Raise my glass to yoga!

One of the spokes of my wagon wheel that I will spend a lot of time thickening is yoga, specifically Bikram. I’ve been practicing for just about 9 months now. By no means do I consider myself an expert, but I do believe in it. There are so many things to say; so many benefits. But that’s the topic of many future blogs that future Martina is going to write. Present moment Martina is going to write about this very second:

San Diego is currently hosting Bikram Yoga Teacher Training. Many fine & fantastically flexible attendants join from all over the world to be trained in the specific teachings of Bikram so that they can in turn fulfill their yoga karma and spread the magic. This has given us San Diego residents an opportunity of a lifetime: to take a class instructed by Bikram as part of the teacher training agenda. Sure we can easily drive up to LA and take a class in his studio but this is HUGE. Hundreds of people all eager to learn, all packed together in a tent during this fine city’s first intense 2010 heat wave. Imagine the talent! Imagine the energy!

So here I sit, 2 hours before I start to make my way over there and I feel like I just stepped up onto the podium of the woman’s event final: 100 yard free-style, no fly-style.  But this is no sprint. This is…a compilation of everything. My entire day has been psychoanalyzed: 1 glass of water every other hour, make pee almost exactly 20 minutes thereafter, handful of almonds for breakfast, no coffee today, caprease sandwich for lunch and now I’m about to panic because I ate all the fries.

It’s making me wonder: is all this excitement a result of my ‘fight-or-flight’ surge of adrenaline & norepinephrine because I’m about to really get my ass kicked or is it just a natural response to the surge of serotonin & endorphin I’m experiencing because I’m doing something I love. Maybe it’s a mass pack of every hormone my body knows how to make; all I really want to say is what a colorful cocktail!

WHY ELEVEN?

This is probably the question that has plagued mankind since the beginning of time...at least those of mankind that have associated with my husband and I.


The only answer I have, is a quote from what a wise man once said, ”Insanity runs in my family and I used to worry about it a lot, but, now that I’m in it, it’s not too bad!”


It actually began a long time ago. Ever since I can remember I've wanted to be a wife and mother. So when CL and I got married we started our family right away. (I married an awesome man with the same dreams as I.)

After Dot, Rosebud, Lulu, and Beaver were born, I was feeling that our family was just the right size and it might be a good time to quit...SILLY ME!

When Beaver was about 1 year old I began getting the strongest feeling that someone was missing from our family. Several months later I was pregnant with Bogie.

Awhile after his birth, that same strong feeling happened again, someone was missing...and then we got Chip. This happened two more times, bringing Woody and then Nails to our family gathering.  This brought our family to a total of eight.

Wow, eight... that's a lot of kids! 

When our eighth child, Nails , was just a year old I became very ill. I was ill for several years. I began to think that with me so ill, there was no way I could get pregnant and that I was done bearing children. I had eight children, this was a huge responsibility, but it was doable.

When Nails was three years old, I sold all the baby furniture, got rid of all the baby clothes and got on with the task of family and home.


One beautiful autumn day in 1995, I was on holiday at the Gulf of Mexico walking along the beach barefoot and content. It was a peaceful and delightful day. The kids were faraway with CL, I was here all alone. Then that old feeling came back, someone was missing from our family. Not only that, but this time I knew it was a boy.

Well, I tell you, I'd had it, this was the limit,

I'm not going to do it, no one can make me...

But, low and behold, when I got back home, I was already with child. Okay, change of thought...

I can do this, just dig-in and go for it...

I was so sure this baby WAS GOING TO BE A BOY that I didn't have a ultra sound...when the doctor delivered Joka and announced it was a girl, I told him it was not a girl, it was a boy and to quit joking around. The doctor looked at me, then the baby, held her up so I could see and said, "This is one thing you can't debate, this is a girl."

Somebody somewhere was not being very nice to me.

Don't get me wrong, My little Joka was precious to me, as were all my children, each one a new person to get to know and unique!


When Joka was three months old, that same exact feeling I'd gotten on the beach came back...a son was missing from our family.

You have got to be kidding, this is not funny,

everyone already thinks I'm crazy,

even my parents and husband, and I agreed!

 

But, low and behold, Tatty was born and she was NOT A BOY.  But this time I was prepared, I'd had an ultrasound...no more surprises for me. By now I'm asking myself,

   "How high of a stress level I could take?  What does all this mean?  Where's that boy?"

Time passed... Tatty was 4 months old when, you guessed it, along came that haunting and unwanted feeling that there was a son missing. By this time my attitude was...

WHAT EVER!

This time the ultra sound gave great evidence that, finally, finally, finally we were going to get our missing son! 

YAHOO!!!

In August, Buster was born.

That was almost 12 years ago. I have spent a lot of time looking at my eleven children; whether their gathered around our enormous dining table, or piled on the sofas watching a movie, or tucked safe in their beds with my little Buster sleeping soundly in his crib. My heart rejoices that I didn't give up and leave him behind. Our home is complete!


It is amazing to me that I have come to know eleven great people on such an intimate basis. None of us are perfect and we go through the same funnies and trials that all families go through, but...

THIS IS AN AMAZING ADVENTURE

AND I'M SO GLAD TO BE ON IT!