Sunday, June 3, 2007

I may never win a marathon.

It's hot today in Portland. I opened the door this morning, and Mississippi came rushing in the front door. Ah, reminds me of our wedding day (those of you who were there will know what I'm talking about--when is it 103 degrees in the northwest?!).

Last night, I couldn't sleep. I made an interesting discovery about how my generic "pain relief pm" works. I took it last night and felt the effects within about twenty minutes, which lasted about an hour and then wore off. I guess most people who take it fall asleep in that hour (prescription sleep aids have time-releasers, I think). I never fell asleep; I just felt drugged and loopy. After an hour or so, the buzzy, drugged feeling had worn off, and I just laid there not sleeping. Chitty was in bed with us, and wanted to snuggle me, oddly enough. I couldn't take it, so at 3:18 am, I got up and went downstairs to the guest bed where I immediately fell asleep. All the conditions upstairs had even been right: earplugs securely fastened, air conditioning and fan on, head-to-toe positioning (though I did have to ask Ted to stop kicking my pillow when he was trying to make room for Chitty at his feet/my head). I'm baffled why I couldn't drop off. Ted blames it on Shitty...er Chitty.

Despite the heat and bad night of sleep, I decided that today would be a good day to go running/walking. Really though, who am I kidding? I ran maybe a third of a mile down a hill and then in sort of spastic spurts whenever I could find shade the rest of the walk. I was inspired yesterday when I read about these women in Health magazine saying that they'd never been runners their whole lives, but now they just finished a half-marathon. One woman in particular made the point, "You don't have to be an athlete to be a runner." Well, crappy crap crap, why'd she have to go and say that?

I need a partner in this, I feel it. My ipod tunes like "Blue Orchid," "Move it," and "Whomp! There it is!" just aren't cutting it enough. Any non-athlete Portlanders out there who'd like a partner to try to work up to running...let's keep it simple...half a mile, let me know. Just so you know, I can do the quarter/third mile down hill, so I don't need anyone to drag me down, alright? You've gotta be able to do at least that. And if you can run that much up hill, well then forget it: you're way far ahead of me.

I just read another article in Health which said that there's a correlation between athletic ability and having a long ring finger, specifically a ring finger longer than your index finger. What tha? I checked. Crap. My index finger is way longer than my ring finger. When Ted got home from winning three basketball games against a bunch of 20-year-old hot-shots, I checked his fingers: he's got the golden ticket. It makes me want to start checking people's fingers now, specifically any potential running partner.

A woman had written into Health, saying that she didn't start running until she was 42 and has placed in her age bracket in every marathon she's run since then (she's now 63). She finished her letter gleefully saying that her index finger is shorter than her ring finger. Augh! Stupid old lady.

So what? The cards are stacked against me? I can work to be thin, but I'll never be able to catch a ball? I can maybe finish a half-marathon heaving through pain but never place in my age bracket (or c'mon, Gods of Athletics and Finger-lengths...please, just a 5k)?

My fingers:

Ted's fingers:
*
Oh yeah, this blog is about our adoption, right?

The social worker came Friday at 9:30 and left four hours later, right on schedule. She was great, very laid-back just like she sounded on the phone. She asked us questions about our childhoods and upbringing, things our families like to do growing up, our education and goals for the next five years. My favorite question was probably about what values we want to pass on to our kids. We've both thought about that one a lot, so it was actually sort of fun to talk about it. She has eight kids of her own, and it seemed that our parenting style might be similar to hers.

Before she left, she a quick look around the house and said she'd try to have it done in two weeks. In the meantime, we'll work on notarizing things.

And I woke up the other morning thinking about wanting to clarify why our process is a little more complicated than most. One reason, probably the biggest, is that our adoption agency is in a different state from our home study agency. Our home study agency is also an adoption agency, so we had to fill out all their adoption paperwork as well, even though we're not adopting through them; they're just taking care of our home study.

Also complicating matters is the fact of Ted's job as an actor. He's unemployed most of the time, so how do you explain that to a foreign government who wants you to prove that you'll be able to provide financial security for a child? It can be done, but it just isn't as easy as 1-2-3, fill out this form, wham blam, you're done.

So any readers who are reading this blog and considering adoption, please don't be put off by my occasional belly-aching about the process. There's a good chance your adoption might not be as complicated as ours, especially if your agency is in the same state you live in.

Oh, and good news: we found out from Kate in NYC, that Gladney can send straight to her some of our already-notarized forms, like our medical forms. So I don't have to go back to the doctor. I was pretty happy about that.

Now, time to go see my other boyfriend, Will Ferrel, in Blades of Glory at the Kennedy School.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Lori, Ted didn't win those games by himself - what exactly did he tell you:) He won it with another mid-forty year old with a ring finger longer than index finger (I think we actually won five games). Jill's index finger is longer than her ring finger so maybe there's something to that. Hope you have a great sleep,

Jim R.

Carrie said...

My ring finger is short like Lori's. You should see the muscles I'm developing at the gym, though. . . It's amazing what the human body -- even an unathletic one -- can do to shape and change itself in only a short time. I wish I were in Portland with you -- I always want a non-athletic friend to go walking with me. The most I've ever been able to run at a time is two miles. Noby and I used to walk 6 miles and sometimes more at the Longleaf Trace.

Susan Isaacs said...

I'm not the only one who takes Excedrin PM, gets sleepy and then wakes up two hours later! SO was my insomnia two nights ago. So I went downstairs and wrote emails. but not blogs. So you are one step ahead of me. Glad you included that in your adoption blog. hey I also heard about the Kennedy School, that they have a way cool hotel there!

Lori said...

The Kennedy School is maybe my favorite comfort-spot in Portland: laid-back theater, Ruby ale, kickin' tater tots, gorgeous artwork on the walls, and a soaking pool. You've gotta go when you're here this summer!