Lessons Learned

It is day 18 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge and NaBloPoMo.  Today's post is in response to this week's blog hop prompt from the Writer's Post host Suzy Que of Reflections of My Soul.

    Over the years I have learned some pretty important things about myself.  I don’t handle heat well and I must drink water.   With the Elkhart County 4H Fair starting tomorrow and the happy weather man threatening over 100 degree heat indexes you can bet I am guzzling water, and have been.

      I go to the fair every year and have my whole life.  I was a 4H member, and now both of my kids participate in 4H.  Not going to the fair is not even an option for me.  I have to go.  I have to know how the kids did on their projects.  Forget that the fair comes at the hottest time of the year.  Forget that a couple years ago I went toe up while at the fair from heat stroke and dehydration.  I learned it is not fun to be vomiting nonstop anywhere but at home.  Not that it is fun at home, but it is a nightmare to be in a medical building at the fairgrounds wondering if you are ever going to stop upchucking and be able to go home.

     Since then, I approach time at the fair with a sense of fear and trepidation.  I don’t want to ever experience what I did again.  So I drink tons of water.  Because I love my kids and want to see their projects first hand, I put aside my fears and go.  I learned an important lesson from that experience.  No matter how much I love to drink soda pop or anything else, water is essential to good health.  It makes up 60% of your body and helps everything in it function properly.  Without it, your body begins to shut down.   A little dehydration can lead to difficulty focusing on small print, trouble with basic math, and completely screws your ability to remember things.  Feeling a bit loopy, drink some water!!  It lubricates the joints and keeps blood flowing for proper circulation.    With the human brain made up of 95% water you can just imagine what happens if you are dehydrated.  Everything goes to hell in a hand basket in a big ass hurry.

 
       I felt like I was going to die that day.  I was weak and fatigued and could barely summon enough energy to walk, nor did I want to.    With the heat topping out in the 100’s, it makes dehydration even more likely and serious of a business.  So I lived to tell the tale, and I learned to drink more water.   I still am terrified of going to the fair because of what happened but I refuse to live in fear.  I choose to combat the heat staying hydrated, using the brains the good Lord gave me, and live my life to the fullest one day at a time.

Wordless Wednesday: Wintery Stream

 

Focus on This: Photo Fun!!

Enjoying the view...

Focus on This!: Beverage

 If I must drink water, 

I will do it from a glass! 

Silent Sunday- Water

Rain

     Although you will probably never find me praying for rain or doing a rain dance, I don’t mind rain when it does happen.  It is kind of like the $hit in life that a person has no control over, it happens so it is best to deal with it instead of complain about it.  If I happen to be at a concert or an outdoor event, it is going to take a lot more than rain to force me to hang it up and go home.  However, a little thunder, lightning, and wind gusts strong enough to blow me back to start will send me packing.

     I am not one of these people that cart an umbrella everywhere I go in case I get caught in a down pour.  If it decides to rain, so be it.  I will rush through it.  A little rain never hurt anybody.  It is only water and most people voluntarily get wet in the shower.  They will willingly go swimming or run through the sprinkler.  G0d forbid a little rain falls from the heavens.  The same people will go into a panic and arm themselves with raingear and umbrellas or seek cover until the rain subsides.  It is not acid.  It is water.  I have places to go and have no desire to wait around.  I am more than willing to get wet and dash through the rain.

     Rain is actually rather invigorating.  I don’t care how old I get, getting wet makes me laugh.  It is fun.   If you get the crazy notion to run and become Miss Athletic, a little rain feels really good when you are all hot and sweaty.   When I was on the cross country team in high school we would always go out and run miles on end during practice.  One time I got stuck miles away from the school in a downpour.  You can bet I stepped it up a notch and ran a little faster that day.  The fact that I was running along side the road made little difference to the motorists speeding by.  They kept right on trucking full speed ahead splashing mud puddles all over me.  When I arrived back at the school I looked like a muddy drenched rat.  I wasn’t alone.  The whole team looked that way.  The only difference was the rest of the girls took time in the locker room to primp.  Stupid me, I raced headlong into the gym where the girls on the volleyball team were practicing.  They all stopped and stared at me like I was an alien from Mars.  I suppose I looked like an alien to those prissy girls who were to perfect to even sweat.

      Being out in a downpour adds to the adventure in life.  Sure you get wet, but that is the beauty of it.  Rain makes the flowers and the plants grow.  I love how when it rains the house becomes so dark that you can barely find you’re a$$ with both hands.  It is perfect weather to sleep in, or simply burrow in with a good book until the rain passes.  It often cools the earth after a hot, sultry day.  I can honestly say the only thing I really hate about rain is the mud and puddles that are left behind in the aftermath.  I hate high stepping over mud puddles.  I hate tip toeing through the mud.

         Rain is just part of life.  If folks are so willing to swim or jump in a lake, then I just don’t get why they have a problem getting wet when it rains.  They will dry, and life does go on.  Just let it rain until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.

Wordless Wednesday: Morning Reflection