Staycation Investments

It might seem like I haven't been working this summer but that's not true. I did work for a few days but I'll be honest, nothing remarkable with POTUS was going on. Now a couple of weeks later, I can't even remember what he was doing. I think a lot had to do with negotiations on the debt ceiling behind closed doors. Since the debt ceiling and deficit reduction may be the some of the driest topics on earth, I'll skip that discussion and let you know about the things that really matter from the past few weeks.

When there are no breaking news stories and no exciting presidential events, it's a good time to stop and reflect on life in general and in the past two weeks, I've had several opportunities to focus on just that. To me, more than votes in Congress and speeches by POTUS, friendships and relationships are so much more crucial and I've been blessed to be reminded of their importance.
On July 4th, I had the American privilege of working while everyone else and their brother hung out at the pool. It wasn't too bad actually. Working holidays is one of the downsides of working in the news business but somehow I managed! :) Actually work went by without incident and the real fun was ready to begin!

Brian's family was in town and our first event was to see the fireworks on the National Mall. Being there is perhaps one of the top patriotic places to be for the Fourth! While it might be unpatriotic to admit, but being on the National Mall is not my favorite place to be on the 4th. I've done it before but I'm not a fan of the crowds and the excessive heat but this time it wasn't so bad. Maybe it was because it had been about a decade since my last excursion to the Mall or maybe it was because I was with Brian and his family but I had a great time. The fireworks were awesome and it was a great moment.

On Tuesday, I had the day off to play tourists with Brian's family- his parents, one brother, his aunt and uncle and one of his cousins. I had met his aunt, uncle, and cousin for the first time on Monday but they already felt like they were my family too. They are so great!! We had such a blast together and had a busy day which included breakfast at my house, a trip to the Air and Space Museum (out at Dulles), lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, a quick tour of the White House, a stop by the Pentagon Memorial and the Air Force Memorial, and a cookout at Brian's place. Just spending quality time with his family was one of the most wonderful ways I could have spent the day off.

They left on Wednesday but it was only a quick break before my sister and BIL and nieces came on Saturday. They were just passing through town on the way home from their vacation and were planning on staying one night.

But I just so happened to be off work the entire next week. I was taking a staycation and didn't have any specific plans. I figured I would sleep in and come up with a plan each morning. Maybe I would stop by my church and help with VBS or maybe I would meet up with some friends I hadn't seen. I really had left it unplanned on purpose.

Well, Laura suggested that they could just stay and hang out with me. I love my family to pieces. I really do. But spending a week with them at my house is not exactly relaxing. So I told my sister I would love for them to stay for a couple of days and then I could resume my staycation. I think some of the best things in life are unplanned.

Laura and the girls stayed with me until Wednesday and we had so much fun together. We couldn't really go outside because it was so hot and Raygan had an ear infection so the pool was out of the question but we played and played and played some more. We threw a tea party for my pastor's wife, Audrey, to come to.

We cooked! Cayton even cooked for Brian and I one night. We played Princess Bingo (Bri Bri played too!) We shelled peas and snapped beans from the garden. It was a busy time but such a wonderful time to invest in those lives of my cute nieces and spend quality time with my sister. Brian came over each night to hang out with us and we all had a great time! We also went to the National Air and Space Museum (yes, that's right. I'd never been there before and I went twice in one week!) before driving them to meet up with George in Harrisonburg. As soon as I got home, my house was eerily quiet. There was not constant motion and the sound "Beck Beck" every few seconds. I immediately missed them!! But I'm so thankful for that time together!!

I almost immediately started the rest of my staycation where I wanted to meet up with as many friends and spend quality time catching up. In the next five days, I was able to see eight different friends who all have special meaning in my life. I am blessed because I have a bunch more on that list that I didn't get to see!

On Wednesday night, I had dinner with Jennifer who I used to work with. She was one of the first people I met when I interned for my network 14 years ago. She work together for years and would have nightly chats to debrief about each others' days at the end of workday. She left my company about seven years ago and boy have I missed those 6 o'clock chats. Every time we get together, we could chat for hours and hours about life. She's one of those people who we don't have to see each other on a frequent basis and we can just pick right back up from where we started. She's moving across country in the relatively near future and I will just miss her to pieces. I'm glad we got to hang out and hopefully we'll get to do that again at least once before her move.

