Hard work pays off, spoke too soon, first in awhile

So yesterday was a big day for Cindy.  It was test day for her ACE personal trainer certification exam.  This was the culmination of a journey she started about 6 months ago.  She has been reading and studying from day one but the past month or so she was studying her ass off and taking endless rounds of practice tests.    She was very nervous about the exam, worried that despite her hard work she would not pass.  I felt anxious for her because I knew she would devastated if she did not pass.  Well a little after 1PM I got the text message from her that she did indeed pass the exam and was now an ACE certified trainer.  I talked to her on the phone.  She was actually crying which I think was just the culmination of stress and happiness for reaching her goal.   I told her I was very proud of her.

When she first talked of getting this certification I honestly did not think it would be quite as difficult as it turned out to be.  You are required to have a pretty in depth knowledge of physiology, exercise, client analysis and much more.  It was much more comprehensive than I expected.

The certification will help open a number of doors for Cindy.  She already has several promising leads which will allow her to embark on her new career.  To celebrate her accomplishment we went out to dinner at Carrabbas last night.  We enjoyed the non-season light crowds and were able to sit down without waiting, a near impossibility from the months of October to March.  We had a nice meal.  Cindy certainly deserved it.  I could tell she felt so relieved to have the looming test off her shoulders.  I swear during the last week she was studying/testing 8 hours a day.

So almost on cue, after I proclaimed I had been smoke smell free for going on two weeks on Wednesday, the smell returned yesterday.  I can smell it today as well to some degree.  Maybe if I just stop thinking and talking about it it can fade away.  My Uncle Randy messaged me about my Aunt Sis, who was mom’s aunt.  Aunt Sis was very much a believer in reincarnation, ghosts, and that sort of stuff.  He told me the day Aunt Sis died he had a black bird that was watching him and he had an odd sense it was her.  My grandfather also was a believer in reincarnation. I remember one time my mom telling me when I was very young I talked in depth about living a previous life which I have no recollection of.

If you read my blog you know that as an adult I have a very logical view of the world.  I don’t subscribe to religious beliefs nor do I think there is much waiting for anyone when they die besides an eternal nap.  However I also am not the type to be afraid to reevaluate my thoughts when new evidence is presented to me.  I just haven’t had that happen concretely to this point although there have been many moments of coincidence and deja vu throughout my life that don’t have any explanation that would compute logically.

For the first time in a long time Florida is potentially in the cross hairs for a hurricane.  As of now Erika is projected to hit the east coast of the state and swing right up the middle.  I have been a Florida resident long enough and seen enough tropical storm forecasts to know that there is still a lot of opportunity for the forecast track to change.

However regardless of it’s final destination it is very likely that regardless we would see significant rain and wind at the homestead.  The rain especially is unwelcome since our property is still sopping wet.

This is our last full weekend before the road trip which is scheduled to kick off two Sundays from now.  I need to start developing checklists so all that needs to get done is handled before we leave.  It doesn’t help that there is a race to time next Saturday to complicate matters.  Of course my biggest concern with the trip is the welfare of the chickens.  Our chicken sitters are stopping by over the weekend to make sure everything is clear.