Rainy Season

It's time for me to be honest.  I haven't seen the inside of the gym in more than a month: the in-laws came for a visit, then I had to go to the Liberation Day Parade, and as the days rolled by I had missed so many classes, that  I forgot what day they were on (on a morning when there was class,  we'd just be sitting around in our pjs  and at 9:15, I'd be like, "damn, Mommy & Me started 15 minutes ago"). Then when I made a mental note of when class was and a conscious decision to start going again, Price got sick and we couldn't go.  And then it was like when you start skipping a class in college (or so I've been told) and you miss so many you're afraid to go back, so you drop it ... That's kind of where I am now. And it doesn't help that legitimate things really keep popping up on class days, so I keep NOT going.  I'm pretty sure that my face is up on a missing person poster at the gym.   I really miss going.  I miss how I was feeling, how my arms were starting to get some definition and how the abs that have been hiding were slowly starting to emerge from a case into a 12 pack.  And I miss the structure that getting out of the house at a regularly scheduled time brought to my day.

I'm trying to get back into the routine I had in June, the one where I went to the gym no less than twice a week and walking on days I wasn't at the gym.  Of course, I still haven't crossed the threshold of the gym, but I figure it's time for me to stop doing arm curls with chocolate chip cookies, donut muffins and tortillas filled with melted chocolate chips and peanut butter.  And maybe soon, I'll start back with the weights and the sit ups and the lunges- oh Lord, the lunges!

But I have started walking with Price almost daily. The problem with walking is that the rainy season is upon us.  I know I have mentioned this about a million times, but unlike much of the rest of the world, Guam does not have four seasons.  We have two- rainy and dry.  The difference between the two seasons- in the rainy season we have what feels like 6-8 hours of (thankfully, non-consecutive) rain a day.  Luckily, the rain usually blows in (you can often see it coming), does its thing and moves on.  Most showers last no more than 15 minutes, often with the sun shining and sometimes literally pouring so hard you can't see two feet in front of you, yet across the street it's barely sprinkling.  However, even though you can often see the rain coming, it comes up fast.

Like today, when I was out for a walk with Price.  We were about a mile into our walk and had about a half mile left, when the sun disappeared and the wind started blowing, and I knew it was coming.  But we were at a point in our walk where we really couldn't stop and take shelter, so I picked up my pace and hoped that I could get to a shelter before the bottom dropped out.  Unfortunately, that was not to be the case.  And even more unfortunate, I left the house in a shirt that I often wear a cami under because it's borderline see through when dry, but of course was sans cami today.  So I was pretty sure that I might be thrown into the brig for conduct unbecoming an officer's wife for gallivanting all over the neighborhood in a now completely see through shirt that was stuck to every curve my upper body had to offer- a true sight to behold.  The construction workers in the neighborhood got an eyeful for sure!  

I came to a realization though as I walked home, looking like I went swimming with my clothes on (not that I would have really bragged about how I looked before I left the house, but post-rain it was so bad I took a picture, which I ended up not being able to post here because, I looked so awful and let's face it, I may be a tad bit vain).  I realized how far I have come in the almost year that we have lived here.  

We arrived here in the midst of the rainy season.  And it seemed like every time I would make any attempt to go somewhere or made an effort to get dressed and put on make up or do my hair, I would get caught in a down pour and end up looking like a drowned rat.  I felt like I could never get ahead and always felt demoralized by this and would more often than not, end up sitting in my car drenched, with stringy hair, and crying.  And now I just roll with it.  Getting caught in the rain no longer sends me into a fit of tears, but usually into a fit of laughter.  It's just part of life on our little island.