And the smoke clears

Life goes on. The mountains were even faintly visible today. So I finally went running outside with a bunch of ward friends. The smoke isn't totally gone, but it was vastly improved. We aren't dead yet. Not to sound like the biggest homebody on the planet earth, but it was so nice to get out. I literally have gone outside twice this week. I was sure I was going to need Prozac by Monday if I didn't venture out of my house. I forgot how very much more enjoyable it is to run whilst also being social, as opposed to amusing myself with my own random thoughts and counting every long second of every step I run. I have spent a considerable amount of time in life convincing myself that I relish alone time and enjoy being by myself; I did this so much in high school and college that I was sure I was destined to live life a lone and very single woman, because I would have been one of those people who could have grinned and borne it. Luckily Adam had enough faith in me to look past my baggy sweats, unmakeuped face and pony tailed, unkempt hair. I still continue to be amazed by how much I like interacting with other adult human beings...women no less! Imagine that. Anyway, I am so thankful that the fires are finally under control, that I can go outside and not die of secondhand smoke most days of the year and that I always have opportunities at hand to be social even when I appear to shun them...Unshun.

Adam is studying for midterms so I thought I would disappear for a day so that he could do so effectively. My grandma has been in San Diego staying with my aunt Melissa's kids (who, by the way now has a blog-wahoo! See link to your right...) So the kid and I went down to the zoo. In so doing, I drove right through the heart of much of fire ravaged California. It was unbelievable. Eerie. The freeways were somewhat deserted, so that was in itself a bit odd, but the combination of fog and lingering smoke made it difficult to concentrate on the road. I know, scary. My eyes kept veering to the miles of blackened hillsides. I know that reports have shown how awful and destructive these fires were, and they were. Don't get me wrong. But I also saw how very many homes were saved as well on my little sojourn. I saw homes with black all around them; the fires burnt right up to the very edge on every side and the house remained. Pretty fascinating. So while many were lost, many more were, in my view, miraculously saved. So props to firefighters. You rock.

Here are some pretty blurry pictures of the zoo. I was reduced to only the camera phone.
It was the way the zoo always is: Stinky. But so much fun that you lose track of how smelly it is. The stench is overshadowed by the easy conversations that take place as you meander together and enjoy the laughter of kids having a ball looking at all of nature's fine wonders. It is so fun to see my cute little cousins, who I now think of as my nephews because I am old and married the way my aunts were when I was growing up. Now my aunts are like my sisters in law or something. Its a pretty cool right of passage, this whole being married and having kids thing. Definite perks I tell you. And its always excellent to see my grandma and Wayne. I always leave their presence resolving to be a better person so that I can be like them someday. We had a good time. I love the zoo. You wouldn't think that I would, but I do.