My family has never been the "family vacation" type. It's not really that we didn't want to, but rather that, given the chance, we'd rather go see our extended family, the same mentioned in this post yesterday.
We have, however, taken family trips to this place for more than twenty years.
Welcome to Rams Horn Village, nestled near the town of Estes Park and at the base of Rocky Mountain National Park, one of my family's favorite places to be. My grandma found Rams Horn many years ago, and we've stayed there nearly every summer for practically forever. It's tradition now. We go hiking in the park (we have several favorite trails), we walk the town and do a little light shopping, we eat good food, we go to the pool if the weather is cooperative, and we rest. It's awesome, and one of the things we most look forward to each summer. Some of our favorite memories come from our trips here, especially those with my grandparents.
A couple of weeks ago was Will's first trip to Estes Park to stay at Rams Horn. He, his Nonna (my mom), Grandad (my dad), Tia (my sister), and I headed up midweek, but poor Daddy (Husband) had to wait until Friday night to join us, due to his job. The weather was pretty much gorgeous, but unfortunately they are doing major roadwork in RMNP, cutting off access to most of the trails we usually hike (and the ones I felt I could do with Will strapped to my front). Still, we were able to drive around the park, watch as a wedding party took pictures at the Illuvial Fan, and hike to Alberta Falls, one of our favorite easy hikes. We even saw a huge herd of elk... a first for all of us! We have only ever seen a few at a time before.
Not only did Will go on his first hike, but he also went to his first rodeo. Estes Park is home of the Rooftop Rodeo, voted the PRCA's Best Small Rodeo. We love the rodeo, and were pretty bummed when we discovered our Estes Park trip coincided with the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo, meaning we'd have to miss out. Sister and I were pretty estatic to see that the Rooftop Rodeo was going on while we were there, though, so rodeo-ing we went. On a whim I'd thrown this little outfit in the suitcase, so Will was the best-dressed in our family. It was a great little rodeo, with some of the best bucking horses I have ever seen and an incredible view - Lake Estes and the Rocky Mountains as the backdrop.
Will's other first was a couple of trips to the pool. He only spent a few minutes in the pool each time, and I'm not totally sure he liked it, but he didn't hate it, either. What he did hate was getting out - he cried and cried - but he cries getting out of the bathtub, too. He was pretty stinking cute in his little bathing outfit, though.
The rest of the time was spent hanging out, walking around town, and just being together as a family. We did absolutely no work and were able to, I think, truly get some much needed rest before things get going again. Wish we could have stayed a few more days!
One of my favorite friends, in real life and blog life, Dawn, is sharing something she's thakful for every day this month, and has invited me and you and anyone else to link up with her and share what we're thankful for, too. Now, if you know me at all, you know I'm not the most faithful daily blogger, but I'm going to do my best. Joining in on choosing thankfullness sounds like a good idea to me!
Today, I'm thankful for unexpected snow days.
Last week everyone expected us to have a snow day on Wednesday - it was going to be a big, big storm. But it wasn't. And we didn't even get a two-hour delay. Oh, the disappointment abounded. I had already gone through my normal mental preparation for the probablility that we wouldn't get a day off, so I wasn't as upset. But my students? Oh, so sad.
So yesterday, with another storm forecast for today, students hoped again. This time, though, the storm wasn't predicted to be nearly as bad, so I didn't even entertain the idea of getting a day off. I was confident we wouldn't, so instead of waking up every few hours wondering if I'd get a call, I slept, like any other normal night.
And at 4:30, the phone rang. And not with news of a delay, but of a complete and total cancellation. What surprising joy!
I slept until 7 (when I would normally be at school), got up, made some coffee, read. After I blog, I'll spend some time doing some much needed catch-up work, but at a pace I set, with my PJs and comfy-s on, and the dog curled up on the couch beside me.
Oh, unexpected snow day. I love you.
It's a day to do things I need to do without feeling guilty about doing them, where no one else has any expectations of me, where I am allowed to be as productive or as lazy as I choose to be.
It's a chance to sleep-in, to breathe, to rest, in the midst of a busy week, a busy life. A chance to do so without the standard pressures that a normal day requires. A chance to be. To be however I want to be.
