So here I sit in a beautiful hotel room in Steamboat, Colorado. Charles and my in-laws are out for a mountain top (literally) church service and lunch. What’s the problem? Well, I’ve been healthy for the past, oh, 12 months? I’ve been pushing my body to its limit with exercise, running my own business 24/7, and I’ve been thankful to be healthy. So, my body hears that we’re going on vacation and the adrenaline rush that is my life lets up and give way to all of the sickness it has been fighting off, because vacation means rest, right?
We barely slept Friday night because we packed until the early morning, and had to get up early to catch our plane. We then traveled a total of 8 hours between two planes and a shuttle bus ride. Last night, all four of us slept in the same room because we didn’t get into the separate rooms until today, and so between the snoring, and the random noises in the night that you experience in a new place, and with new people in your room, Charles and I barely slept last night.
So, finally, my cold has settled into my chest, and I sound like I have bronchitis when I cough, and feel just about as bad. So, I’m in today. No snowboarding, no mountain top experiences for me. I’m hoping one day of rest will be enough to cure me for the week.
So, while I sit indoors drinking decaf coffee on a beautiful sunny 21degree Colorado day, I figured I should update my blog. Here’s the view from out our window.
Lets go back to Christmas…My Dad and Patricia flew down for Christmas Eve and Day, and then headed back home, and boy, it’s good they did because we couldn’t keep up with them! We had just finished a really hectic photo season, even doing a photo shoot right before going to pick them up at the airport. So, we pick them up and Sunday morning took them to church. Then we hiked up Kennesaw Mountain, joined our life group for dinner and games Sunday night.
Then, after leaving life group, they said, okay, show us some Christmas lights, or downtown or something. So, we drove 30 minutes to Centennial Olympic Park, and walked around there. My stupid foot was bothering me, so my Dad said he’d carry me on his back, and I was thinking piggy back. He put me all the way up on his shoulders and started strolling around as if the extra adult on his back was no big deal. Let me tell you, kids are short, so they can hang onto your head or something. I was like 10 feet tall up there, and had nothing to hold onto. It was a little scary, and yet, a ton of fun because it felt like a kid riding around on my Dad’s shoulders.
We took them up the glass elevator to the rotating room at the top of the Westin, and just enjoyed some time together. Then on the way home they said, so do you know of any more Christmas lights? So, we detoured to Life College to see the “Lights of Life” but it was so late at that point that even they had shut down. So, feeling like we were carting around a pair of teenagers, we finally convinced them to go home.
Christmas morning we were going to cook brunch, but decided to give my Dad and Patricia the Waffle House experience. We went home and opened presents with Gordy going around helping to tear paper, and presents and plenty of things he wasn’t supposed to bite into.
We played with Photo Booth and took a bunch of silly pictures.
In the afternoon, we had about 14 people over from our church. Patricia helped a ton with preparations, and Meredith and Mary had prepared stockings for all of our guests, so the day was actually very enjoyable. Dad ran out to pick up a stocking for Mike’s brother who at the last minute decided to join us. It was sad to see them leave after such a short visit, but it was wonderful to have them visit and see our house, and meet our friends and of course Gordy, who fell in love with my Dad who introduced him to bananas.
Gwennan got bored and called a few of her friends.
Then, our traveling began. Just a few days later, we flew up to Newark, borrowed a car from my Dad and drove up to New
Hampshire to visit with my college friends who all get together for New Years. We were only there for 2 1/2 days, and it took a full day and a half to get over my general exhaustion from the holidays and traveling, and the shock of being in the same room with all of these people who I hadn’t seen for 5 years.
Cheri and Joe had a baby girl Ava this year, and Tee had a little boy named Asher.
Cat looked stunningly beautiful, and then we found out that she was glowing because she is in love. It was really good to reconnect. I even got to meet people who I had gone to college with and never really met.
New Years Day we were driving back to New Jersey for a Christmas/ Birthday celebration with Charles’ family.
We got to visit with Jon and Rebecca Post and their new baby Emma.
Then we celebrated Christmas with Pete, Heather, Hailey, and my mom who was Hailey’s favorite person that night! We gave Hailey a dress up kit, which Peter really liked…and so did Hailey.
I drove down to the shore twice to visit with my Nana who was hospitalized again for pneumonia. She is doing much better now.
At the end of the week, we drove to south Jersey to photograph Corrie & Josh’s wedding. This is the 3rd wedding we have photographed for this family, so we felt right at home with them and really enjoyed our time with them. We got to stay overnight with Bill & Evelyn Olsen, my high school friend Sonya’s parents. Bill has been in ministry for years, and was very excited to talk to Charles about his ministry.
By the time we headed back to Atlanta, we were ready to curl up for a long winters nap. But unfortunately, work wouldn’t let us, and we had to jump right back into a pretty hectic schedule. I think that was really hard for me, and I found myself depressed most of January, which is pretty unusual for me. Feeling lonely, bored, and hectic all at the same time. I think I had expected January to be a time of rest and regrouping, and I came back to find a ton of work still on top of me.
And that is why it has taken a sick vacation day to tell you all of this.
