Back in my college days, there was a movie called Groundhog's Day starring Bill Murray. The main character in the film gets stuck reliving the same day over and over until he gets it right. The movie is a comedy and each time the character hears the morning alarm, it plays "I Got You Babe" from Sonny and Cher signaling the viewer that it's a new day, but really the same day over again from yesterday. Sometimes familiarity is comforting, sometimes it's annoying. I recently had an experience, not in successive days, that made me think of reliving the same event over and over. We HATE car buying at my house. Our general practice is to buy a vehicle and drive it until we need the tow truck to haul it away. Our current fleet includes a van that we bought in 2008 and has over 200K on it...we use our cars up before moving on. Remember the Jet that we just had hauled away...it was as older than two of our children. In the summer of 2015 it was time for my husband and I to embark on one of our car shopping expeditions. We set out to buy a gently used car for me with the intent to send the van to college with our daughter. After a full day of shopping and one Snickers bar to ward off any hints of hanger (hunger + anger), we settled on a new 2015 Fusion in red. I'd never had a new car before so picking the color was a treat. Here I am on the day we brought it home: Move forward to February 2018 and I got the call Mom's dread, that one of the kids has had an accident. Our youngest son called home and said, "I'm alright, but I think Mom's car is totaled." The main thing was really that he was not injured as cars and material things can be replaced. When you see the car, it's quite amazing that no one was hurt. I was impressed in how the inside of the car held up to protect the occupant. I definitely wanted to stick with that model of car if possible. Move ahead one week after that photo. We went out shopping to replace the car since the insurance company had deemed it a total loss. The same car lot where we purchased the Fusion happened to have another 2015 Fusion in red on the lot with the same interior and features as our original. Two differences were the odometer had 25K less miles on it and this one had remote start added by the original owner. Cue Sonny and Cher...this felt like Groundhog's Day. A few hours later, we left with our second car of the exact same type. I've spent a few days wrestling with the question of whether it is brilliant to buy an exact replica of something we knew we really liked or if that was stupid not to pick out something else keeping in mind that this car will be with me until the tow truck hauls it off...hopefully when it is completely used up around 250K miles! Some days running can feel like that old Bill Murray movie where life repeats itself every day. On the good days, I can easily get lulled into my run and wonder how I got all the way to mile 3 or past the bank on the corner. Running familiar routes has a way of making me wonder which day was windy or if today felt easier than when I ran this route last week. Chatting with a friend on the road makes the miles fly by, too. Perhaps running the same route is similar to Groundhog's Day in that we keep running the same way until we get it right...whatever that means. Maybe it's running it harder, easier, faster, slower, twice around the loop, with higher knees, stronger arms or any number of endless ways we might improve. Who's to say what running "right" might be. Unless running is your profession, it's something that is totally yours and if you are getting something out it mentally or physically, it's right enough for today. Happy running! Missee
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AuthorMissee and Stephanie are two Minnesota sisters and moms who love to run. We are not experts in running, parenting or anything else, but we do have years of experiences that may be helpful or entertaining to others. Archives
May 2020
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