I love coming to the Central Valley this time of year because it actually feels like Fall and Winter. Unlike Santa Barbara, the leaves have changed colors and are falling, the air is crisp with just enough chill to make you have to wear a coat and the mornings and late evenings are enveloped with thin (sometimes much thicker!) layers of fog. Every few blocks you can smell tidbits of a warm, loving fire escaping from a chimney top and everything has a thin shimmering glow from either frost or rain. The seasons change in the Central Valley and I love coming back to visit those changes. However, let there be no doubt that I also love leaving them and returning to year-round sunshine :)
I spent the majority of the morning with Adelae and Nina. First, we went with my mom to visit my Tia Olinda. She is my mother's oldest sister-in-law and a mother-figure for my own mother. My mom loves her dearly and has helped care for her with love and support over that past number of years as my Tia has had major health complications. A couple of weeks after Nina's diagnosis, my mother's oldest brother, Luis, who was 18 years her senior (my mom is the youngest of 9 kids) and my Tia Olinda's husband, passed away. My mom has had such pain in life. I wish I could take it all away!! It was wonderful seeing Tia Olinda and Nina and Adelae were sweethearts! My Tia was also happy to see Nina and I was glad I was able to slightly repay my Tia's generosity.
After visiting my Tia, the girls and I did some shopping and ate lunch with Vava and Vovo. I then dropped off Nina with Todd and spent the early afternoon with Addie and Sosie. I took the girls to get their nails done. Manis and pedis for the two most beautiful big girls I know and love!! It was nice catching up with both of them. While I pampered the big girls, Teddy hung out with Silas and played commando and spies until they were both drenched in sweat! Only boys could turn into balls of sweat in the middle of cold November day!!!
Once the beauty run was done, I went off to join Shannon at her new Cross-Fit gym. I had contacted her first thing in the morning asking for advice on my exercise routine. I had basically been doing the same thing for the last year and had put it together myself. Shannon is a personal trainer and a brilliant one at that! Instead of texting me info, she invited me to join her early evening group. I was excited. I had some major intensity running through me and I needed to get it out. For the past year, I have worked out regularly. Prior to that I was a lazy sack of bones. I quickly discovered that working out doesn't just have physiological benefits but also psychological ones! Since the diagnosis, my runs have proven to be a very therapeutic way to restore my mind and capability to control my emotions. But...I was getting bored with my exercise routine and needed some help.
Well...sometimes you should be careful with the kind of help you ask for. I asked Shannon for a new exercise regiment and boy did she deliver!!! She delivered an intense kick to my skinny Portuguese ass!!! I had heard of Cross-Fit but didn't know what it entailed. Holy smoke....it was/is intense. The best workout ever!!! I instantly fell in love with it and Shannon was amazing at pushing me just in the right way! For example, who knew that squats were so complicated!!! She rode me for not doing them correctly! Apparently "FORM" is everything and at the beginning of my session my form sucked! She kept prompting me, "Drop your tush more." "Rosy, lower your tush!" Agghhh....after the umpteenth time of her telling me to drop my ass, I yelled back, "I can't drop my ass down any further!! You're just being a sadist!!" She laughed hysterically but the other students in the group looked horrified! I had to then explain that I wasn't being an obnoxious student (okay maybe I was!), that Shannon and I were former sister-in-laws and that she was knew exactly how to push my buttons and that she enjoyed me sassing back. My workout with Shannon killed me but it felt great. I don't like referring to Shanon as my former sister-in-law. As she said it, we are sisters irrespective of legal entailments! Most importantly, we have learned how to forgive one another, accept each other's brokenness and love one another. I thanked Shannon for her love, her children's love, and for the killer workout!! Hopefully I'd be able to get out of bed in the morning :)
I quickly picked up Adelae and Nina and returned to my folks house. Adelae was going to spend the night at my folks with Nina and me while Silas, Teddy and Todd spent the night at Papa and Nana's. Todd had already baked an apple pie (he and Sharon are famous for them!) for Thanksgiving so the Fredeen's house smelt amazing!
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| Vava, Addie and Nina trying to finish a Sponge Bob puzzle |
The rest of the evening was peaceful! We played puzzles with Vava. Our cousins Luis and Lucy came over for a visit. It was wonderful to hug them and have them spend some time with our Nina. Then it was bedtime. Of course Adelae took over and helped Nina get her jammies on and then read her a story. My heart simultaneously melted and broke watching Adelae
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