On New Year's Eve, my daughter left me a note and a gift on my bed.
She meant 12:00 pm, noon, the next day, which essentially gave me 24 hours to produce the 10,000 steps.
Ten thousand steps is a lot of steps. But my daughter's heart was in the right place. She wanted me to get some exercise over the holidays. As if shovelling the driveway upteen times wasn't enough, nor the trek we did on snowshoes a few days ago.
I took the step counter and clipped it onto my belt, and continued on with my day, cleaning, packing, and preparing for New Year's celebrations.
On New Years Eve, Lori and I went to the Black Sheep Inn, in Wakefield, with her sister and brother in law, and we met up with another couple. A band, The Digs, entertained us and we danced the night away.
I haven't danced in at least five years, but that night I danced like I had 10,000 steps to reach.
The next morning, I got up, clipped the counter back on, and went out to shoot my photos for yesterday's post, making sure that I walked as much as possible.
Approximately 24 hours after I had first started using the step counter, I had reached only 5,800 or so steps.
"I tried my best," I explained to Sarah, who handed back the counter when she saw the results.
"Keep going," she ordered. I kept the counter on me until we returned home, yesterday afternoon. Final count: 8,008.
I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions. Several years ago, perhaps more than 15 years ago, I made one last resolution: to never make another resolution again. That's not to say I don't set goals. I just don't tie any of these goals to the beginning of a new year.
But I did promise Sarah one thing: when I return to work next week, I'll go for a walk at every lunch break. I won't hit 10,000 steps in a day, but I'll take as many as I can.
She must be satisfied. I never found out what the "or else" consequence was.
On Wednesday, we had a lot of storm clouds roll through the Ottawa area. Many of them threatened to pour rain on us; some of them actually made good on that threat.
Because I always carry my iPhone on me, I was able to capture the ever-changing sky, starting at work.
On Wednesday evenings, Sarah plays soccer. Rain or shine, her team plays. The only exception to this rule is lightning. As the team was practicing before the game, ominous clouds rolled in. In the distance, thunder rumbled.
About 10 minutes before the start of the game, we saw a couple of flashes of lightning and the referee called all the girls off the pitch. We would wait until the official start of the game to see if there was more to come; if so, the game would have to be called off.
We kept our fingers crossed. This was our last pre-tournament game of the season, and our team was undefeated. If we won this game, we would be the top-ranking team in our league. We didn't want to miss out on this game because of the weather.
And as luck would have it, the cloud swiftly passed over us without incident and the game started on time. But more clouds kept coming.
Halfway through the game, as we were leading 2–0, rain fell off and on, despite sun pouring through the horizon. But no more lightning was seen; no more thunder was heard. The girls played on and I shot more photos of the ever-changing sky.
Final score: 4–2. Undefeated. League leaders.
And on Cloud 9.
Of all the notes that Sarah has on her bedroom door, this is one of my favourites:
I feel the love when I read the message. It warms my heart.
And then there are times like last night, when, as I was watching TV, I heard Sarah screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Lainey! Get out of my room! What part of that don't you understand? Get out! GET OUT!!"
Ah, happy family. Feel the love.
