After I saw Wonder Woman, I basically became her. I don't know if it was the power of suggestion or what, but after I saw the movie for my fortieth birthday, I was kind of a superhero for the next few days.
First of all, I rescued a dog. Second of all, I rescued a woman who fell off her bike. See what I mean? Wonder Woman. Third of all, I rocked at mountain biking.
Princess the Dog
I was in the neighborhood park, finishing up a run, when I spotted the cutest dog wandering by herself, no owner in sight. She padded up to me and sniffed around long enough to check her collar. It read "Princess," and it listed an out-of-state phone number and a street address I didn't recognize.
She continued to skip around the pond, while I waited to see if someone would claim her. No one did, so I picked her up and took her home. She ran around in the backyard while I called the number on her collar. It was a Utah number.
"That's my dog," the owner said, "but we have friends in Boise who are watching her while we are on vacation."
I wrote down the address, walking distance from my house. I let Princess out of the backyard, and she proceeded to sit in the middle of our street.
"You can't do that, silly girl!" I said. "You'll get run over!"
I scooped Princess up again and walked her to the address the owner had given me.
Princess was quite content to be carried around the neighborhood. She turned her head and growled in a noncommittal way once as we walked by another dog with his owner. Other than that, she lay in my arms, her hind legs sprawled out comfortably.
As we approached the neighbors' house, I heard children's voices calling out, "PRINCESS!"
Princess didn't even start at the mention of her name.
"I think that's you," I told her.
She looked at me and almost seemed to shrug.
I found out from these neighbors that Princess had been getting out of the backyard all week.
"We've reinforced the fence," the woman, a harried mother holding an infant while two young kids circled about, said. "We can't even get out of our backyard, but Princess can!"
She also told me her friend, Princess's owner, was in Hawaii on vacation.
"She's been called four times," my neighbor said. "She knows to pick up any '208' number."
"How much longer are you watching Princess?"
"A week and a half," she looked at the dog. "We're going to have to lock you up in the garage or something."
Princess looked at us agreeably and wagged her tail.
Bike Rescue
Later that week, I was finishing up yet another run in the same park, when a woman, probably in her early seventies, crashed her bike on the sidewalk.
"I'm okay!" she called out from underneath her bike.
I rushed over to her, along with her two riding buddies, also women in their early seventies.
"I just need to untangle myself."
I lifted the bike off of her (my Wonder Woman moment). She sat up, but she mentioned she may have rolled her ankle.
"It might be a bit more swollen than the other one," I said. I couldn't actually tell.
Her friend and I helped her up. She tried not put any weight on her foot but was able to get back on her bike.
"I think I can ride better than I can walk," she said.
I hope I can be that resilient in my seventies. I've been known to cry at much less when it comes to crashing my bike. (Not very Wonder Woman-like, I'll admit.)
Speaking of Biking . . .
Last weekend, after two days of Wonder Woman-esque mountain biking, I picked up our bike lock extension and started swinging it around.
"I think this should be my Lasso of Truth," I told my husband, Dan.
I was feeling confident about my Wonder Woman abilities after I had rocked some tricky (for me), technical trails.
"Your lasso hangs over there with bike lock when you're done with it," Dan said, gesturing toward the garage wall.
Seriously. If I'm going to be Wonder Woman, I need one of those lasso thingies for my students this fall.
Digression
Has anyone ever noticed the similarity between the Wonder Woman and Weezer logos?
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