Clothes Shopping…What a Difference 25 Pounds Makes

Several years ago, I needed a dress for a special occasion. I’d gained a lot of weight since the last time I’d bought a dress and I ventured out to the mall. I’m not much of a shopper, preferring to buy online for whatever I can’t get at the grocery store or Target. My journey to buy a dress included an episode of me in tears on the floor of the dressing room. It wasn’t pretty! I did find a dress that was just perfect for me, but it’s a dress that is now two to three sizes too large for the new, fit me.

This season, I have many occasions to wear a dress…something quite uncommon for me. I am not averse to wearing the same dress many times…I’m a frugal person and cost-per-wear has real meaning for me. Even so, I can’t wear one dress to four or five occasions where I’ll run into many of the same people.

I have a lovely, albeit a bit too large, floral dress that I’ve already worn to a wedding of a close friend and to a bridal shower for my future niece-in-law. That dress is now retired for the season, if not permanently. I have the same dress in black in a smaller size which I’ll wear to my daughter’s graduation. Looking forward, however, I still needed a dress for my nephew’s wedding. I’d worn the floral to the bridal shower and the black isn’t appropriate for a wedding. This left me with the need for a new dress.

Meanwhile, I needed a pair of shorts to wear to a golf outing I’m going on today. I tried on the shorts I wore last summer, but they were at least two sizes too large and were really ridiculously falling off of my hips. I did, finally, find some shorts in my new size from years ago…but they were a tiny bit too tight in the waist. So, off to the mall I went…

This trip was a lot less depressing (no tears) but still frustrating. I hadn’t dressed properly for clothes shopping and at first I would bring one item at a time into the dressing room. I found the dress right away, but picked the wrong size. I had to get dressed again, including lacing up my shoes. Then I looked all over for shorts and found nothing but Capri’s and Daisy Dukes. I did find more dresses, so I tried on several more, one at a time. I found a couple I liked, but in the end decided to stick with the one I’d found first.

I finally found the shorts, just one style that was appropriate for golf. I grabbed my size and found them way too big. There is no consistency in women’s clothing sizes! The shorts I bought are a size smaller than the shorts at home that were too small. The dress, which fits perfectly, is the same size as the too-big dress at home. No wonder I hate clothes shopping. By chance, I found a sweater to go with my dress as I was waiting to pay for the shorts. Now I’m ready for the wedding!

Find the Joy in the Journey…sometimes you have to dress for the occasion!

Racing for the Cure—My 4th 5k

I woke before the alarm, as usual. The race was today, my next 5k. This one was more personal though, as it was a Race for the Cure…and rather than walking, for the first time I would run it. I ate my breakfast and changed into my running clothes. My older daughter was supposed to run with me, but she had a sinus infection. As directed, I cracked-open her door at 6:30 to see if she wanted to get up or continue sleeping. My dear child opted to sleep although she sincerely wanted to come with me.

I met up with my friends at 7 and we drove downtown and got a great parking spot…arriving at 7:30, an hour and a half before the race. We checked out the booths and I nabbed some Nike “warrior paint”, pink stickers to stick on my cheekbones like the black grease football players wear to absorb excess sunlight during a game.

I lined up for the race. Walkers were advised to line up behind the runners, but they didn’t. Unlike most races, where I’d stay far back to let the faster milers go ahead of me, this race had few real racers and everyone crowded to the front. It was all ok…this race wasn’t about the runners.  Looking around me, I saw Captain America, shield and all, ready to run. I saw a whole team of young men in pink tanks and pink running shorts ready to race for the pink. Many girls had on pink tutu’s and many, many (sadly too many) had the names of lost loved ones written on their backs.

When the gunshot rang out for the start of the race, I was perhaps 20 or 30 seconds back from the start line. I had my chrono watch on, so that I could time my own race. The race was timed, but not chipped, so I couldn’t rely on the race officials to give me accurate feedback. I ran forward and hit the correct button on the chrono, but it didn’t work! Instead it gave me a lap..I guess I need to start from scratch in understanding stop watches…but regardless, I ran.