What I am thankful for today? The gift of a snow day.
Isn't that so true about so many things in life? If we don't make time, there won't ever be time.
We live in a society that teaches us to function with every moment packed with things to do. It doesn't matter what stage of life you're in - your life is full. Our children have sports and school and extracurricular activities. Our teens have sports and school and extracurricular activities and jobs. Our college students have sports and school and extracurricular activities and jobs and job interviews. Our young professionals have work and meetings and extra duties and functions they run and attend. Our parents have work, housekeeping responsibilities, carting their kids around to the aforementioned places, and more functions they run and attend. We retire later in life, and even then, still live our lives with seemingly every moment packed.
And we feel guilty if we stop, even for a few minutes. Our culture tells that resting is, at the very least, irresponsible, if not down right lazy.
The more I do life like this, though, the more I think it's not supposed to be this way. I need to rest. I need to take time - to make time - to do things that I want to do, not just do all the things I have to do.
I want to blog, so I'm going to take five minutes to blog. It may not be the best post ever, but if it's important, who cares if I take five minutes out of doing something else?
I want to exercise, but I have papers to grade. So take the dog for a 15 minute walk and then get back to grading.
I want to watch a movie with my husband, but I should clean the house. Do a five-minute maintenance in each of the worst areas and then watch the movie.
I know there are more ways to simplify, to take time to rest, and to not buy in to the lie that resting (whatever form that takes) is lazy or irresponsible, and I know that, even though I know I need to shift my life a little here, I will still get sucked into the "doing" and forget about the "making time."
Perhaps you can remind me the next time I write a "busy" post, okay?
Here's to making time for the things we need to do for the good of our minds, bodies, spirits, souls.
Here's to not feeling guilty when you put aside the work or the responsibility for a few moments.
And here's to all of us - may we live in ways where we feel rested and full of freedom.
(Editor's Note: I wrote this post on Monday, but because I needed to wait to for my husband to bring the camera home, am not posting it until Tuesday. Any references to "today" are from Monday.)
Do you know that I have ridden horses for nearly 15 years, and I have never actually fallen off of one?
Granted, the consistency of me riding in the last three years has been.... well, let's be honest. I haven't ridden more than twice in the last three years. (That's not totally my fault. The first year, I didn't have a car, so I couldn't get out to where my horse was being boarded. The second year we'd moved him to my parent's house and built him a loafing shed, and I did ride him a couple of times, but then he got an abscess in his hoof and had about half of the hoof removed. (That's like taking off your fingernail, not your finger, just in case you didn't know.) So he had to heal from that. And then last year, right around this time of year, he impaled himself on a t-post and nearly died. That recovery was quite long; hence, no riding for me.
I completely digress from my original point. The expression back in the saddle clearly comes from the idea that if you've fallen off a horse, you have to get back on again and push through whatever fear is keeping you from riding again. I've never fallen from a horse, so I don't I can fully understand the true intent of those words, although having watched my sister essentially stop riding due to an incredibly scary situation, I sort of get it.
That story will have to come at a later point, because this post isn't supposed to be about horses or riding or anything equestrian related. I just titled the post Back in the Saddle and then was off on a tangent, and decided to write it. Well, journeying with me as I process never promised to be logical.
Anyway, I feel like I have the opporutnity to be back in the saddle of a lot of things in my life. School is winding down and, while I have a busy summer ahead, the pace is different.
I have just two classes of finals left to grade - one on paper, one online. I'm going to do them tomorrow. Then I have to spend some time getting my classroom ready for next year, and I'm done. Officially our last day is Wednesday, but I may go in for a few hours on Thursday and/or Friday just to make sure I'm organized. It's been a long year. I'm excited for a change of pace.
On Saturday I went to the Home Depot at 8:15 in the morning to avoid the rush and bought a lot of flowers and plants. I suspect I normally spend $100 on flowers to pot to make the front of my townhouse look pretty (and to make me happy) - but this weekend I went way overboard, due to the fact that I was on a mission - I wanted to plant some perennials in our front yard, build a mini garden bed retaining wall, and add some mulch. I picked up the pesky rocks that were half filling the space and through them into my window wells, which needed something in them anyway. (I'd already spent hours on a previous weekend cleaning and sorting some rocks and filling this awkward weird gap between my neighbor's sidewalk and mine.)
