A very special blog post

Today the family and I are in NYC. It is Memorial Day Weekend, the weather is beautiful, and I am happy. Although, along the way I had a very deep thought and a revelation.

A few years ago, when my daughter was still much younger - we came to to NY and visited the Central Park Zoo. It is a 5 minute cab from the heart of Midtown Manhattan, and is an oasis from hustle and bustle. Being at the far south end of the park - you are surrounded by grass, and trees, and bamboo and pools - but you can still hear the traffic and see the tall buildings.The zoo is not a real zoo. There are a dozen exhibits, tops. But it is the only zoo I know within walking distance of Bergdorf Goodman. So it will do.

On that random trip a few years ago we visited their Polar Bear exhibit. Two older bears - Gus and Ida - occupy a nice enclosure complete with a deep pool and lots of rocky space. You can watch them from above, and you can see them through the windows one level down under water. Our daughter Stella loves Polar Bears. Her Kindergarten class was named the Polar Bears, and her 3 favorite stuffed animals are all .... yeah... Polar Bears.

Gus and Ida were frisky that day. They were playing with toys, swimming all over, and diving down to the bottom and back, again and again. Stella was in heaven and would not leave. We spent the better part of 2 hours watching the bears. We chased them up the stairs and down the stairs, over and over. Best day of her little life, and therefore ours too.

So fast forward to this trip. Remembering all that fun, we went back to NY and the first order of business would be to visit Gus and Ida. The weather was perfect, the trip was easy - and the bears? Awesome right?

Not so much. Gus was taking a big ol' bear nap. Face first on a rock - the dude was racked out and not waking up. And Ida? Never ever saw her. There was no frolicking or swimming or playing. No nothing. We did see some other exhibits and it was still a nice afternoon - all in all. But not the same and not what we had expected.


WAIT - What is MarkyD doing? This blog post has nothing to do with CrossFit.


Maybe it does and maybe it doesn't. In Crossfit, in life - there are moments. Perfect little moments. By and large - they are unplanned and unexpected - which makes them all the more perfect. And frankly, when you try to plan The Magic - it rarely appears. So don't try. Instead you have to let go. Be in the moment. Just make the most of what you are doing.

Right now I am counting down to major foot surgery. Changes are - it will be end up fine, and my Crossfit performances will improve in the long run. But there is no small chance that it won't. There could be complications. I could end up no better off than I am now, and the slightest possibility exists that I could end up worse. Worse as in - I can never really fully Crossfit again. Never compete again. Never equal what I have done again. As you get into your 40s it is not like those thoughts don't scream in your head enough as it is, so add a surgery in there and you can imagine where my head is right now. Let's not even thing about Chad (and Sue) moving cross country - my coworker of 9 years, bro and crossfit partner in crime.

So for all these deep thoughts. I have a response. I am just living in the moment and enjoying Crossfit a whole lot right now. Even when we run and I come in last place cause I am half functional. Every lift feels great, every met-con feels terrible but awesome. Every handstand pushup - pure heaven.

And as I stood there at the zoo today - watching that lazy piece of crap Polar Bear drooling on a rock doing nothing - I realized that living in the moment is all that you can do. Cause you cannot plan and manipulate those perfect moments. They just happen when you are not trying. Just doing what you do. And the more you enjoy every moment of every thing you do, the more perfect moments there will be. Unplanned, unexpected, unparalleled. Just perfect.