Next I fumbled with my iPhone to get my running playlist started; I have a password first and I’m more and more dependent on reading glasses, so this was no easy feat. Eventually, however, I got my tunes online. Really, I didn’t need the music. The race route was populated with multiple bands and singers, most loud enough to drown out my iPhone.

I hit the one mile mark and saw so many “real” runners already passing on the other side of the road on their way down the second half of the race. I ran along, assuming I was running slower than usual because I’d just run the day before and I’d been working on my distance and not my speed lately. When I’d notice lots of people passing me, I’d pick up my pace a bit.

I hit the point where I was on my way back and walkers were on the other side of the road on their first mile when I saw my friends and we waved as I ran past. I could see the finish line ahead, so I picked up my pace…except it wasn’t the finish line. Instead the runners turned a corner and kept going. Once again, I thought I saw the finish line and picked up my pace. Once again I was wrong. Finally, however, I did cross the finish line as an official called out 34 minutes 7 seconds. Ha! Another personal best, even without subtracting the 20 or 30 seconds it had taken me to get to the start line after the gun went off.

I gathered back with my friends and we watched as 30,000 people walked by and the TV announcer declared that one day we’d look down on the street and there would be no one walking for the cure because the cure would have been found.

Find the Joy in the Journey…and step, or run, along with your friends for something bigger than yourself.

 

Bridge to 10k–Halfway There (B210K Week 3)

I sailed through week three in five days, running every other day. Week three is three seventeen-minute runs with one minute walks in between…a total of 51 minutes of running. If I were running 10-minute miles, I’d be so close to a 10k by now! Even so, I’ve found it easy to increase my time, and therefore my distance, using the Bridge to 10k App. I’m so inspired by my progress, that I’ve stopped thinking of myself as a 5k runner and started to think of myself as a 10k runner-in-training, on my way to more.

There are 6 weeks to the program. Week 4 incorporates three 18 minute runs with a minute of walking in between each. Week 5 is the bridging week with day one incorporating two 22 minute runs, day two picks up to 25 minute runs, and day three hits two 30-minute runs. Week 6 is a 60 minute run. If only I could run 10-minute miles, this would be perfect! But regardless, the program is rapidly taking me from running 35 minutes at a time to running for an hour. After I get to that point, I will pick a 10k route and work on increasing my speed.

I started this week off on Saturday in Chicago, there for a bridal shower. I was a bit worried about it being too cold, as I’d only brought warm-weather running clothes, but even in the morning chill, I was quickly warmed up and comfortable. Once more, I was able to run up Lake Shore Drive, along the beach. Since I’d been there in April, the city had taken down the snow fences and brought in more sand. Runners, bikers, and a few walkers took advantage of this great location. Admittedly, I was passed by everyone, or so it seemed. I didn’t care. I ran more than two miles up and two miles back, enjoying the scenery and the skyline view on the return.

Monday, back home again, I rolled out of bed at six and realized I hadn’t left myself enough time to run and eat breakfast, so uncharacteristically, I skipped breakfast. I checked the weather and almost backed out of my run when I saw it was only 30 degrees! Then I grabbed my running tights, running jacket, and hat and gloves and got going. The cold doesn’t really bother me, as long as I’m dressed properly for it.

Wednesday, I planned better and got up around five, and fit in both breakfast and my last run of week 3. Checking the weather, it was already 60 degrees…such a huge change from Monday. When I got out of work, it was 80 degrees and I was very glad I’d run in the relative cool of the morning, this time in shorts and a T-shirt.

When I started this program, I thought that the one minute walks breaking up the run would bother me, but frankly they are so short that I hardly notice. I run without getting out of breath, which makes me wonder if I’m not exerting myself enough, but I figure that once I eventually hit the full 10k distance, I’ll worry about how fast I’m running. Right now, I’m focused on lengthening my distance by adding time to my run.

This time of year is perfect for running, with enough light from early morning to late evening to be able to run either before or after work. The dark days of winter, and the challenges they bring, are behind me for now.