On Thursday, I chilled out at my house for approximately 30 minutes before I figured out what my plan was. I saw on FB that my friend Lesley was on bedrest at home following having her appendix taken out. So I thought a visit was a must! Lesley is a friend from church who went with me to Azerbaijan a few years ago. She's such an encouragement to me and a tremendous example of how to walk with Christ so I knew spending time with her is always a great idea. We hadn't seen each other in months and had a wonderful time catching up on life. We ate lunch and laughed- maybe a little too hard! (Sorry Lesley if you damaged your incision from laughing too much!) I am so grateful that God has allowed our paths to cross and I leave each encounter with her just encouraged about life in general!

Thursday night, I had dinner with my friends Tatiana and Paige. These ladies are also from my church and were in my Bible study last year. I consider them to be true answers to prayer. I was praying for a Christian friend who was about my age and in the same stage of life as me with whom I could have a healthy friendship. I don't remember exactly how it all unfolded but I met Tatiana and she asked me to join her Bible Study and we became fast friends! We roomed together on a ladies' retreat and had a blast. We're only nine days apart in age and she's one of those people who it seems like I've known a lot longer than a year and a half. I truly view her as a specific answer to prayer and God blessed me beyond what I was expecting with her friendship. Paige was one of the girls in the Bible Study who I just enjoyed spending time with and studying God's word together. We had several challenging discussions in that group and ended our study with a new set of friendships. The three of us had a great time eating Mexican food and catching up on life.

On Friday, I got to spend most of the day with Sherry, my good friend and our church's organist. She had convinced me to play a piano duet in church on Sunday so we had some practicing to do. Actually, I had some practicing to do. Sherry is one of the most talented people I know. She can play the piano (and organ), carry on a conversation, and complete a number of other tasks like finding a toy for her little girl: all at the same time. She doesn't need to practice because she's just that good. But I, on the other hand, have played the piano in public only a few times so I need LOTS of practice. We did a little practicing but we did a lot more just hanging out! Sherry has three kids who I just adore (almost as much as my own nieces and nephew!) and we had fun playing HORSE in the driveway and just being silly! Sherry is a true gem and I am so grateful for her friendship throughout the years. She's another one who just holds me accountable and encourages me every time we're hanging out!

Over the weekend, Brian and I headed to his grandpa's farm to do a little farming. I'll be honest, he was farming. I was relaxing. But in the course of the day, I got to meet up with Missy or Melissa as she is known now. Missy is one of the girls from college who is part of every girls' weekend or trip. She just moved to Richmond to start campus ministry at the University of Richmond. Since we haven't had a girls' weekend this year, I've really been missing my girls so any time I can see even one of them, it's a great thing. Missy moved to Richmond less than a month ago and we hadn't had a chance to catch up in months. So we chatted for a long time (we could really chat for days on end if we had the time) and had a lovely lunch catching up. I've been friends with Missy for 15 years and I've always appreciated her friendship for so many ways! I'm truly blessed by her and wish for much success in her new job! I know she'll rock!

Finally on Sunday, I had dinner with two friends from high school, Shannon and Jodie. Jodie lives in DC with her husband and two adorable kids. Shannon was in town visiting from Memphis. I've known these gals since the sixth grade! And while we don't see each other very often, it's just like old times when we get together. Poor Brian was such a trooper to sit through our reminiscing about who was who in high school!! We had such a great time and it was so wonderful to catch up! I was honored to be on Shannon's list of people to see while she was in town!!

I headed back to work on Monday and honestly felt refreshed. Not so much because I had been relaxing all week. In fact, I never felt like I had stopped minus my Sunday afternoon nap! But because I realize how blessed I am to have these ladies and so many others in my life! I might need to take a leave of absence from work just to spend quality time with the amazing friends God has placed in my life!