MileMusings

Re-entry Syndrome

Yes, that is possibly an overly melodramatic title, but as I was talking to my co-worker Andy last week I realized that it might somewhat be true (he was the one who suggested that this is what I was experiencing).

It's been awhile since I've blogged, but let's face it, my New York self had little time to run and much less time to write. I did get one last, wonderful 16 miler in, over the Brooklyn Bridge for Summer Streets before saying au revoir to NYC. But even that beautiful run was symptomatic of my need to leave the city. Perhaps it was the various trash smells baking in the sun along Park Avenue, or maybe the tiny mouse in my path in front of the bagel shop (that on my way back was smashed into the sidewalk) or the cops that yelled at me for following the people directing traffic (who apparently weren't paying attention...not my fault, so stop yelling at ME).

I digress.

At any rate I am back in Cincinnati (or at least the Cincinnati area) and I guess after living in NYC for so long I am having a hard time with the simplest of simple things.

For instance, I have become a bad driver. I can no longer parallel park (this was once a point of pride...I could park any vehicle in any spot, easily). I forgot that if you nose your car over into another lane that people don't stop for you, they might just run you over (in NYC this is not true). I feel like my car is going to tip over unless I am driving something that has a low center of gravity (therefore, I am overly cautious when driving my mom's CRV).

I also can't shop. Stores like Kroger and Meijer overwhelm me and I find myself staring at a shelf for minutes at a time trying to decide exactly which peanut butter to buy, or where to find the quinoa (withOUT seasoning, sauce or anything else...JUST quinoa!).

I also don't understand parenting here, because apparently parenting is very different in New York...or at least some things are different. For example, I was at the Mt. Adams playground with Liam, letting him climb all over things, chasing him up the jungle gym, etc and I guess some parent thought I was being irresponsible, letting him climb on the rocks on his own. So, he grabbed his hand to help him up. I had to stop myself from being like "HE CAN DO IT HIMSELF! HE DOESN'T NEED YOUR HELP! I WANT HIM TO LEARN TO BE AUTONOMOUS!" I know he was just trying to help.

I also feel way too edgy to be here (see above). I don't mean fashiony edgy, I mean, I want to jump all over things. I need to calm down.

Which is where running enters the picture I guess.

Running has been my constant between these two cities, and while it is very very different in Cincinnati than in New York (and vice versa) I think it's going to help me keep centered. And I'm going to try and get the blog going again. Although, I think it's going to be more about the rest of my life AND running, and how running fits in to the rest of my life. Because let's face it; my life is no longer all about running as it was when I was sans Liam (which is a good thing).