for luxuries like swimming lessons. On this morning, I started doing an ugly crawl (I've never quite "got" that arm-breathing thing) and ended up doing a modified backstroke which was really more like floating on my back while kicking and waving my arms. It was ugly and kind of slow at just under 5 minutes, but hey, I survived (sadly, last year, a participant suffered a heart attack and didn't survive the swim). From there, I was able to move on to the events which take less learned skills.

A side note, I did have a photo taken of me in the pool lookin' super hot with my skirted tankini and some borrowed goggles, but, alas, my trusty Canon Elf camera got misplaced. I'm hoping because this was a gathering of Mormons, somebody found it and it might somehow find its way back to me.

Moving on to the run -- the 5K...my time on that run was 33.03 -- just 15 seconds faster than my time at this event in 2009 when all I did was the 5K. Not bad, but I was hoping for a faster time since I've been running (OK, really, its jogging) a lot more the last few months to train for the Fontana Half Marathon next month. But, still, the way I look at it, I'm almost 52 years old. I have been blessed with a healthy, well-functioning body. I honestly consider this one of the best gifts of my life and I say prayers of thanks often for this blessing. I think often of how my body is not "me" but a vessel in which the true me, my soul, resides. I will continue to do everything I can to keep it -- and my mind -- healthy and working as well as possible. Too many women are so critical of how they look compared to some crazy, unrealistic ideals perpetuated by Hollywood, the media and just society as a whole. Instead of focusing on its health and how it's working, they focus on how it appears -- there's a big difference there. So, with that, I'm grateful I am able to run at all.

The bike ride along the Santa Ana River Trail -- heading north along pretty flat terrain felt more like recreation than a part of the contest. I guess I could have pushed harder, but it really just felt good to sit down on the bike seat. I was riding pretty much on my own and, being pretty unfamiliar with the streets around RCC, got a little lost and let a younger woman (I guess I could say "sister") catch up to me. With the little competitive "oomph" still left in me, I downshifted, turned up the heat and blew her away in the last 100 yards or so (once I knew where the finish was).

My sweet little Ella cheered me on through the swim and was there to meet me at the end. How I love her....and, yeah, I look like a total nerd with my helmet and baseball cap on -- but, it worked.

This is all of us who stayed through the end (Hayley swam but then had to go home to get Ryan to his ice hockey practice)...April, me, Ella and Heidi and Sarah. We had several other friends and Sarah's Mom, Sue Carter, there too.

This was a very fun event and I think I'll be participating in upcoming years now too. Come join us next year!

(By the way, thanks new friend Esmeralda for sending the I-phone photos above.)