This made frontpage news in the VailDaily. Sunday morning a bull elk was stuck in the snow. It appears he got spooked and ran down the hill pretty fast and crashed head first, antlers deep in the snow. A wildlife wrangler took hold of his antlers and pulled him out. For a very cold day and night he couldn't stand up and we thought he was dying. Then after some sunlight and a warm day I found him like this when I went home for lunch. I felt a rush of adrenaline when I saw him standing and nibbling on some twigs. Like Bob said (the owner of our cabin) "Finally a happy ending."
This was me last week. I crashed. Something blindsided me and I went down hard. But with the support of many of you and just the listening ear of my family I got up again. It really is a simple truth that with time and sunshine you can feel better. And the love of good people, thank you.
Then March came and something happened. I really don't know what, but sincere happiness just kicked in. Since March started I've been bouncing around and acting like I just ate a pound of chocolate. Here are some reasons:
1. I'm feeling the benefits of a cleansing diet I've been on now for 17 days. I was having some abdominal pain and my naturopath doctor suggested it. I've never followed something so well in my life, I really haven't strayed for a whole 17 days. Now I'm not one to deprive myself of food. I love to eat. Particularly cheese, bread, good chocolate, french fries, and crunchy salty chips, YUM. I've been off all dairy, sugar, red meat, all grains, citrus fruit, alcohol and coffee. I've upped my intake of vegetables, chicken, pork and fish, fruits and water and I make shakes with this supplemental powder full of vitamins, minerals and ingredients to promote elimination of toxins. I know I know, sounds all new-agey but really, I feel 150%. No abdominal pain that I was having randomly for months and I've got energy to burn.
2. I saw Greyboy Allstars. Believe me when I tell you if you get a chance to see these guys you will have a blast! (Julie they're coming to NYC) They each have their own side gigs. I just discovered Karl Denson's Tiny Universe (where you can hear samples of his music) and will be exahusting his stuff on my ipod. Jazz/funk does good things for the soul, people. Music has saved me more than once. Bless PJ Harvey, Emmy Lou Harris, Kim Gordon, Maria McKee, Patti Smith, Bonnie Rait to name a few - each of whom I've seen live and as artists and women continue to blow me away.
3. Speaking of women who inspire, I read this from Heather Armstrong of Dooce. I've yet to write about Heather or even get in touch with her again, but she was a friend/acquaintance of mine when I lived in L.A. We were both working at an internet start-up and if you read Dooce you know that in describing her past life in Los Angeles before Jon she constantly refers to dating a soap star (a friend of mine whom she met at one of my parties) and trying pot (I think her first time was on a roaptrip we took) and being a trainwreck. I say friend/acquaintance because after a time I was tired and a little frightened of Heather. The things she would say about people or do with little regard to others was out of line. I've been there and done that. Totally selfish because I'm all mixed up. I knew her in what I guess was her early twenties, not long after she graduated from BYU - which is what initially bonded us. I went to BYU and also used Los Angeles as the place to go wild and find my twenty-something self. I remember a time at a mutual friend's house when we were brainstorming abouting creating a site that we could all contribute to. Long before her blog. Between the three of us Heather had the most knowledge of constructing a site and said she was always good at putting something together but not good at creating the actual content. I remember her saying, almost verbatim, "I'm not creative." This couldn't be further from the truth. She's one hell of a writer. I can't tell you how much Heather has changed. I've been reading her blog here and there since before she took it offline - 4, 5 years maybe? She's inspired so many people, women and mothers espeically, around the world. Pretty awesome. This post especiallly shows what an incredible talent she is. Anyway, she inspired me again this week with a fantasticly personal and feminist post. And she is living proof that the internet could be the vehicle I was counting on - creativity is the currency of the future.
4. I am the third of four girls in my family, there are no boys. If you're as good at math as I am that means there are 5 women in the Olsen family and 1 man, my father. Every year we have a girl's weekend somewhere in California and this year we'll be in Carmel. So I'm going to California next week to see all my girls. I'll be off my cleanse so there will be wine, cheese, and conversation that will taste like sugar.
5. I'm going to this the following weekend. And, writermama has offered to be my writing buddy since she just wrote a novel while being involved with nanowrimo, so she knows all the hangups. Thank you Julie!
These are the contributing factors to my recovery after the crash. Oh, and we got sun.