Confession Tuesday -
Well, it's Tuesday, so it's time to confess. What have I been up to? Any sins?
To the confessional--
I confess I ate way too much chicken gumbo, shrimp cocktail, and jalapeno cornbread muffins (made by my husband) at a Superbowl Party on Sunday.
I brought my Our Lady of Guadalupe candle, which we lit for the Saints, of course. I voted for the Saints to win because of Hurricane Katrina, French relatives, Mardi Gras beads, Catholicism, & that I had always wanted to visit New Orleans (btw, I know, you don't actually "vote" for a team, but this is my personal terminology when it comes to football or sports). Also, the host of the party was born in Louisiana and people cheering for the Colts had to sit out on the deck and have the score texted to them... (oh, he was *only* kidding about that).
I also confess I did not watch much of the game, but mostly talked and ate. (I occasionally looked over to see what commercials were on... I confess if I never see another GoDaddy commercial my entire life, I will be pleased.) But I confess, I was glad the Saints won. They were the "Ain'ts" for so long, it was nice to see them win.
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I confess I tend to be for the underdog, football or otherwise.
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I confess yesterday I was lost in the woods for 3 hours. This is not a metaphor.
My friend and I were mountain-biking and we took a new (and way too muddy) trail which brought us to a dry larger trail we had never been on. This larger trail took us up new logging roads to even more new trails. I knew things were not good when we found ourselves off-trail looking at each other through beautiful forest of alders with bits of moss all around us and all around were alders and no trail in sight.
Normally, she has a bear-bell on her bike to "warn" bears we're coming so we don't accidentally wander upon them (and worse-- them and their cubs), but she was using my husband's bike, so we were bell-less and lost. So, we backtracked. We biked down extra steep hills then up extra steep hills until she had an idea where we were.
I had my GPS on my iPhone, but it said we were standing in a pond when we were definitely not standing in a pond. My friend who normally navigates intuitively (and is absolutely incredible in this skill) got turned around by the map, which didn't show any trails, just us as a dot in the middle of a forest or in some cases, us standing in a pond.
Me? I had no idea where we were and never do. I trust her completely to lead us in and out of the forest.
I have no sense of direction and in fact, thought we were ten miles north of where we actually were. I also swore I could smell someone cooking hamburgers (did I mention I had eaten all my snacks) and was convinced that there was a secret restaurant in the forest.
My friend found our way back and just about 1/4 mile down the road from where we had parked the van. I confess I was incredibly impressed as I thought we were nearing Canada.
By the way, we weren't afraid, so no worries. We have mountain-biked this area many times. We knew we'd find our way out, it was just becoming a long question of when.
And in a certain way, this is life's lessons with extra mud and blackberry scratches-- When you are lost, backtrack until you find your way, don't rely on technology too much, but your instincts and always bring a friend along.
*
To the confessional--
I confess I ate way too much chicken gumbo, shrimp cocktail, and jalapeno cornbread muffins (made by my husband) at a Superbowl Party on Sunday.
I brought my Our Lady of Guadalupe candle, which we lit for the Saints, of course. I voted for the Saints to win because of Hurricane Katrina, French relatives, Mardi Gras beads, Catholicism, & that I had always wanted to visit New Orleans (btw, I know, you don't actually "vote" for a team, but this is my personal terminology when it comes to football or sports). Also, the host of the party was born in Louisiana and people cheering for the Colts had to sit out on the deck and have the score texted to them... (oh, he was *only* kidding about that).
I also confess I did not watch much of the game, but mostly talked and ate. (I occasionally looked over to see what commercials were on... I confess if I never see another GoDaddy commercial my entire life, I will be pleased.) But I confess, I was glad the Saints won. They were the "Ain'ts" for so long, it was nice to see them win.
*
I confess I tend to be for the underdog, football or otherwise.
*
I confess yesterday I was lost in the woods for 3 hours. This is not a metaphor.
My friend and I were mountain-biking and we took a new (and way too muddy) trail which brought us to a dry larger trail we had never been on. This larger trail took us up new logging roads to even more new trails. I knew things were not good when we found ourselves off-trail looking at each other through beautiful forest of alders with bits of moss all around us and all around were alders and no trail in sight.
Normally, she has a bear-bell on her bike to "warn" bears we're coming so we don't accidentally wander upon them (and worse-- them and their cubs), but she was using my husband's bike, so we were bell-less and lost. So, we backtracked. We biked down extra steep hills then up extra steep hills until she had an idea where we were.
I had my GPS on my iPhone, but it said we were standing in a pond when we were definitely not standing in a pond. My friend who normally navigates intuitively (and is absolutely incredible in this skill) got turned around by the map, which didn't show any trails, just us as a dot in the middle of a forest or in some cases, us standing in a pond.
Me? I had no idea where we were and never do. I trust her completely to lead us in and out of the forest.
I have no sense of direction and in fact, thought we were ten miles north of where we actually were. I also swore I could smell someone cooking hamburgers (did I mention I had eaten all my snacks) and was convinced that there was a secret restaurant in the forest.
My friend found our way back and just about 1/4 mile down the road from where we had parked the van. I confess I was incredibly impressed as I thought we were nearing Canada.
By the way, we weren't afraid, so no worries. We have mountain-biked this area many times. We knew we'd find our way out, it was just becoming a long question of when.
And in a certain way, this is life's lessons with extra mud and blackberry scratches-- When you are lost, backtrack until you find your way, don't rely on technology too much, but your instincts and always bring a friend along.
*
I was scared for you just reading that entry. I hate being lost, especially because I have a poor sense of direction.
ReplyDeleteThe gumbo sounds yummy. New Orleans is a beautiful city. Hope you get a chance to check it out someday.
Thanks for your confessions.
i ate way too much gumbo, too, but i loved every bite of it (we, too, were rooting for the underdog).
ReplyDeletei am glad you found your way out of the woods. gosh, that's a scary feeling.
i was almost tearing up just with the thought of being lost in the woods like that!
ReplyDeletei hate being lost. the worst case we had was in France. We had a rental car and had gone out to get something to eat our first night in the Normandy area and we could see our hotel from the distance but could not get to it. we spent an hour and a half driving down tiny streets just completely confused.
i shiver to even remember it!