Friends, honestly, these days I am enjoying more fun and more overflowing love than any one woman deserves. I could blog all day every day and not keep up with the thousands of beautiful details.
My private notebook journal is filling up quickly with sketches of daily life, and my phone is loaded with snapshots from all the diems being carpe’d. I try to stop, breathe deeply, and soak it all up, try to somehow slow the clock, which only works a little. Life is full to bursting in the best ways.
My sister Angela recently celebrated not only her 40th birthday but, more importantly, her third year of sobriety. I cannot overstate the joy here, the refreshment and encouragement it brings our entire family.
I want to share more stories from our family Seattle vacation. You deserve full and proper reviews of Radium Girls, a book Gen and I read in tandem (fascinating and disturbing!) as well as The Book of Joy and some peripheral reading I am doing about prayer and meditation.
Running and fitness are going pretty well, although I am not training for anything and in fact and going pretty easy on my schedule just to enjoy summertime. I’ll pick up a new marathon plan late July.
The gardens!! The gardens on every side of the farm are pure joy and explosions of life.
Lots to talk about and many good stories to tell, and not just the surface beauty. Our prayers are being answered in deep and stunning ways.
Here are a few more happy photos, then if you will stick around for a few minutes and indulge me, I have a serious question about something. It’s a long-standing curiosity I have had, and it appeared in the book I finished.
My running friend Marcia has just retired from an incredible military and teaching career, and she celebrated this weekend. I was so happy to attend her party. She is widely accomplished and much loved by her people, and I left having made a new friend! Such a happy event!!
This morning I joined three other running friends (all women I admire so dang much) for about 8 sweaty, low-heart-rate miles and then some Panera food and coffee. All four of us happened to order the exact same delicious whole grain sandwich with egg white, spinach, and avocado, ha! We caught up on the life stuff we don’t put on Facebook and wished Lisa well, who is soon relocating to Colorado. Tiny T posed for a Boomerang video but is still thinking hard about a worthy caption. I love mornings with running friends. I don’t do it enough. They are fantastic humans and very positive, healthy influences. STRONG HAPPY BOSTON QUALIFIERS!!
Here is the fascinating (to me) question:
Do you think the world at large is improving, or growing worse, or is it neutral? Why?
What about your individual, private life? Please tell me why you fee this way, if you can.
Okay, now Handsoem and I are getting ready to drive to OKC for my beautiful Mom’s birthday dinner. Nice and casual, just immediate family and a few of the grand-kids. We will feast on excellent Tex Mex food plus two homemade desserts per her request. She is 60 today and we all love her so much. Another topic worthy of its own deliberate blog post. My mom really is the best.
Thank you for reading and for sharing your thoughts on this topic, friends. I can’t wait to read what you write. And I will be sharing soon why it’s on my radar and what the book had to say. Super interesting stuff.
Happy Sunday evening!!
Carpe those Diems!
XOXOXOXO
Love.
I think the world maintains its ebb and flow of good and bad. Unfortunately, we all have unfiltered thoughts of nearly every person at our fingertips. I believe this is the cause of so many issues for us as a society. We used to only express our raw thoughts and feelings with friends, in person. Now, everything is up for 20/20 hindsight debate due to ease of access and media saturation. This only serves to divide. So with that, I think the world is okay. We can do it. Let’s just have more in person conversations about the things that matter the most. Share our feelings with others openly, but be prepared for deeper conversation when its needed.
As for my life, it is rockin’ baby! I am so lucky to have you by my side. I know my world is better, to spite the circumstances at times, when I choose to count it all joy. Focus in the gifts all around.
Thank you for being my rock. We got this. Love, joy, and peace will abound. The blessings are all already overwhelming!
So happy to read about your joy.
“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.”
Brené Brown
I love you sister ❤️ Thank you for everything that you are.
Hey Marie, to be honest, I’ve been having trouble finding the joy because I can’t stop thinking about the kids and babies at the border. It’s hard to think the world is good, or getting better, when this is going on. Finding my own personal joy feels somehow obscene in the face of it. But I know it’s important.