I potted 15 medium and small pots of flowers and 3 large ones. I dug up the soil in the yard and mixed it in with some garden soil. I planted 7 new plants in the yard. The only thing Husband helped with was the brick (which, as you can see, we need a couple more layers of to make a retaining wall) and the mulch.
I just love it... it's like a whole new yard. And never mind the dead grass, because the flowers and plants make it pretty anyway. (Although we are going to re-sod the dead parts and put in some new sod up to the retaining wall.)
Oh, and doing that, I forgot about sunscreen (rookie mistake). This is me two days later, although I couldn't really get a great picture. You'll have to imagine what it looked like originally. In my defense, it's my first real time outside this year, so I had no base coat at all.
And I've cleaned my main floor and the master bedroom thoroughly, and tidied up the basement areas and bedroom (my mother-in-law was here for the weekend). I'd bought a white quilt and some throw pillows for our bedroom to give our room a fresh, summery feel, but I didn't allow myself to set up the bed until our room was clean clean clean.
So I'm back in the saddle of living in a liveable, even peaceful, pretty house.
This morning I got up and went for a run. I haven't been on a run in a really long time. It's been at least a month since I went to the gym, and probably two or three months (or four?) since I ran outside. It was super windy, but the sun was shining warmly and I pushed myself, but not too much. It felt delicious. I'm going grocery shopping today, and we've cooked at home the last two nights.
Yes, I'm back in the saddle of being healthy, and feeling good about myself.
After I got back from my run, I poured myself a cup of coffee (which had been brewing while I ran), added a dash of cream, sugar, and cinnamon, and took the dog to sit on the front steps, which, in the morning, are bathed in sunshine. There, amidst all my beautiful flowers, I drank my coffee, basking in the tranquility, and listening to this song, which always gets my heart tuned into the right place. Always. It's been a while since I've heard it, so I played it twice. Starting at about 4:45 is the best, in case you don't want to listen to the whole thing. And I just felt calm, and inspired, and ready to keep going.
I went to church yesterday with my mom and MIL at a different church than my own, and the pastor asked this question: Are you in the same place spiritually as you were last month? Six months ago? Last year? Well, I know that if I were to answer that honestly, I haven't grown at all in the last month or so. Remember there was that season of incredible revelation and growth earlier this year? I started to live on the leftovers of that, much like a car running on the fumes of gasoline that used to fill the tank. I caught myself, jumped back in, but, as any teacher knows, barely survived the end of the year, and stopped reading, journaling, and reflecting. But that season is finished.
And I'm back in the saddle of spending time with the One.
I hope that if I ever do fall off of a horse, I will not hestitate to jump rightback on, because if life teaches me anything, it is that it is always better when you push through, allow the One to help you conquer your fear, and keep going. Put that foot in the stirrup, swing your leg over, and keep riding.
You know how you sometimes start composing blog posts in your head when you can't get to the computer? Or you snap some pictures of something you know you'll want to blog about later?
I've been doing that a lot recently. When I say a lot, I mean my blog-brain is backlogged. Seriously backlogged.
(Okay, random aside. I'm looking at the word backlogged and thinking, "did I spell that right? wait, is that even a real word? do I need to change it to something else?" I mean it, I'm having a total self-doubt moment about that word.)
If I wait to find the time to post all my brain-blog posts, you'll never get to read them, and it will be a looooong time before I blog again.
So, instead, I'll give the Spark Notes version of the posts I would have written. And, if, as I summarize, something really sticks with me, I might write a whole post on it soon. We'll see.
Backlogged Post #1: Spring Cleaning Round 1. Last week I was on Spring Break from school and decided to tackle some of the mess in my house. I started reading Organized Simplicity, by Tsh Oxenreider. I haven't finished yet, but I am looking forward to continuing more. I picked up all the crap on the main floor, in the master bedroom, in the bathrooms, and in the upstairs guest room. I put stuff away in the basement TV room. I dusted and vacuumed everything, cleaned the kitchen and all the bathrooms. I did laundry and put it away, and I even vacummed the screens and washed the windows. I took before pictures on Husband's camera (alas, mine really does appear to have been stolen), but forgot to get around to taking the after pictures. (editor's note: several days have gone by - things are still mostly uncluttered and looking good, but the trick will be keeping it that way and clean.)
