The "I'm Too Tired to Dance" Party

I am emotionally spent for a variety of reasons. A lot has gone on with the people around me of late. "If it's not one thing, it's another" is a fitting description of what I'm seeing. Personally, I'm in a good place. Although I constantly complain about the lack of summer weather and the dearth of decent waves, I nonetheless recognize that I'm still lucky enough to surf just about every day if I so choose. (Over the last two days, I boycotted the surf out of disgust. Today, though, was much better as I headed to a point break and found some acceptable waves in spite of the crowd.)

Two people on our block died last week. One of them was a father of four (ages six to 14). I have no idea how is wife is going to make it. The other was a woman in her 90's who was the mother of an elected official. I got highly indignant about the fact that people tripped over themselves to rush to the home of the latter and attend the funeral. Did they care about the woman who died? No. Most didn't know her. Instead, they were doing their best to make brownie points with the congresswoman. So, we got to watch that spectacle (with valet parking . . . on our block!) on one side of the street being juxtaposed with the house directly across the street, the house with now-fatherless kids playing outside while the mom tried to figure out her next move. WTF?

When I was in the water today, someone asked me if I'm the person who writes this blog. I said yes. She went on to tell me she'd found my blog through that of my boy Matt. Well, he's dead too. And I miss him and his blog, which someone took down, more than I can articulate. His blog, Random Thoughts of a Surf Reporter, was brilliant. I was never insulted by it. It made me wince every so often, but I applaud those who say what they think. Damn the critics! And that was Matt.

There's also been a situation with someone in my circle acting and talking in such a way that I was certain he was considering suicide. All I will say is that helping him through this time has taken an emotional toll on those of us who reached out to him. I don't regret doing so, but now I'm tired. I remember my cycling coach explaining to me that physical exertion wasn't the only thing that depletes a person's energy. He was the person who clearly explained to me that things outside of the bike could and would do the same. His main point in telling me this was to make sure I knew when to recharge my batteries.

Right now, I'm recharging. There will be no dance parties until I'm feeling a little better about the world. In the meantime, appreciate your loved ones (including your friends) and do the things that bring you joy.