Find the Joy in the Journey…and the joy in accomplishing your goals!

The Return of the Sniffles and Sneezes

Mornings, evenings, and weekends when I gather with my kids, I hear a lot of sniffling and sneezing and some of it is coming from me. This spring allergy season hit me pretty hard, but I’m managing with a daily allergy pill and occasional decongestants. I’m watching my kids closely, and they all have symptoms. My youngest, a very stubborn gal, insists she just has a bad cold…but I am not fooled. Allergies run in our family and without intervention, lead to ear and/or sinus infections. The older two are proactively taking an allergy medicine, but the youngest tried for one day and declared that it didn’t help.

Last summer, in between the spring and fall allergy seasons, I stopped getting my allergy shots. I had gone off of my anti-histamine prescription the prior year and was working my way towards a “cure” from allergies. I can’t say that I am cured, but I am better than before I went on the shots, over 17 years ago.

I managed fairly well through the fall allergy season, but this spring has been a doozy! News reports everywhere declare it the worst allergy season on record. Earlier springs have led to longer allergy seasons, and therefore more misery. I don’t regret going off of my immunotherapy, and most of the year I am fine, with symptoms only when I eat certain foods.

I know my food-triggers, which cause respiratory allergy symptoms in me, so I’m pretty careful to stay away from them. Some are hidden in many foods, barley being the worst as the surprising secret ingredient in processed breads these days. It boosts the fiber content without changing the color or texture of the bread…the infamous “whole grain white bread”. Every once in a while I’m surprised to find a new food allergy, most recently red grapes.

This year I was going to take up the job of mowing the lawn, but a broken mower and a rampant allergy season led me to hire a service. I was surprised to find it very affordable, so now I will close the doors and windows to grass and tree allergens. I’ve saved enough money in medical costs to pay for seasonal lawn service, a hidden bonus. Too bad it’s not enough to cover a housecleaning service too!

In my quest for a healthier lifestyle, reducing my dependence on medications and immunotherapy has been mostly successful. I know that getting into running and a more active lifestyle is also great for my health and will reduce the need for medications in the future. If I stay fit, I’ll be much less likely to need drugs for cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, and a number of other problems that are aggravated by poor diets and being overweight and underactive. I thought that this part of my journey would be too hard, but I’ve found that anything is doable if I take it one step at a time.

Find the Joy in the Journey…take that first step, then take the next, and keep on moving until you accomplish your goals!

Related Posts:

No More Allergy Shots!

 Withdrawal or Kicking the Anti-Histamine Habit

My Health Experiment Fail—Next Time, Just Give Me Drugs!

Hay Fever–Day 285 With No Anti-Histamines

I Am Not A Meth Queen…Now Give Me My Little Red Pills!

Too Busy? Or Living Life To The Fullest?

I read everywhere that we are all too busy…and then I find myself responding to “how are you?” with “busy”…sometimes a bright “BUSY!”  and sometimes a defeated “busy”, head cast down. I start to believe that that is a really bad thing…a sign that my life is passing me by while I spend my time in useless busyness. What a sad state of affairs! Or is it?

Sure I’m busy… really, really busy…but my life is full. Full of kids, family, work, housework, running, swimming, watching plays, attending sporting events to watch my children, going to graduations, going to weddings, checking out colleges, meeting my girlfriends for a drink, busy doing, being, connecting, celebrating, enjoying, and living.

Even so, there is a point to the complaint that we are all too busy. Too busy to stop and say hi to a friend. Too busy to squeeze in that last-minute invitation. Too busy to remember everything and therefore finding out too late that you missed something important. 

For me, all of May and through the first two weeks of June seem to be my busiest time of year, busier even than the holidays. Looking back, I wrote Celebrate or Sacrifice? Celebrate of Course! two years ago about how things got really crazy in May when my son was hospitalized during finals his senior year in high school, his ceiling fell in, and my husband blew the clutch on his car. Last year, I wrote May Day, M’Aidez, Maytag, and Mayhem about my crazy schedule and I warned Mayhem to stay away so I could enjoy all of the celebrations.

