Discombobulated

This has been a very strange week.  My 17-year-old has had a regular school week, while my 15 and 12 year old had exams on Monday and Tuesday morning and have been home for the remaining time.   I am someone who thrives on routine so this has gotten me a bit discombobulated!  At least the weather has been gorgeous but I have been so busy working around everyone else's schedule and activities I haven't gotten out for a run - but I did at least get my usual gym workout in on Monday.

Today I am taking some time for myself: a short run this morning and meeting a friend for coffee this afternoon.

Tomorrow the boys get their report cards in the morning (fingers crossed!) and I will treat them to lunch out after that.  And then it's the start of two weeks of Easter vacation...and picking my running back up so as to be ready for the Ladies Run 10K in May!

Spring has sprung

Nothing better than a gorgeous spring morning to make you want to get out and go for a run! We did a big loop past some of our favorite running spots: the Finnish track, the big lake at the Provincial park, Vlierbeek Abbey, and the bike path that goes through our neighborhood...
It felt good to get out, especially since last week was so stressful (workshop and kids taking exams) and sad (funerals for all the victims of the bus crash)... 

Hopefully the coming week will be a better one for everyone.

On the Radio

Here is the link to our radio interview.  (Scroll down and click on the play button on the black screen.)  In spite of everything, it was broadcast last Friday.  Linda and I were happy with how it turned out.  Kudos to Jonas for making a nice piece out of it!

Stefaan and I got out for 7 slow kilometers on Sunday.  My legs were for some reason really sore and I needed a lot of walk breaks.  Today it's back to the gym - I haven't been in a while, and I am looking forward to it.

Then I'll be busy getting ready for our workshop on Tuesday and supporting my two youngest boys who start their spring exam period on Wednesday.

Words cannot convey the sense of loss that is felt here.

This morning I walked to the school in Heverlee to pay my respects and then to the cathedral in the center of town to light a candle.  I wanted to be in town, at the town hall, for the moment of silence at 11.  I ended up seeing a woman I know and we stood together in the crowd of others who were there.  We stood in silence until the tolling of the church bells broke the spell.  Then we went into the town hall to wait to write our condolances in the sympathy book.  I was glad she was there to share the moment with me and we hugged each other as we went our separate ways.

My thoughts have been with the families of the victims, here and in the cities of Lommel and Aarschot, nearly non-stop since we heard the news.  Everyone here in our city is affected by this and connected in some way to someone who was on that bus. 

I can only hope that the support of family, friends, and our community will continue to be a comfort to the families who were hit by this in the difficult times ahead.  And that the rest of us are mindful of how precious life is and that we remember to cherish what we have every day.

Close to home

Terrible things happen every day in this world of ours, but sometimes they hit painfully close to home.  We woke up this morning to news that a bus bringing Belgian school children home from ski class in Switzerland had crashed, leaving 28 dead: including 22 of the children.  There were kids from two Flemish primary schools on that bus; one of those schools is right here in our city.  My kids have friends from that school in their secondary school.    I pray that none of them have lost a younger sister or brother... 

My first thought was for the parents, what a terrible thing to get that phone call and have to wait to hear if your child is safe or not...  and then the children themselves, how frightening it must have been.  The parents have just been flown out to Switzerland on a military plane, some of them don't have any news yet of their child - I can't even begin to imagine how that must feel.   Not just the school itself but our whole city is in mourning now, as well as the entire country...My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who has been touched by this tragedy.

Scherpenheuvel

Well, no news on the radio segment yet, so instead of sitting around all day listening to the radio I went as planned with my friend Kristel to Scherpenheuvel, a small city which is built literally around the most frequently visited shrine of pilgrimage in Belgium, the Basilica of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel. 

Kristel and I visit several times a year, and burn candles for friends and family who are sick or having other problems, or for children who need some extra luck on exams.  It's a lovely place to go, very serene.  

Filled to the Brim

The last couple of days have been filled to the brim with one activity after another, some of them very unexpected and nerve-wracking (but in a good way). 

• On Thursday, I was quietly enjoying having all my children healthy and back in school when I got a phone call from one of the big radio stations here.  At first I thought, I won a prize!  But no - he wanted to come the next day and interview me and Linda about a workshop we are doing about tea for a local cultural organization.  We hesitantly agreed and proceeded to freak out getting ourselves prepared.  
• On Friday morning, it was beautiful and sunny and I knew the best thing I could do for my interview nerves was go out for a run.  It was awesome and I ended up doing an extra loop around the lake just because it looked so pretty in the spring sunshine.  Ended up with 8.5 km in 59 minutes.
• Then Linda came over and we prepped for the interview.  At 2, Jonas from Radio 2 arrived with his recorder and we got to work.  He wanted us to make tea so he could record the sound effects of boiling water, pouring, tea cups clinking, and then he asked us questions about our topic.  It ended up being a lot of fun!  The interview, which will be about 4 minutes long, is supposed to run on Tuesday - I am excited but really dreading hearing my own voice and my accent in Dutch. 

I won't bore you with all the other things that have been going on, but they've all been positive.  Sometimes it stresses me out when things seem to all want to happen on the same day or same weekend, but then I remind myself I should be grateful to have my teacup filled to the brim from time to time!