I Love the Smell of Chlorine in the Morning

I wish I could say this is me...but it's not.

I have a thing about chlorine. It makes my heart beat a little faster when I catch a whiff of it. I'm not sure why, but I have a kind of love affair with pools. So when I found myself on my own schedule after quitting my day job to build another business, I made a vow to work out every day for 90 minutes... and with a pool just minutes away, of course I picked water! And chlorine!

I'm an early riser, and if I leave my house at 5:50 a.m., I can be sitting poolside by 5:55 with my feet dangling in the water, waiting for the lifeguard (who cannot be more than 14 years old) to mount his chair... and that's my cue. My morning is part swimming, part "water-leaping," a technique that I've developed where I leap forward on my toes as fast as I can and push hard against the water with my arms. The swimming part is a little choppy (I'm going to get help for that soon - I have lined up a swimming "consultant" to bark commands at me, come mid-May). But the water-leaping part makes me friends! I have met some great pool peeps. And, of course, they have met me, so I'm sure I have been referred to as the crazy water-leaper in their conversations. (Don't laugh - on Sunday, two women asked me to show them what I was doing, and they followed me. Of course, I was the most graceful of the three of us. Which isn't saying a whole lot).

But I digress... so back to my water pals: there's Mary, who hates coming to the pool but does it so her back won't hurt for the rest of the day; and Kim, who worked for a Korean bakery for ages and has been a pool member for 20 years; and Tom, who doesn't say much but smiles at me a lot; and Marie, who says the rosary on her fingers while she's exercising and reminds me about all of the traditional Italian customs I had long forgotten. Marie is my favorite today because she said, "So, how old are you? You're not 50 yet, right?" I wanted to say, "Right!," but I didn't. I fessed up that I will be 57 in a few weeks. (May 30, to be exact, in case you want to send me something. Let me know if you need my address.)

I'm proud of myself for not yet missing a day - it's been over three weeks since I started, and now I'm hooked. My arms are so much stronger, my stomach's getting flatter, my face is rosier and more defined, and my clothes are looser - those all amount to a good outcome. But the thing I love best is that I get to breathe in as much chlorine as I want. Ahhhhhh. It's the little things that make me happy.


© 2013 A Bit of Brie/Anitabrie

Taking Early "Rewirement"

Wish me luck! Today is the last day of a work relationship I have had with my professional association for 34 years. I'm not retiring; no way - not yet. I'm taking a gigantic leap of faith and jumping off into the stratosphere on a wing and a prayer. Well, to be honest, not even the wing. Just the prayer.

I have the heart of an entrepreneur, and I came up with (what I think is) a great idea for communications professionals like me last May, and so far have only laid the groundwork for this initiative. I just haven't had the time or juice to pursue it while I'm working a demanding full-time job. So, with another birthday just around the corner, and my inner voice whispering to me that I'm not getting any younger, and if someone else ups and creates this business instead of me I'm going to be pretty sorry, I (gasp!) resigned from my wonderful job with my amazing employees and colleagues, and I'm going to get this done.

I have a business colleague to thank for the spin on my new career choice. She sent me a note and said, "Best wishes in your rewirement!" And, with all the love that I have for a clever twist on language, I am adopting that term as my own.

I'm scared, but it's "good scared"— just enough to move myself along briskly and with purpose. But mostly I'm excited, with all the exhilaration that comes from letting go of all the "can'ts" and "don'ts" and seeing only the possibilities that a big change can bring. And I'm not just an entrepreneur anymore. I'm also a "career electrician," the kind of professional who is learning to do all of my own rewiring. You know, for my rewirement.

©2013 A Bit of Brie/Anitabrie   

WWF: Is There a 12-step Program?

My name is Anita and I am an addict. A Words With Friends addict.

A couple of years ago, Lori K.N. invited me to play WWF (Bless you, Lori! Damn you, Lori!), setting off a chain of events that showed me the addictive personality lurking inside me. I have always loved Scrabble, WWF's parent. How could I not? Avid reader since I was a child, sneaking an extra hour of a favorite book under my covers with a flashlight; English major; communications professional: words are woven into the fabric of my life.

So when Lori reached out with that gateway drug - "Just one game, come ON, Anita, it's easy!" - I didn't see the road ahead of me. That I would embark on an odyssey that would lead me to playing 15 games at a time; that would cause one person to unfriend me on Facebook, that would have me using words like "za" and "xu" and "vrow," and that would prompt me - gasp! - to strike up games with total strangers just to get my word high.

I am ashamed. I know I need to get this in check. This can't be good, all this spelling and triple-word-score-lusting-after. I will stop. Next week. I can stop anytime, really. Hey, you, over by the coffee and donuts - have you played before? Wanna have a game?