This year, I am determined to enjoy all the wonderful events and not stress about it. It’s a tall order, but worth it. I do have to miss one important event, my niece’s graduation from medical school. I’m trying not to feel bad about it, because I will see her two other times in the next month, but it’s the first time I’ve missed seeing her get a diploma.  

Last weekend, I drove to my son’s college and helped him pack up his dorm room and brought him back home. This weekend, my younger daughter and I drove ten hours round trip to attend a bridal shower for our soon-to-be cousin/niece. We’ll repeat the drive in mid-June for the wedding. In between, I have two races, a long-weekend trip to my hometown, my older daughter’s high school graduation, and I’m hosting a graduation party.

Meanwhile, my younger daughter started both summer basketball and summer softball…and the practices are already conflicting. I’m not sure how we thought we could manage both sports at once, but there are already grumblings from one softball mom because the first practice got canceled because too many girls had a conflict. Her e-mail to the entire team stated that it wasn’t FAIR to the girls who were ready to practice. I’m just going to go with the flow and get my daughter to as many practices and games that I can and to keep the coaches informed ahead of time.

As if that wasn’t enough, I was notified just a week ago that my younger daughter needs to start Confirmation classes and we need to attend the kick-off meeting Monday night…except that she will be on a school trip and I already have plans. I’ll make it to the end of the meeting, when parents are expected, and I’ll gather any information for my daughter. That will have to be good enough!

Find the Joy in the Journey…and live life to the fullest!

Back Cracker–Chiropractor

A few weeks ago I went to a home show with a friend and just before it closed down we passed a booth with people in medical garb and a sign offering a free diagnosis for spinal alignment. I don’t know why I fall for these things; I think “sucker” is written all over my face. I dutifully turned around and stood on the footsteps painted in front of a simple frame with strings across it. When I stepped away and turned back, I could see that my hips are level but my shoulders are not. Typically I stand with my weight on my right leg, so I’m kind of surprised that my hips are level. The shoulder was no surprise.

15 years ago, I used to travel extensively and would be running through airports pulling my rolling bag with my right arm and hauling my laptop computer bag over my left shoulder. Eventually I developed a lot of pain in that shoulder that has never really left. Originally, my doctor told me it was a muscle tear…but it never got any better despite ibuprofen and favoring it for weeks at a time. I got used to the dull ache and never had it looked at further. I assumed that the diagnosis of a tear was accurate and didn’t really want to go down a surgical path to get it repaired.

I stood at the booth and soon realized that it was for a chiropractor and they offered a full assessment for $20. I was skeptical to say the least, but $20 seemed like a small price to pay even if it turned out to be a hoax. I met the chiropractor, a petite woman with a doctorate in chiropractic. She seemed sincere enough, and not at all like a snake oil saleswoman!

I showed up at the doctor’s office and she immediately put her hands on the exact spots that were causing me trouble. She explained that the nerves for that area of my back ran through the upper bones in my spine, below my neck. She then had me hold out my right arm and she pushed down on it while I pushed up with equal force. Then she tried my left arm and it dropped like a stone. I was shocked and suspected some sort of parlor trick. She explained that only 9% of nerves have to do with pain, and that the pinched nerves in my back could also cause muscle weakness.

I don’t know if chiropractic works, but I’m giving it a try in an attempt to eradicate 15 years of shoulder pain. My insurance will cover most of it, lending the practice the aura of medical respectability. I delayed starting treatments until after my recent business trip, because it’s important to go frequently in the beginning. I’ve had six adjustments and I do feel complete relief from pain for a few hours after each.

While I was traveling, I happened to notice someone take their laptop bag and slip a sleeve in the back of it over the handle of their rolling bag. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so stupid…I always wondered what that “open pocket” was on my bag. Sigh. For the rest of the trip I got along quite well with my roller bag topped by a secured laptop bag…no stress to my shoulder at all.

