Ode to the Sound

This weekend we had the privilege of gathering together 20 of our closest friends and their families to engage in the traditional summer BBQ. It was outrageously fun and everyone left happy, full and exhausted. We are so fortunate to have the group of friends that we have. The girls and I have been through so much in the past few years; from the early days of trying to figure out what to do with the babies, to large family vacations, embarrassing nights on the town, surprise pregnancies(some of them twins!), losing loved ones and jobs and gaining so much more. In just two years I feel like I have lived a lifetime with these people and they really have become family.
I can not put into words the joy I feel when I see my little boys making memories and having the times of their lives. These are days I will never forget and hopefully, neither will they. I feel almost as if I am getting to live life twice, once as me and now through their eyes. Watching them experience all of the things I did as a child has got me feeling strangely sentimental.

I grew up in a picturesque setting. The type of place where movies are made (and some have been). My grandparents moved to the sound when my dad was a kid and made it home. Nestled on Whiskey Creek under a mound of oak trees and Spanish moss was their house, all brick with a detached garage and a swimming pool. If you continued up the dirt road you would pass a barn, a pasture, a shed-complete with picnic tables, a pig cooker and oyster roaster- and then an open area that would one day become my home. We moved to the Sound in the summer of '87 just before I turned 4 years old.
Every memory I ever made has this place in it. Even before we moved there we would drive down from Raleigh every Memorial day, Labor day and July Fourth to grill hamburgers on the side porch and fight with each other in typical family style debauchery. My Grandpa, Baa, would shoot firecrackers out over the water and my cousins and sister would ignore me while I tried so hard to play with them. We would go for tractor rides and make the craziest Oreo cookie sundae's you have ever seen. Nana would always stock up and get everybody their favorite junk food. Justin always got a case of Mellow Yellow, Maggie got Coke, Johnny got Miller Highlife and my Dad got a pack of Vantage cigarettes stuck in the sterling silver tea pot. Baa would tell us stories of Indian Joe and how he lost his head somewhere on our dirt road... A story that haunted me until I finally moved out when I was 20. I never walked down that road at night. Even the times that were bad were good. I remember one time in particular where my dad was supremely pissed off because we all wanted to go to the Piney Woods Festival. For whatever reason he did not want to go. Probably because he hates crap like that. Anyway, being the type of guy that he is, he took one for the team and went anyway but was complaining the whole way. He had just gotten out of the car at Hugh MaCrea Park, when another car sped by and hosed, I mean COVERED, him in mud. We all had to return home immediately but I remember thinking it was the funniest thing ever. Another laugh at his expense, sorry Dad, was when we were cruising along the Intercostal in our john boat and my mom and I turned around to find that he had flipped out a few seconds back.

He wasn't the only one who made me laugh, everyone had their moments. I especially, had mine. From the time where I stuffed a popcorn kerrnal so far up my nose that Nana was forced to drive over 100 mph (just on the dirt road) in Baa's bullet to get me to the doctor, to catching Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever with her in the woods.

Everyone drove my go cart like a bat outta hell. One girl ended up with a broken arm, Sabrina smashed into a tree and even Baa put us in the ditch one time. Once, I almost lost my finger to a snake at the shed. I ran to Nana's house and told her and she promptly grabbed a hoe and smashed it to bits. Gotta love how tough she was.

I was payed a penny per pinecone every fall and wouldn't be able to touch anything for a week after I collected my 4 dollars because my hands hurt so bad. Basic math will tell you that 4 dollars is equal to 400 pine cones. And 400 pine cones is a LOT of pine cones.

As a teen my memories, while less innocent and a little more blurry, always come back to one thing: The never ending love. Yes, we are a dysfunctional bunch, but you will never meet anyone more loyal than a Smith. When I crashed my car, my 75 year old grandmother took me everywhere I needed to go. I hated it at the time and would walk a mile so no one would see her dropping me off, but thank God for her. She was my savior. And when I ended up seeing what the downtown jail looked like from the inside, my mom and dad were there to pick me up. Both literally and figuratively.

