On The Run

My dad would tell me “Your burning you candle from both ends. Slow down”.

I never really gave that statement much credit until I was, well in my thirties. I mean why would I want to slow down? I had the world at my feet and I could roam Europe with a quick train ticket.

As major life changes happen, I hear the voice telling again, “Slow Down”.

This past month I have heard the familiar warning, without any major life changes. Instead my running has consisted of a variety of new steps.

It started with a quick vacation to Edisto thanks to a family friend. He had learned it was our five year anniversary and gave us his condo for the week. I was just gity as a bug because we live on one income. This limits our actual vacation time.

 I cannot express the joy I had during that time with the four of us. We played on the beach, searching for treasure on Mysterious Island. We made our own family traditions of places to buy food and meals to make. It was priceless.

Next came a fabulous week of style thanks to Columbia Metropolitan Magazine. They graciously supplied me with a ticket to Columbia Style Week.

Going to a show like this with vip status was amazing. This is totally outside of my comfort zone, but still amazing. Through that ticket, I was able to meet a few really great people. This is one of my favorite things to do. Being able to actually talk with someone on a real level is worth more to me than I can even express.

Then my friend from PA came down with her little’s. Poor girl was sick but we still managed to hit up Traders Joes and have some girl time in the back yard. Nothing like two grown women feeling like they are twenty again, calling their other running buddy who couldn’t be there.

Finally, the last leg of the run was the big family vacation. We stayed close this year and went to Hilton Head. We stayed two places instead of the normal one. It really wasn’t even an issue to move locations. We knew ahead of time so we kept it together somewhat.  

I kind of liked the move because I got more to analyze, and we got the best of both worlds. One being family fun and the other was adult time.

And man I will tell you the Omni Hotel & Resort is truly a gem. Everyone was really helpful, nice and genuinely on the ball. They are definitely a family friendly location; however, they have sweet spots for just us adults.

With all these events happening, I felt like I had just run a marathon. Even though I was going through each moment one at a time, I was taking in so much that I still felt like I was on the run.

With that, I heard my dad again. But this time it wasn’t because I had been gallivanting around until 3 in the morning. It was however, because I had crammed so much into one month.

Now I get to stop. Stop and hug my babies a little longer, show love to my husband in new ways, and tend to the garden.

What will you do to stop and love your life?