Find the Joy in the Journey…Don’t be afraid to try something new!

Bridge to 10K—Catching Up (B210k Weeks 1 and 2)

Just shy of three weeks from when I started and aborted Bridge to 10k (B210k), I’m back…determined to get back on track. I started B210k on April 17^th and on April 18^th I pulled a calf muscle doing basketball drills with my younger daughter, which I wrote about in A Break From Running–My First Sports Injury. Well, if I had to have a sports injury, better while enjoying active time with my girl than anything else. Even so, I was truly annoyed to be side-tracked on the verge of stepping up my game.

I made the best of it. I was leaving on an overseas business trip 6 days later and I couldn’t put any weight on my left leg. My doctor was concerned about blood clots and advised me to walk and force my calf to do its job of pumping blood up my veins. She prescribed a lot of Motrin and a cane and within 48 hours I was walking gingerly and soon enough walking confidently, albeit on mega doses of Motrin. I went on my trip with the benefit of not figuring out how to fit running into my schedule or the burden of dragging running shoes and gear along.

Back home, I stepped on the scale to a 7 pound increase…a pound for every day I’d been gone. I decided to get back into my normal routine and trust that the weight, likely mostly water, would come off quickly. Just a week later and it’s all gone, thank goodness! In the meanwhile, I tried to figure out how best to get back on track with B210k…I have a 5.25 mile, hilly run coming up and I’m not prepared for the distance or the hills.

I was a bit nervous about running with my injured calf, but I was walking fine and felt ready. I thought of skipping the first two weeks of the program so that I’d finish the program by my big run in four weeks, but in the end I picked up where I’d left off…day two of week one. Week one is a five minute warm-up followed by four ten-minute runs with a minute of walking in between each and then a five minute cool down. This was about a five minute increase in running time for me.

I ran again two days later to finish up week one, but I wanted to accelerate my schedule in some way, so instead of running three days a week, I decided to run every other day. It’s not much of an acceleration, but it made me feel like I was moving forward. So, two days later I started week two. Week two is a five-minute warm-up followed by three fifteen-minute runs with a minute of walking in between, and then a five minute cool-down.

Having run for 45 minutes at a time when I was working on my 5k time, this hasn’t been hard. That’s good…the B210k will ease me into doubling my distance without my really feeling it too much. Tomorrow I’ll finish up week two and then on Saturday I’ll start week three. Week three increases the three running components from 15 to 17 minutes. Piece of cake.

I started thinking that 5k to 10k is a doubling…10k to half-marathon is roughly another doubling, and half to full marathon is another doubling…hmm…Something to think about more!

Find the Joy in the Journey…don’t give up, just get back on track as soon as you can!

Related Post:

Bridge To 10k–The Plan

Wonder Woman Goes Back To The Dorm

As I hit the busiest time of my calendar, I have to depend on my previous attempts to plan ahead and just go forward with implementation. So on Saturday, I headed out with my empty vehicle to my son’s school an hour and a half away to help him pack and bring him home. I recalled how I brought him back to school after Christmas with a medical condition that required several return visits back home and ultimately surgery and a long recovery. I brought my older daughter, my Super Girl, with me and we acted heroically in cleaning up his room to the point where he could manage on his own, with a restriction not to lift more than 10 pounds until 8 weeks after surgery. I wrote about it in Wonder Woman and Super Girl Take On The Boy’s Dorm Room!

His surgery is in the past now, and the restriction on lifting more than 10 pounds has been lifted. I requested assistance from Super Girl, but she was unavailable. Super Girl was busy with senior projects, studying for final exams, planning for prom, getting her graduation dress fitted, and talking me into a graduation party. Super Girl in Training was also not available as she was camping with her Girl Scouts troop. Alas, I would have to face the boy’s dorm room solo! Wonder Woman faltered a bit.

Arriving on campus at the appointed time, I gave my son a call and asked him to bring down some quarters for the parking meter…he wasn’t dressed yet. This did not bode well for the task ahead.  Fortunately, his roommate had already moved out, so when I got up to his room it was clear what needed to be done.

