The Tortoise, Slow and steady, and her hair
THE Hair
This past weekend, I went home (during the week, I'm in my daughter's town being a nanny for my first grandchild, the Amazingly awesome and always Fascinating, Gio).
I go to NY 2 or 3 times a year to get my hair colored and cut. It's a 90 minute drive, but I DON'T DRIVE in NY!! Too crazy and getting stuck in the box and a $100 + ticket was enough to keep me from driving ever again in that city. So I normally drive to a NJ town, park and take the Path train which drops me off very close to where my hairdresser, Mark, is located.
Why, you ask, do you have to go to NY?? Aren't there hairdressers in your hometown?Well, yes, I answer, there are.
But Mark was the only one who was able to convince me that what my mother had always said (Don't grow your hair long! You'll look old and ugly) wasn't necessarily true. I believed him and as my hair grew longer and my bangs grew out, I started to develop a greater confidence in my appearance and my interactions with others.
It is an amazing statement to make: my new hairdresser changed me when he changed my hairstyle. I've always been positive, but feel more, more than I ever have. Friends and family see the more too. (I'm using the word 'more' as an adjective and a noun, deliberately, as nothing else seems to fit)
So, yes, it is crazy to travel 90+ minutes so that I can get my hair done. So call me crazy!
Now, let's move on.
New York
Since John was going to join me in NY for Friday dinner with our son and daughter-in-law, we decided we'd stay the night at a hotel and go to the 9-11 memorial. (Yeah, heartbreaking, even though, we didn't lose anyone we knew, we lost people we would never know, but who were loved and are missed.
The pain was palpable.)
So, instead of me driving, we decided I should bus in.
John dropped me off at the bus station and after the 90 minute bus ride, I walked onto the NY streets for the mile walk to my hairdresser, stopping off at Eataly (a chain grocery store featuring foods from Italy and Italian restaurants - really good!!) for a bite to eat.
As always Mark did an amazing job on my hair after which I then headed towards my hotel, about 2.2 miles away. Every time I'm in NY, I get turned around, so I'm always asking for directions to the hotel. People are very kind, and offered directions to the subway, right off.
The WALK
No, I explained that I wanted to walk. I got some blank, confused stares and well intentioned suggestions that the subway was faster and I'd get to the hotel sooner. I agreed but responded that I'd missed my 5 mile morning walk with my friend.
Several people continued to try to talk me out of walking to the hotel. "Really far!"
Now I can't fault their skepticism in my ability to walk 2.2 miles (all level roads!), because after all, I'm just 4 months short of my 60th birthday and don't look a day older than 5 years younger than that :-). In addition, I'm short, just about 5 ft! So they saw old and short, not my strength of spirit, my tenacity, or my positive can do attitude.
Finally, I convinced someone to point me in the right direction and, with trusty iPhone and map app in hand, started walking. As I walked along, I thought of what people saw and DIDN'T see in me.
They saw an older woman, obviously not a native New Yorker, slightly overweight and with short fat legs. What they didn't see was the woman who, though not much of an athlete herself, grew up the oldest of 6 siblings, 4 of whom were marvelous athletes in swimming, tennis, baseball, football and lacrosse.
As it happen, I share a body habitus with those siblings, somewhere between a Mesomorph (muscular) and an Endomorph (meaty). As we fit somewhere in between, we have the musculature of the Mesomorph and the Endomorph's tendency to gain weight easily, but also have the strong thigh muscles which make walking natural and easy. What these New Yorkers saw as fat legs actually are quite muscle bound.
And the owner of those short legs had no doubt she could walk however far she had to, to get where she needed to go. In addition, while not walking much what with my 4 full days a week with my grandson, when I'm home with my husband on the weekend, I do hot yoga class one day and walk 5 miles the next.
As I walked, I thought, the tortoise will go slow and steady and in this case, might, indeed, finish last, but, for me, the goal has never been to win, to beat others to the finish line. I've never been the competitive type, although, I do like to do as well as I can. I focus on what I can accomplish, what I can learn, how I might help others with what I do learn.
That's one reason I like this community so much. We all have different definitions on what winning is. Mine is to learn and I have done so, thanks to the generosity of so many members who share their kindness, skill set, outlook, humor, positivity, determination and talents. I have gotten side tracked, I have been stumped, my WA ranking has gone up and down but I'm still here, still blogging some and working on a training, coming soon.
I am also very lucky and so grateful that, for now, I can afford the membership here, without the worry of making the money to pay the fee. It's not that I'm idle or not focused; I'm doing the best that I can do.
I am so grateful to be part of such a welcoming, supportive community!
And making this woman feel she belongs even if she's the slow tortoise among the hares.
Oh, and, yes, the tortoise did indeed finish!
Barbara
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I was with you there Barbara, asking directions and walking the streets! You have a gift for telling a story and I admire your tenacity. All the best tortoises obviously go to NY for their hair lol! :)
Yes, tenacity is definitely one of this tortoise's strongest traits!
And this tortoise has an awesome hairdresser!
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Wonderful story Barbara, tenacity is the way to get where you are going, obviously on the way to the top :-))Steph
thanks, Steph, working my way through the ranks. Just not always in the right direction! :-)