Relax... in the dessert

I went swimming alone tonight - with like 40 other people. Pygmy had just come back from Wisconsin and thought she was going to be able make it but in the end was too whooped. I went anyway because work has been so stressful (was in Bellingham all day yesterday) and I am still on that manic upswing from Nationals - I just want to work out and be the strongest and fittest and fastest and most agile derby skater ever. (Don't worry - it will wear off to a normal, even healthy amount of fitness.) So I went. And I worked...on breathing... then kicking... finally with arms. I put it all together and swam for a while but it wasn't that much fun. Then I remembered the thing that Bruce (Carnie Coach) often tells us - just relax. Right. My last few laps were rather fun and it all came together so much more easily. Just relax.

Last year at this time I was in Egypt with Kelly and Lara. It was our 3 day there and we were were probably heading off to pyramids or museums or something around Cairo. It was a the beginning of very fun times. Recently, they found yet another pyramid buried somewhere in the desert that is like a 4,500 years old or something crazy. It's like the 113th pyramid that they've found (busy people - those Egyptians). And it's pretty amazing. The director of antiquities said that it's amazing what they find in the desert.

When I was in the Peace Corps there was a saying that "nothing ever gets lost in the desert." The sands shift around and those things that were buried a hundred years ago or even 20 years ago reveal themselves. And since the desert is particularly dry, many things stay intact - including thousand year old pyramids, bones, civilizations, etc. I always thought it would be interestingto take a giant vacuum and "Hoover the desert" just to see all the secrets it's hiding from the rest of the world. That would be pretty amazing. And humbling too.