Putting on my Wonder Woman cape and snapping on my bracelets, I sent my son for garbage bags and grabbed a laundry bag. His entire wardrobe was dirty and scattered all over the room, mixed in with newspapers and various and sundry things. This time, however, there weren’t any food wrappers. Thank goodness for small favors.

Five filled garbage bags down the compactor shute, a large stack of newspapers taken to the recycling bin, and four over-stuffed bags of dirty laundry later, things were a bit clearer. We took the mini-fridge and microwave down first, then the bookcase, laid on its back. Next came the laundry bags, piled into the bookcase.

I told my son, that he needed to work on his housekeeping skills and he said that wasn’t possible. When I asked why, he said that you can’t improve on something you don’t have! I told him that in that case he needed to learn some housekeeping skills.  I have my work cut out for me this summer…

By then it was past noon, so we took a break and had some lunch. Returning, we poured more quarters into the parking meter and returned to his room. Although we had gotten most of the stuff organized, there was just too much to fit into my CUV and there was nowhere to put his bike.  We packed up his books and some smaller items and took them to the car. We took a last garbage bag to the shute and my son found a large, plastic sword which he immediately commandeered.

Back home an hour and a half later, we unloaded the car and I started doing laundry. I was still doing laundry the next day when my son went back for the rest of his stuff. Later in the day, I met up with friends for a local Cinco de Mayo celebration and was just tucking into my freshly made taco and sipping my mildly authentic marguerita when I noticed three missed calls from my son.

It seems that after getting all of his belongings into the car and the bike onto the bike rack, he decided that he’d better stop for something to eat before the hour and a half drive home. He had stopped across the street from campus, gotten a take-out pizza, opened the car, and promptly lost the key.  With visions of having to make a three-hour roundtrip to take the extra key to my son, my evening lost its fun. I called back a half-hour later, and still no key. Finally, another 40 minutes later, about when I would have to start out on my journey, he texted that he’d found the key. It had been wedged between the passenger seat and the console…probably the first place I would have looked, but then, I’m supposed to be Wonder Woman.

Find the Joy in the Journey…and be prepared to teach your wards life-lessons or deal with the consequences!

Two Days in Cologne

Having arrived safely in Cologne, I confidently exited my train and strode through the station like I owned it! This was my third trip to Cologne in the last three and a half years and on the first of those I flashed back 15 years to my prior visit…happily surprised to find that I remembered the central part of town by foot pretty well. So, I pulled my rolling bag along behind me and entered Dom City…the plaza outside the Cologne Cathedral (Köln Dom).

I walked out of the plaza a block and turned to my right. I expected to see my hotel, the Hyatt…instead I saw the Hilton. Oh dear! I’d mixed up these sister hotels! Now I wasn’t sure at all where my hotel was except that the travel agent had chosen the Hyatt for its proximity to the train station, so it couldn’t be too far away. I saw a little green train-mobile and a lady tour guide. I figured she knew where things were, especially nearby, but my inquiry left her baffled.

Fortunately, there is a little tourist information center nearby and a man with perfect English told me to walk around the Dom and walk over the bridge and my hotel would be visible. No one ever spoke truer words! Walking across the bridge, I was thrown back into two experiences…

Love Locks in Cologne

The last time I took the train from Frankfurt to Cologne, I noticed all the padlocks on the fence over the Rhine. Someone told me it was a pledge of love to place a lock there. Then, just days earlier, I’d seen these “love locks” all over some of the bridges over the Seine in Paris. The locks typically have the lovers’ names written or engraved on them. These photos are from the bridge in Cologne.

I spent the next two days at the office. For such a short visit, I hadn’t made any social plans so I ate solo. The first night I ate at my hotel but it turned out to be way too expensive (a tiny plate of a la carte pasta was 22 Euros!) so the second night I went out.

