get moving

Yesterday, I was pretty keyed-up. The agitation came from a number of sources, but all seemed to center around one message. It was as if everything in my life converged all at once to tell me one thing.

Only, I couldn’t quite figure out what.

I just knew there were a lot of thoughts swirling around in my head, and none of them were quite landing. I also noticed a lot of energy coursing through my body. Agitation. In response, a single message was coming to mind:

STOP!!

I was terribly grumpy, too. And this was all culminating while having lunch with my wife, dad, and mom-in-law. They weren’t doing anything wrong, or even anything to bother me. And they had no idea there was a volcano about to erupt next to them at the table. Which, I didn’t. I knew they were not the problem, and I had enough mindfulness to know I wasn’t either.

While cleaning up the dishes and such, I whispered to my wife, “I need to be wearing my Care Bear shirt”. She raised a knowing, concerned eyebrow… “oh, thanks for the warning”.

Oh, wait, you don’t know about my Care Bear shirt, do you?

Well, this post just got a bit longer…

I mentioned once before, very briefly, that one of my nicknames is Grumpy. It’s a term of relative endearment, with a story.

My family and I were on a road trip many years ago, and we made too many stops, did a little too much, and found ourselves rather “hangry” – beyond what even Snickers could handle. We needed a real meal and some time to unwind! Especially dear ‘ol dad (me).

We came upon a restaurant named The Grumpy Gringo. As indicated by the Hispanic word, Gringo, it was a restaurant serving primarily Mexican food. I don’t really remember much about the food – good or not so good. I do remember they only allowed one small basket of chips and one small container of salsa, gratis. That didn’t go over so well for all the hangry gringos at our table! But, we ate, and we all felt better. And then, on the way out, we noticed they had T-shirts with their logo emblazoned on the front. Someone suggested I needed one, as a warning to others. We laughed. I bought a shirt.

I still have the shirt. In fact, it outlasted the restaurant. The black fabric has faded to black-ish, but hey, I don’t wear it often – preferring to wear it only on occasions when I’m feeling a bit snarky.

Sometime since that incident, our family got to talking about grandparent names. Mine was quickly decided. Not sure who even brought it up, but mine is to be Grumpy. It’s funny and fitting. Hopefully, I can be the least grumpy grandparent ever. But, on the other hand, sometimes I can get really grumpy!

This year, for Christmas, my daughter and son in law gave me a coffee mug with the cliché “World’s Best Dad” idiom on it. A sweet sentiment in itself. Inside the mug was a T-shirt. It’s a Care Bears branded shirt:

When I saw what was on the shirt, I laughed so hard, I think I snorted! It’s perfect! Well, except that it’s about 3 sizes too big, which is also kind of fitting and hilarious. My daughter told me she “won” it in one of those “dirty Santa” gift exchange parties. She was pretty proud that she was able to get it. And I am pretty tickled that she did!

So…back to yesterday… this is the shirt I was talking about, and the story behind it.

I was almost to the point of tears when I whispered that to my wife.

Then, I asked “Will you go with me for a walk after we finish up here?” The weather was decent enough outside. Along with the immense frustration I was experiencing, I had an overwhelming feeling that I needed to get moving!

And, that’s what we did. As soon as we started walking, I started talking. I told my wife about all the messages I was receiving from the different sources. I told her how they were making me feel. And we walked. And I kept talking. And she just listened. And the dis-ease I had been experiencing began to lift.

As someone with ADHD, when my mind gets keyed-up like that, my body requires movement and I need an outlet to share what’s going on inside. In addition to writing, movement is one more way I can get the swirly stuff to land.

In fact, I’ve been pacing the floor of our garage apartment the entire time I’ve been writing this.

Oh, and the message that had me so amped up? It was a false message. A saboteur. A spiritual attack. But I already had all I needed to fend it off. And I did.