Heat wave

Yesterday was hot. It was a toasty 97 degrees in Seattle. Today it's supposed to be even hotter.

Yesterday was also stressful. I put my 2 yr old daughter in her new jogger stroller and forgot to lock the wheels. I turned around to go in the house and lock the front door and left her on the patio. Next thing I heard was a crash. I ran outside and discovered - to my horror - that the stroller had rolled down three steps and tipped forward onto the cement patio - with my daughter in it. I screamed and ran to pick up the stroller, fearing the worst. She was crying, her face red, and she had dirt in her mouth. Oh no no no! Oh my god! Oh my god! I picked her up and screamed. I have to take her to the hospital, I thought. But my car was in the shop. This is a nightmare. How could this be happening? I took her straight to her daycare a few blocks away - and it turned out she was OK. Just a big bruise to her forehead. She seemed back to normal. Of course, I felt terrible and figured I would go home and cancel all my appointments for the day.

My husband came to take her to the hospital, but we ended up picking up my car at the shop. I cancelled my 10am appt and instead went home to do some last minute preparing for my 10 minute presentation at 1 o'clock. I was tempted to cancel and explain that my daughter had an accident, but I decided to go ahead with it.

I'm glad I did. Somehow, I pulled off the presentation and it felt good to know that I had the strength to do it.

My worst fear is something terrible happening to my daughter. My second worst fear is getting up in front of people to give a speech. I faced two of my worst fears in the same day - and survived. At 4pm I taught the first of a Beginners mat class series to a group of 4 eager clients. It felt great. My stressful day melted away and I was able to focus on something else - Pilates. I felt SOOO much better! And the 97 degree heat was an added bonus....maybe the next new exercise phenomenon will be "Hot Pilates."