Husband Post.

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Guest Post from none other than J.M. Shenk!

Stuff my wife says:

Valerie: My back hurts

Me: Maybe you should do yoga

Valerie: Yoga is for white people who drink Starbucks and coconut water.*

Oh.  I see.

So I’m thinking to myself:  In what ways do I do what I do because of my colour and self-identity?

Well, after a long, though less-stressful-than-usual week playing volunteer centre manager at the church office, this white boy treated himself to a bike ride around London.

Starting out at the canal path near our house I traveled south past the Olympic stadium, wearing my Chrome messenger bag, riding my “steel-is-real” road bike.  After a leisurely bike path jaunt, I hopped up onto the roads to be met with a welcome surprise: one of London’s bicycle highways!  So I spent the next few miles travelling towards the city center on smooth and fast, blue-painted tarmac.

After riding through the financial district, I made my way back home by way of Islington on the route of the 38 bus.  I came home happy and content, having survived 2 or 3 near misses, and realizing that my rear derailleur cable or chain needs some attention as it was slipping gears under acceleration.

I came home to a cup of home-roasted coffee--recently roasted in my popcorn popper—and sat outside in our small garden-in-progress, enjoying the 21C degree weather.

Sitting outside, face toward the rare London sun, I experienced a moment of silence in an otherwise noisy life.

My work at the church office and our growing involvement with other programmes and activities have felt necessary and useful, but I think I’m realizing that we can’t just be service robots; we have to make time for fun, exercise and relaxation.  I suppose I knew this all along – but it’s one thing to “know” something and another to “feel” the need springing up inside you.

They say you shouldn’t wait to drink water until you’re thirsty.  I suppose it’s like that.

Ergo, I need to relax a little.  This might come as a shock to people who look at me from the outside, as I probably already seem relaxed.  That’s just how it looks when I’m frantically trying to problem-solve.  I need to find more balance.  I need to read more, bike more, and spend more time with plants.**

I’m also thinking of taking up Yoga.***

*(Valerie's note:  Yes, I said this.  To be fair, there is a very small minority of white and non-white people who do yoga who don't drink copious amounts of Starbucks and coconut water.)

**(Valerie’s note: and YOUR WIFE! cooking for her, doing laundry, going on walks with her…)

***(yes, another note from Valerie: He's already got the coffee/coconut water thing down to a science.)