Ketchup, for the Good Times

Actually, it's a quick CATCH UP.

Hyuck, hyuck!

So the "Everyday Yoga" retreat was a smashing success. Our moment of truth came when one student said she realized that she hadn't been practicing because she'd been waiting for the perfect moment, which of course with two small children never EVER, ever  comes.  And that for her, practice was merely a way to stay connected to herself because, as she put it, "I don't have the luxury of working on toning my butt."

EXACTLY.  And sometimes you don't have the luxury of perfecting a pose by practicing it over and over. Unless that pose is downward facing dog or uttanasana...

When did yoga become gym class?

I ask this as the person who takes almost all of her yoga classes at the gym. And loves it, but that is mostly because 1) they have child care 2) each class is a sweatfest 3) each class is an hour 4) nobody is checking the labels on my clothes.  Thanks for that new phenomenon in my precious spiritual discipline and community, overpriced yoga store whose name shall not be mentioned. The other day in gym yoga I was surrounded by chubby, grey-haired, inflexible sweaty yogis.  Perfection. Tattoos that were older than even mine. But everyone leaves with a smile. Anyway, I was a little gymgoer as a tween, and a swimmer as a teen, so I love the locker room and the sweat and the clang of the equipment.

So I rewrote two scripts to submit to competitions. And I did enter one of my scripts into the Austin Film Festival competition, with plans to submit it to several others. I am having a lawyer look at my other script to make sure I'm not asking for trouble, it being "based on a true story" and all.

The story of my Dad's life. Fucking fascinating, and important.

In Child News: the boy finished preschool!! Talk about bittersweet. And we finally decided on where to send him for kindergarten and beyond, a small community school that meets part time and offers curriculum for home schooling. I am so excited about it! With his sensory issues, and his AMAZING imagination and wild creativity, I have been loath to send him to a large public school. Honestly, the curriculum is not the issue, the student:teacher ratio is IT.  When I saw one teacher working with 22 students in a small, enclosed room, I knew my little mischief maker would never make it. And the hours seem inhuman to me. Our community school is an experiment, but I think he will thrive in small, multi-age, kid-led and project based learning groups. Plus I just got newes that one of his teachers will be...well, an incredible badass lady.

He's got two loose teeth!

He just moved up to the next level in his martial arts class! And we did the first class today...he loved it. Super challenging, and he stayed focused. And today, later, as we were chatting on our way to get something to eat,. he said (apropos of something I've forgotten) "Never give up." WHAT! Wow. That is his sensei's mantra for him, he says it to Bodhi every single class: "Don't give up, Bodhi!" It is beautiful.