First I went to the train station to buy my ticket to Frankfurt. It took me awhile to find the ticket office but I was determined not to attempt buying my ticket from a kiosk after my experience the day before.  Then I headed toward the riverfront hoping to find a Thai place I’d been to before. It had been recommended by a colleague who had lived in Thailand as the best Thai food she had found outside of Thailand. Here is a view from my seat in the restaurant’s bier garten.

Karibik Thai Restaurant

I got up very early the next morning, having to skip the very nice hotel buffet breakfast, and checked out. At least I tried to check out. The manager refused to give me a receipt saying that my company would be invoiced electronically. I tried to explain that I needed the receipt for my expense report, but he was unrelenting. Very odd.

I grabbed a cab to the train station and soon enough was on the train. Getting off at the Frankfurt airport, I was back on somewhat familiar ground. Even so, I had to ask the helpful information man which terminal I needed to go to as the signage, although in German and in English, was surprisingly unhelpful.

At the duty free shop I bought my girls some German chocolates, Ritter Sport bars and Bueno Kinder bars. I’m not sure it’s really cheaper to buy them there than back home, but I wanted to surprise them with a little something for behaving so well while I was away.

Find the Joy in the Journey…may your journey take you, at times, far away from home and back again!

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles—Traveling in France and Germany

I enjoyed my week in Europe and especially enjoyed traveling throughout France to find myself in the middle of a rural area inside a big factory to see how they make the things my company needs. Frankly, France is not a low-cost manufacturing country, but it was interesting to see a couple of manufacturing innovations that I, a 24 year veteran of manufacturing tours, had not seen before.

After three days of business, I had a weekend in France to myself. I met up with a dear friend and threw myself into the whirl of the social scene. I wrote about my struggles and regrets about not speaking French in Five Days in France—Language Lessons.

Traveling around France, I was always a passenger. I’d flown into Paris and then met up with a French colleague who did the navigating and driving for the first two days. After that, we had all pre-purchased roundtrip train tickets between Paris and Poitiers. This was harder than it should have been. My travel agent clearly preferred that I buy my train tickets on my own once I arrived. I was on a tight schedule and needed to be on the same trains as my colleagues, so the travel agent was forced to do what she is paid to do…handle the problems that arose in buying my tickets. Fortunately for me, she found success the second time around.

When it was time for me to get to Cologne, however, I was on my own both literally and figuratively. The agent hadn’t helped with my train tickets, but I thought I could handle it on my own anyway. What I hadn’t thought about was that I’d always bought my tickets in the airport in Frankfurt…This time, I flew from Paris to Cologne and the small airport did not sport a ticket office for the trains.

I managed the flight from Paris to Cologne with ease. By this time, I knew well the part of Charles de Gaulle that I inhabited…2F where I flew in from the US and which abutted the train station, and 2G where regional flights started and ended.

When I arrived at the Cologne/Bonn airport in Germany, I followed the signs for the train which brought me to a stand of ticket kiosks. Confronted with an array of choices, I started by choosing to proceed in English. Unfortunately, the names of destinations stayed stubbornly in German including my destination of Köln Hbh (Cologne Train Station). I guessed this was where I wanted to go and proceeded to buy the ticket. Then it asked me which tariff to pay…I was clueless and chose the first of two. 2.7€ later, I had my little, paper ticket.

The scrap of a ticket had 1b on it as the only direction. I saw signs for  tracks 1-2 and 3-4, so headed for 1-2. In the elevator down, I asked an elderly couple if I were on the right track. They didn’t know. I got to the tracks and decided that since the Germans were ultra-precise, I’d get on the train which arrived at precisely 11:44. Two trains arrived at that exact moment going opposite directions!

I chose to get on the train that everyone else got on and prayed it was correct. As it stopped along the way I looked for any clues that I was traveling in the right direction. Each stop mentioned Köln, so I assumed I was heading into the city rather than away. Finally, with relief, I heard the main train station called and gathered my things. At that moment, the elderly man from the airport peaked around at me and told me that this was my station. I was so touched that although I’d lost track of him, he had been looking out for me all along!

Find the Joy in the Journey…and don’t be afraid to journey alone!