Mastering The Age Thing
What’s the big deal? So I’m 40 today. Worse things could happen - a lot worse.
I’ve anticipated this day for a year. Go ahead and laugh. But 39 is old in weekend-warrior world where competition is divided into five-year brackets. Forty is fresh, young and enviable.
Today I hit the road race circuit as a master. Such a title is a wonderful gift to bestow on a person. Without running any faster or cycling any harder, I feel wiser, quicker, in control - just because I’ve made it to 40.
I discovered 10 years ago how important those little victories are for the soul. At 30, I learned to do a back handspring to satisfy a lifelong fantasy and smite (at least in my mind) the effects of aging.
I was a backyard tumbler when Lake City Gymnastics coach Carol Kienow took me on. She became driven to teach this fledgling middle-ager with declining flexibility to flip as effortlessly as a high school cheerleader.
It took three weeks.
I was triumphantly whipping through my second handspring unaided when something ripped in my arm. I’ve never done another - and never needed to. After the muscle healed, I felt invincible for years.
For 35, I decided to tackle the Coeur d’Alene Triathlon. I’d never cycled farther than the grocery store or owned running shoes. For the first time in my life, I trained with Olympian zeal.
It paid off. I could smile, albeit weakly, as I crossed the finish line nearly three hours after the race’s start. Once again, I felt invincible.
My accomplishments are for me alone. The “atta girls” stop after a few days but my soul stays satisfied for months. How better to hurdle a threatening milestone?
So what’s the goal for this birthday? The Coeur d’Alene Marathon? Spokane’s Troika? Iron Man? I’ll tell everyone after I’ve achieved it.
A Cheap Sensation
Count on Wallace’s Sixth Street Melodrama to offer a “cheap, sensational novel of adventure, crime or violence” and boast about it. Director Sherrill Grounds says, “The Mystery of Irma Vep is one of the funniest plays open-minded audiences will ever see.”
It includes vampires, werewolves, Egyptians, moves from the Three Stooges and 37 costume changes. What more is there to say? Tickets are $9 for the PG-13 show that opens at 8 p.m. Thursday . Call 752-8871.
Threadbare request
I asked you to tell me people you want to read about. So Sue, Tonya, Robyn and Jan asked for the Thong Man. They want pictures, too. No wonder they didn’t include their last names…
Sweet street
One of my favorite times of the year in Coeur d’Alene is the first weekend in August. Art on the Green. The Downtown Street Fair. The food fair. Yum.
The Downtown Association is ready now to dole out booth space for the street fair.
The association crams a lot of booths into those few downtown blocks. Still, space is limited. So apply early. The entry fee is $150. Call 667-4040 if you’re interested.
Gather ‘round
Lakeside Coeur d’Alene is still the gathering place it was a century ago, but the faces have changed. Now, instead of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, there are skateboarders, runners, students, old folks, espresso heads, etc.
The young gravitate to Java Java most evenings. The Coffee Roastery pulls in the older crowd heading to work each morning. Zips, the Shred Shed, Catcher in the Rye and Independence Point all have regular crowds.
Where is your favorite hangout and what makes it so special? Tell all about it to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814; fax to 765-7149; or call 765-7128 and I’ll write about it for you.