[22] full

It was the perfect morning for a little run/walk. Cold, yes, and I wore my hiking boots and pants, because those are the best shoes I have and all my fighting class pants are knee length and I wasn't going to be running to get warm. I didn't exactly fit in. 

But it was sunny, beyond the cold, and I waited for 2 mile walk time with the owners of my martial arts studio. Then my friends I was supposed to meet called and said they had already started with the four mile people and were intending to walk the four miles, so I ran to catch up with them, and we walked.

We walked. We talked. We didn't hurry.

The result was that we were perhaps literally the second to last people to finish, period. The four mile runners finished before us, and so did the two mile walkers. There were not many four mile walkers, and even those had started ahead of us.

I meant to rush home to shower and bake, but there was a massage therapist doing short free massages next to the finish line. Massage-o-phile that I am, I forwent immediate departure and waited in the little tent, next to the heater, until it was my turn to have an elbow dug deep into that spot right under my shoulder blade that always hurts. 

"How long has it been bothering you?" the massage therapist asked.

"Since high school." I said.

"You don't look that old," she said, "but still, that's a long time."

Almost 20 years, it is.

I baked and chopped and prepped, all in a hurry, and then we sat around a beautifully set table to eat until we could only groan. My corn pudding was a hit.

Afterward, we settled in on the big L-shaped couch with pillows and blankets, and I was so full that every time I changed positions my stomach complained all over again at the shift in the weight of the food inside it. (The funny thing is that, not being much of a meat eater, I don't actually eat that much at Thanksgiving. It's just that my body is not used to eating one whole plate of food at once. And I have a bad habit of being REALLY FEROCIOUSLY HUNGRY FEED ME RIGHT NOW and then not being able to actually eat very much. One big meal of a plate of Thanksgiving food is much harder for my stomach to accept than the equivalent amount of food in several little meals throughout the day would be.)

E. put on a Christmas movie. I had never seen it, but everyone else had and was horrified at my missing piece of culture, so of course I fell asleep in the middle.

My fridge is filled with food, now, all sorts of holiday dishes. Unfortunately, I find myself wanting to never again put anything but water into my body. Hmmm, water. So delicious after all those fats and carbs. So light and refreshing.