With July 4th approaching I wish so much that I could go back and do it all over. But life goes on...even in the Western part of the state. I am so grateful for the memories and can only hope that Josiah and Oliver will one day look back with as much appreciation and gratitude for their own childhoods.

Stamina on Sunset

This past weekend I joined 74 other runners in a 10 mile foot race over Sunset and Town Mountains. Yes, only 75 of us signed up and that little number is a reflection of just how difficult the course was, even for hardcore Ashevillians. I don't really know why I chose to spend my Saturday morning sustaining prolonged stressful efforts up the side of a cliff. Maybe it is because Theodore Roosevelt once said, "It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." Or who knows? Maybe I just enjoy a challenge.

Standing at the start I line I glanced around at the other 74 participants and their huge quadriceps. The girl next to me said, "This is like, all real runners." I told her, "We are real runners too! We wouldn't have signed up for this if we weren't." That, was at least what I said out loud. Silently, I was thinking this may be the first time I finish a race in last place. Here we are,

The gun went off and I hit play on my Ipod. I had carefully crafted an excellent playlist. Starting off with The Distance by Cake. I listened to the lyrics, "Reluctantly crouched at the starting line,engines pumping and thumping in time. The green light flashes, the flags go up, churning and burning, they yearn for the cup. They deftly maneuver and muscle for rank, fuel burning fast on an empty tank."

We hit our first hill 1/2 a mile in and continued up hill the next 5 miles. Here is an elevation map of the course,
I was completely in the zone heading up that 5 mile assent into the clouds. I thought about all sorts of things and listened to the music. I chugged along at an easy pace and felt completely fine. One by one the people around me began walking and I continued on. My brain started playing mental tricks on me. I began thinking," If they are walking I must be tired, maybe I should walk? What if they are all resting and I am wearing myself out over here? " Running is so mental. Once you are beat mentally you may as well sit down and call a cab. I started telling my brain to stop it. The reason I wasn't tired yet is because I run these hills all the time, I swim, I bike, I work-out 6-7 days a week! I DESERVE to be here and I am gonna keep going. And that's what I did for about 4 more miles. When I reached Crowning Way I felt like I had been climbing forever and I didn't know when it would end. My legs couldn't take it anymore, so I walked. And honestly, I didn't care. I gave it everything I had and didn't walk one second before I had to. I was enjoying the view and catching my breath when a group of firemen came running up beside me. One of the guys started walking and the other 4 continued on. About 10 seconds later the firemen came running back and grabbed the walkers arm. He said to them, "Go ahead" and they replied, "Not without you." and he started to run. I began to run too, choking back tears. Maybe it was the adrenaline or the rush of endorphins but I felt like I had just witnessed real life heros being, well, heros. It was the highlight of the race for me.

I hit the 5 mile mark and the dirt road 58 minutes in. It occurred to me that this was the time the guy won the race in last year. I imagined someone 5 miles down the road breaking the tape and I was still so far away on the dirt road of death. Thankfully, we had begun our descent back into Asheville. I enjoyed the downhill and literally took off. I past mile six and mile seven in 16 minutes 20 seconds, an 8:10 mile. From miles seven to nine I chatted with Cindy, the girl who made the comment about "real runners" in the beginning. She told me about running the NYC marathon and living in San Fransisco. She was really cool and thankfully made me forget I was running for a short time. At mile 9 she left and I cranked up Time Bomb on my Ipod. I only had one mile left and I was going to enjoy it. My legs were slightly numb, but my lungs and head felt fine. How amazing that I just ran 9, soon to be 10 miles! AND I have had 2 babies in the past 2 years!!! One that I am currently breast-feeding!! I am woman hear me roar! That last mile I was having a party the whole way to the finish line-with myself. Runners high? Maybe. I felt great. This lady was trying to pass me at on the final stretch,
But I did NOT let that happen. I finished in 1:43:01. Meaning I ran the last 5 miles in 45 minutes. That's pretty good. I averaged 10:05 pace for the race and I am extremely happy with that. My high eventually wore off leaving me with a hurt body and an empty stomach. But I will put the stampede down as one of my greatest days out for a run so far... It is days like that, that make you go back for more.

