I found myself on the dance floor Saturday night, boogying away to the Stones and having a great time, thinking "I am dancing!! I'm dancing with my new heart valve! This is awesome!" I was tempted to grab the microphone and tell the world: "This is my first time dancing with my new valve!!" but I refrained....nonetheless, it was splendid. The experience fit in well with the hope and excitement generated from the hundreds of progressive citizens at the Blue State Ball, as we celebrated our political representatives and candidates and reveled in the optimism of the upcoming election ("January, 2009: The End of an Error!") Not to mention seeing Lola Perpich on her birthday, hearing Amy Klobuchar, our freshman senator, and other Minnesota DFL congressional workers. All that and DANCING WITH MY NEW VALVE! and HAVING A GLASS OF WINE! Wow!
On the ride home (still in the backseat until Feb 1, when I can drive), an incredible large orange moon rose up in the sky. I quite literally cried in gratitude. What a night! How great to be alive!
This afternoon, Pat and I went up to the New Scenic Cafe. I really wanted to get out on a sunny day that was actually WARM and have a fabulous dinner...Scott Graden's food just can't be beat. We sat in the sunny, art-filled room, overlooking a very non-frozen Lake Superior, enjoying amazing artichoke dip, I with fresh greens with balsamic and grilled, pistachio-crusted goat cheese, and Pat with a chocolate-mole' draped pork tenderloin...wow. Somehow, neither one of us calculated that it was the beginning of the annual John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon, which we figured out as we tried to get home -- every conceivable route was blocked! We finally cut up the Lester River Road, out in the country, through throngs of people waiting to cheer on the mushers in temperate January air at the first checkpoint. We avoided most of the crowds, but did get stopped as one group of mushers crossed over the highway...it was great to see them! Huffing, happy dogs, harnesses jangling in the sunlight, loping along - all I could think was "these dogs have heart" -- to run a 400 mile marathon in January! "Having heart" - phrases like that now get pulled away from my usual speech and refiled and analyzed in my brain...what does it mean, really, to "have heart"?
Sisu, the Finns would say - stick-to-it-tivity, the ability to overcome all odds to succeed - isn't that having heart? Chutzpah, maybe.
Having heart.
What a blessing.
Wow.
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