Falling for Fall Again

Last week I was fortunate enough to spend a week in NE while my mom began recuperating from knee surgery.  Here are some of my thoughts from the week.

I haven’t experienced real fall for more than a one day period in years.  If I was single and didn’t love my job I just may have stayed there permanently.  I forgot how beautiful the trees are with the warm glow of the sun peeking through the clouds and the feel of the crisp autumn air.  If I win the lottery someday my goal is to somehow live year-round in a fall setting.  For Mr. C’s sake I guess we can have 2 weeks of summer thrown in there as well and a bit of winter for Christmas.  I LOVE Christmas, but driving around looking at fall trees in red, yellow, and orange is even more exciting than looking at Christmas lights.

My hometown has a population of 20.000ish people.  It’s big enough that everyone doesn’t know everyone, but there’s definitely a sense of community.  People are friendly and a complete stranger will easily strike up a conversation.  People decorate their porches with pumpkins and scarecrows.  Yards are green and filled with beautiful flowers.  There’s a sense of pride in everything and Christian, family values.  The baggers at the local grocery store my mom frequents even carry the bags to your car automatically.   At lunch one day the server asked how my mom was doing because she remembered she had upcoming surgery.  I can’t say I’ve ever had that happen in Phoenix.

I’m used to a 40 minute drive to work so I’m still surprised when I can drive across town in 10 minutes when I’m home.  One day I went to lunch, Target, the mall for some clothes shopping, Target again, and two grocery stores, all in the span of 2 hours.  It was amazing. 

The longer I’m gone the more I appreciate the charming town where I was fortunate to be raised.  I appreciate the values, the slower pace, the hospitality and sense of community, and the beauty I was surrounded by for so long.

My parents live by a beautiful lake with a walking path.  I began most days with a morning walk.  Everyone says “good morning” and one morning an older woman stopped to have a conversation with me about the morning.  Those walks were amazing.  Everyday was different and I noticed a change in the colors of the trees during the week I was there.  I looked like a crazy person snapping pictures on my phone every 5 minutes.  One day I took 40 pictures (it’s only a 40 minute walk)!  The last day I begun my walk about 8am, the earliest I had started.  It was very cool and as I approached the perfectly still water I broke into a smile as I saw steam rising off the water.  It was one of the most peaceful moments I’ve had in awhile.  I stood there for a few minutes, thanked God, and continued on my walk. 

Although it’s hard to narrow down my pictures, here are a few of my favorites.

I truly was blessed to spend some time home.  I was able to spend time with a couple amazing friends, enjoy a much-needed break, see family and still be taller than my youngest niece for one more time, and watch my mom make some major progress!  My mom is always doing a lot for us when she visits whether it’s cleaning our windows because she feels like it or having dinner waiting for us, so it was nice being able to run errands, take her to PT, cook, and just be there to keep her company.  I’m glad to get back into my routine but I’ll miss my morning walks around the lake, the cool air, the fall leaves, watching TV and playing games with my mom, and dinner with NE friends.  I definitely will NOT miss the spiders that seemed to stalk me in the basement.

For now I’ll enjoy the cool-down in Phoenix and try to patiently wait for scarf weather.

The Big 3-0

I turned the big three-oh a couple weeks ago.  I’ve celebrated my 27^th birthday three times now, but this year I think it’s a little harder to deny that I am in fact moving from one age bracket to another.  The “2” candle I have no longer is applicable at the front portion of my age.  This is new territory.  This birthday has been a big one because last year the big 3-0 was looming and I felt like I was in the same place I had been at 24.

I graduated at a horrible economic time and I stayed in a low paying job for far too long (not that I’m quite raking it in now).  My car was readily falling apart, and although it wasn’t something we had ever wanted here before, we didn’t really have roots.  I’m shocked when I think about everything that’s happened this past year. 

I’m so grateful everytime I get into my grown-up car and still shocked that I get to drive it everyday.  I’ve now been at my “new” job for a year and I can’t imagine myself doing anything else.  We officially have roots and it’s a terrifying and great thing.  I know there’s a lot I don’t have, but mostly there’s a lot that I do.  I have what I need, some of what I want, and some of the best people in my life.  I feel like have some semblance of having at least part of my crap together, or poop in a group, as my dad likes to say.

I love lists and I really, really, really wanted to make a list of the 30 things I’ve learned in my 30 years, or the 30 things everyone should know, or something else related that would allow me to write another list.  One of the things I’ve learned in my 30 years is that you don’t always need a list though.

However, I have learned a few things that I’m going to share because, well, this is my blog and I can.

It’s important to take care of yourself.  I try to work out 4-5 times a week because it makes me feel better. It’s an added bonus if I lose a couple pounds, but that’s no longer my focus.  I get crazy excited when my average resting heart rate is lower than the typical average.  We’re probably spending too much money on food but it’s real, healthy food, and it was totally worth trading in our froyo budget for legit food.  What goes into your body has a direct impact on so many aspects of your life.  Sleep is also a part of that, but I haven’t quite caught onto the sleep thing yet.  I’ll work on that during the next 10 years so I have something to write about when I hit 40 (that sentence almost gave me a panic attack btw – just realizing that 40 is only a short 10 years away). 

To add to that, I also think it’s important to be just as critical of the products going on my body as the food going in it.  I look for products that are natural if possible or at least void of parabens, sulfates, and some other nasty chemicals.  I think it’s important to support companies that offer products that aren’t polluting our world and treating it as disposable.

Next lesson - Toxic people are simply not worth it.  It’s hard and it hurts cutting off some relationships, but sometimes it has to be done.  There’s a point where it’s no longer possible to stick around being a good friend when it’s tearing you apart.  It’s hard to make that decision though to let go.   There are other relationships that just fall apart due to time, distance, or growing apart, and sometimes they’re worth fighting for with everything you have.    I’ve learned to tell the difference and grieve the friendships that just weren’t meant to be. 

There are things that have to be done because that’s just how life goes, but there’s a lot that doesn’t.  Don’t feel like going out?  Then don’t!  Don’t feel like calling the car saleslady back?  Block her number (possibly not the best decision, but it was effective)!.  Don’t feel like going to bed at a reasonable hour?  Then stay up and continue watching youtube videos of Jimmy Fallon and his lip syncing battles or those cute little ducks.  Don’t feel like cleaning the kitchen or even the house for a week?  It’s cool – the house will still be standing and the kitchen will not be invaded by roaches, not even one.

Don’t apologize for who you are (unless you have legit issues that need attending to).  I’m at a point where I feel more comfortable in my own skin than I ever have (my hair is much better too!).  I know what I like and I love that I finally do.  I’m an alt music loving girl who watches too much TV, has never met a cardigan she didn’t want, is an obsessive organizer, takes her own grocery bags everywhere, gets more excited about a new washer than the Kate Spade purse that was crazy on sale at the outlet, loves Jesus, bright colors, her family, her grumpy cat, the little dog that she’ll always call a puppy, and the boy she fell in love with when she was 17.  I don’t have everything all figured out but what I have is enough and that’s what I’m focusing on as I enter this new frontier of the thirties. 

I’m still in a bit of denial that I’m really 30, however when I look at how far I’ve come from my ideas, opinions, beliefs, and dreams at 20, I think that it must be true.  Maybe by the time I’m 40 I’ll have really figured everything out, but I won’t hold my breath!