Splash!

This summer will mark my sixth year away from the beach. Thinking back to those summer vacations with my parents where I almost didn't survive 6 DAYS away from the beach this is to say the very least, a total shock. Yes, I am the one who wanted to move to the mountains and go for long hikes and play in mountain streams and enjoy the seasons. But as it it turns out hiking with two children usually consists of packing up the entire house and driving somewhere that is kid friendly. Therefore, making it the most popular spot in WNC for all the other parents looking for kid friendly. We are usually 150 steps away from the car when someone starts crying and another 25 steps when someone else needs a diaper change. We then head back to the car and promptly drive home. This happens all the time, almost every time. But very rarely, we will have the most perfect day imaginable. The type of day that we dream about, so against all odds we keep trying. Jaime say's that is what separates US from the other parents.

Back to those mountain streams that I wanted to play in... They are actually around 5 degrees, year round. You can literally feel the ice hit your bone by merely sticking in one foot. I still have nightmares and get goosebumps thinking about my trip down sliding rock. The change of the seasons IS nice. At least in the fall. The leaves are beautiful for about 2 weeks and then they all fall off leaving you to freeze your ass off for the next 4 months. If your ass does manage to stay intact during the winter season rest assured it will burn off when summer comes. Don't get me wrong. I love hot. I love the sun-on Masonboro Island. I don't however, love sitting on Patton Ave in the hot sun. The past 6 years we have had no escape. But that is all going to change this summer. Yes bloggers, the rumors are true, the Conley family has joined a pool!

Never in my lifetime did I think I would pay actual money (and a lot of it) to swim in a pool. But desperate times call for desperate measures and I can't keep waiting for Global Warming to melt the polar ice caps and bring the beach to Asheville. No, it is time to suck it up, jump in some chlorine and chill out. Here we are on opening weekend, a few days ago... And let me tell you, it truly was, a little slice of heaven.







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Two Years Later...

Well, here we are. Nearly 3 years since I first discovered I was having my first little boy. Life as we know it has been flipped upside down and turned completely around. It has become a life worth living and cherishing. Those two boys have become my heart. Jaime and I have gone from life in the fast lane:
(Circa 2006)... To life in the family lane. Complete with two kids, a mortgage, a dog and a minivan.

I retired exactly 10 months after graduating from college and probably never even earned one semester's tuition. I am now a full-time, stay at home mommy and love every second of it. Some days I may find myself online browsing jobs when the kids are really letting me have it, but most days I wouldn't trade my life for anything else in the world. I get to work out every morning and come home to eat fun kid food, ala chicken nuggets or PbJ's and strawberries. Then, there is the blissful "nap-time". I take a shower, read US Weekly and then take a nap. Then I get to wake up to two smiling boys who wanna go eat snacks on the porch. Sound's like a ferry tale right? Well, for the most part it is.
I LOVE my life.
Okay, now that THAT disclaimer has been posted I must say, raising two boys who are only 15 short months apart does not come without it's challenges. Sometimes I feel as if my brain is imploding and if I ever do decide to go back to work I think I should look into become a Military bomb disposal expert. I can literally keep my cool and continue cooking a three course meal while being screamed at, punched and dodging flying objects. I can change a diaper of a toddler running down the hall. I can walk two dogs, carrying a baby and pushing a stroller. I can nurse a baby while holding a two year old and singing a song. Yep, Super Mom.

Challenges aside, our days are filled with an abundance of hilarity that I never want to forget. That, is the reason for this blog. Everyone tells you time goes by so fast and I want to remember every second. Hope you enjoy!