Meg Evans

Last weekend my rowing club traveled to the Chicago Sprints. It was my first time rowing at the Lincoln Park Lagoon, which is famous, or perhaps infamous, for sprint racing on a very narrow course that only has space for buoys down the middle. (Sprint courses normally have buoys on both sides of the boats.) Rowers going up to the start line have to stay very close to the shore to avoid colliding with boats racing down the course.

Saturday’s races were mostly college rowers, and some of them weren’t doing the best job of not running into each other. I had one race on Saturday, a women’s lightweight double that had no other entries, so it was like a practice. That was good because I needed some practice on that scary course. I’ve been rowing for ten years, so I am not a newbie, but I felt as jittery as one.

I had calmed down enough by Sunday morning to row well in the women’s masters lightweight double, advancing to the afternoon final, which was a very close race. Our competitors were older and had seven seconds of handicap on us, and Deb and I weren’t sure if we had gotten far enough ahead of them. Afterward, we found that we had been just fast enough to win the gold medal. One of our competitors came over to our boat trailer and asked if she could row with us in our quad in Indianapolis—what a lovely compliment that was! We said yes. Nothing to be scared about, after all!

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

With all the random associations that the human mind makes, it sometimes takes a bit of effort to turn aside old, stale worries and push them out of the way. Even though they are just memories and not even real in the present, they still cast shadows. When that happens, I remind myself that there is much more to see.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

My job has been hectic recently because of a big push for AI development, as is happening at many companies this year. Many people in my workgroup have been assigned to testing. As a result, the backlog of our regular work is piling up. I did some overtime work both this week and last week.

Of course, there also have been times when I wasn’t so busy and one week felt much the same as another. Some days, it seemed like I was lost and drifting through my life without a sense of direction. I wanted to do something more, but I couldn’t figure out what, and it got frustrating. Now, if I ever have a day when I feel like that, I just remind myself it’s all going to change soon enough.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

Purple bunny or blue penguin?

A package arrived at my door today with beginner crochet kits, which my daughter had ordered as gifts for a friend’s children. She also bought one for me, just because she thought I might like doing some kind of crafts over the Fourth of July weekend. I’m still trying to decide whether I would rather have the bunny kit or the penguin, but I’m smiling either way!

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

My daughter, who is married and lives in Cleveland, came for a visit yesterday. She crammed all kinds of random food into the refrigerator and cabinets, she almost ran the icemaker out of ice, and one of her dogs spat up something nasty on the kitchen floor. Rather than being annoyed about that, I’m just being mellow and feeling grateful that she visits regularly, which puts all the small stuff in perspective.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

Last weekend I traveled with my rowing club teammates to a Saturday regatta in Tennessee, the Dogwood Masters. My husband and I had been competing in it for several years, racing our singles and our mixed double; both were in the morning, so it had been relatively quick and easy. We got more ambitious last year, also racing single-sex doubles and a mixed quad, for a total of four races each.

Ambitious would be an understatement for what we did this year. Because we had a large group of teammates, my husband and I competed in five races each, adding single-sex quads to our schedule in the sunny Southern heat. We did well, taking first place in our mixed double. My women’s double also came in first, and the mixed quad took second place at the end of the day. Then we took the trailer back to Ohio, getting home after midnight.

It was all fun, but definitely a bit much; I still don’t have all my energy back. That’s all right, though, because I feel stronger than in past years, and it’s great to travel together.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

When I was growing up, I had a wooden bed with carved pineapples decorating the four posts. It used to be my mom’s bed when she was little. I read storybooks before going to sleep and imagined that the bed had magical powers to carry me away to fairyland.

Last night I tried to imagine myself as a child in that bed, flying away on an adventure as a fairy princess with a golden crown. Not surprisingly, all that happened was that I fell asleep; but I woke up much refreshed and felt that I was standing taller.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

When I went rowing with my husband yesterday, we had a good workout on our windy river, but this morning I felt a bit tired. I did a midday erg workout and was going too fast because I didn’t have the best mental focus, which left me without energy on the last interval.

I had been planning to row this evening with my women’s double partner Deb, and although I didn’t feel much like going out, I thought I’d better go anyway because I didn’t want her to be disappointed. In the early afternoon, Deb sent me a text that said she felt low on energy and wanted to stay home and rest. Then I started to wonder—why hadn’t I given myself permission to do the same?

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

It’s often windy when I go rowing on the river with my husband, and sometimes it can be a challenge to get up to speed during the faster workouts. That’s all right, though—we’ve gotten better at rowing in windy and choppy conditions, and it doesn’t feel as intimidating as it once did. As with anything, more depth of experience leads to feeling more confident.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

I’ve been feeling calmer and more settled this week. When memories of past difficulties randomly wander into my thoughts, I am taking a moment to ask myself, “Okay, how is this relevant to what is happening right now?” My internal voice does not ask this in a snarky or critical way, but with a more accepting mindset, like I am kindly opening a door to give my subconscious a fresh view and more choices. Maybe there’s no answer—but good things can come from just being open to listening.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”