Mind over eye-blob.

The exciting thing about valium? It isn't that exciting. I didn't turn all happy-housewife and bake pies while my kids jumped off the balcony into the pool and threw rocks at the neighbor's pets. I just fell asleep. I am over not seeing. Not better, just over it. The pain kept me up most of the night, but it comes and goes. I can go a good 15 minutes without noticing the floaty thing in my eye now. I only thought about it twice on my run, both times during the 40' of tempo, when I was looking for an excuse to quit. I ran 15 miles and realized I'm facing another steep marathon build if I want to run Honolulu in December.. because 15 was hard.

My friend Kaui had a birthday party tonight. I never thought I would be raising my kids with the kids of my high school friends, but every couple there contained a classmate. And I loved it. I love raising my kids here where I grew up. Kaui's backyard view makes me feel like I'm back in Tahiti. The parties start like this:

And by dark, the grown-ups are beating the hula girl pinata and mini airplane-booze bottles are falling out. Hula girls as pinatas may not have been especially well thought-out. There were cries of "rip off her leg!" and "go for the head!" that may have not been appropriate for a younger child's birthday party. The mix of candy, whiskey bottles and condoms that came out of her beaten torso were only slightly more inappropriate than Kaui's mom busting some of the parents smoking contraband outside her bedroom window. When the hula girl exploded, Pat warned the kids that the pinata was full of chores to keep the condom questions at bay.

I had no talent for the talent show that preceded dessert. But Henry rocked it with armpit farts. My husband drank enough to motivate me to start driving again. It had been two weeks, but I've reached a point where I'm comfortable enough with my sight to get behind the wheel.

I alternate between my Things Fall Apart mindset and my normal it'll all work itself out self. Life is too hard sometimes, and this continues to be one of those times. But nothing lasts.