Backlogged Post #2: Being a Grown Up. I feel like God is really calling me to embrace the fact that I am a "grown up." A couple of weeks ago I realized that somewhere I learned to take "you're so young" as "you're inferior and incompetent." No one said that of course, I just heard it. Anyway, it has been a bit scary but a lot freeing to attempt to embrace my grown up self. Husband started hearing it, too, and we went from talking about it to hearing a sermon that spoke to our hearts immediately within an hour. Clear as a whistle, God. In embrace-your-grown-up-self attempt #1, we invited our church small group over for dinner. It didn't turn out the way we expected, but we still ended up having a great time getting to know one family we didn't really know yet. There was definitely a moment when everything seemed like it was falling apart - but I was so convinced God is trying to grow me that I refused to give in to the lies I was hearing.
Backlogged Post #3: Time. You know me, I don't have a lot of it. But over Spring Break, I intentionally chose to not go anywhere (well, I don't have any money to do that, anyway) or to fill my schedule with lots of coffee and lunch dates. I knew I wanted to clean my house (see #1) and do some work, but I also knew I wanted to have Time. I spent some quality time with my mom over coffee and lunch a couple of times, which was much needed. I slept in every day until 8:30. And I read. I read four and a half books. I finished The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins. I went to the library and got eight books, and read four of them in four or five days. Invitation to Provence, by Elizabeth Adler, Angel Harp, by Michael Phillips, Faces of the Gone, by Brad Parks, and The Lost Gate, by Orson Scott Card. I wouldn't really recommend Invitation to Provence, but Angel Harp was a great Christian Historical Fiction set in Scotland. Faces of the Gone was a mystery. Good, but not great. The Lost Gate was really intriguing, but has an intresting twist on gods and magic, so if you aren't into that, you won't like it. Now that school is back in session, it will probably take me a few days each at least to read the other four books. Having time to do that was so life-giving.
Backlogged Post #4: March Madness. That's right, I have been paying attention to the March Madness basketball tournament. A friend of mine's hubby is an assistant coach at the University of Richmond who ended up playing in Round 2 and 3 nearby us. I couldn't pass that up, could I? St Patty's day, the day before our Spring Break, my dad, friend, and Husband and I headed to Denver for a day of basketball. (this is hush hush since I took a day off work for it.... I had a "once in a lifetime family committment") to watch the Louisville-Morehead game and the Richmond-Vanderbilt game. We sat waaaay up high, almost as far as you could go, but it was awesome. As the Spiders won (woohoo), they played again in Round 3 on Saturday. That time we were given tickets in the 5th row from the court, right behind the Richmond bench. Dad, Sister, Husband, and I were freaking stoked to watch Richmond beat Morehead, and then stayed to watch BYU beat Gonzaga. Richmond went onto the Sweet 16, but sadly lost to Kansas.
Backlogged Post #5: Student Council Elections. I'm running elections for the next three weeks or so. This week, the five Executive Council positions. Next week, the 18 Class Officer positions. The next two weeks, the 12 teacher-nominated Class Representatives positions. My thoughts are swimming with recently-read cover letters, personal view questions, teacher recommendations, and interview questionnaires. It's a bit odd to think about next year already, when we have two months of this year left, but it's also really exciting. There are some great candidates running and I can't help but be excited for next year, a chance to do some things a little differently and to continue serving our school.
Backlogged Post #6: My heart. It's full. It's been learning a lot. I can't really share it all in a mini-post, but I think you'll get the point, anyway. God's been teaching me things - I've shared some of them in past posts - and it's been amazing. I definitely feel like it could be easy to be attacked or side-tracked if I'm not careful and not committed to continuing the conversations He and I have been having, but for now, I'm just amazed with how great He is and how, even though things are not easy, they are Good. And how much He's been speaking to me. And really, it makes my heart full.
Okay, that's it for now. I am sure there were more, but really, you don't want to read any more, and I think I am going to go work on finishing the fifth library book before bed.
