It was my second consecutive long weekend away. (My cats are not impressed.) I headed to my parents' house in Ames Thursday night after work. First on the agenda were dinner and ice cream with my mom (my dad was off on a fishing trip), and then we returned to watch some TV. I love hanging out with my mom. We talk a lot on the phone, but it's good to have come face time too.
Friday, I slept in as late as my body would let me. These days, that's not very late. I woke up at 7 a.m. and again at 8:30, but managed to stay in bed until 10. There's a good reason for this late sleeping, I promise. And I'll get to that. Then, I headed to Des Moines to pick up a prize at a radio station, have lunch and get my car serviced. My best friend, Jamie, came to hang out with me at the car dealership while Ribbie (my car) got a much-needed oil change and tire rotation. We chatted, and she told me she'd bought third row seats for Michael Buble earlier that day. I was jealous. I've been eyeing that show for awhile, but hadn't pulled the trigger on a ticket. I got on my smartphone and checked out what kind of seat I could pull up. Second row. Sold. I cannot wait to see him Thursday night, even though it means another late night drive. You only live once, right?
After Ribbie was cleaned and ready to go, I headed up the familiar stretch of Highway 141 to Perry for the Relay For Life of Northern Dallas County. This was my eighth year participating in Relay For Life, and I look forward to it every year. It was great to be back in Perry, seeing so many of the people I miss from there. I only moved away a few months ago, but as some of you probably know, life can change so much in such a short time, and, indeed some of my friends are going through some life changes. It was good to catch up with them. I had plenty of time too. I was at the track from about 4 p.m. Friday until 7 a.m. the next morning.
Awake for all of it, and walking or moving about for most of it. Crazy? Maybe. But when you see cancer survivors ...
... and later hear a list of people who have lost their battle with cancer ...
... a night of no sleep doesn't seem like such a big deal. A little exhaustion is nothing compared to what those people have gone through, and I will continue to fight until there are more survivors and less victims of this horrible disease.
Saturday morning, I crashed on a friend's couch for a few hours (about three, to be exact), and then made the 45-minute drive to my parents' house in Ames. The drive seemed to wake me up a lot, and I got a bit of a second wind. A shower and some food helped even more. My mom and I ran errands and welcomed my dad home. We had a great dinner of fish from my dad's trip and watched TV the rest of the evening. I struggled to stay awake, but I was determined not to mess up my sleep schedule too much after Relay.
Today, we took my dad out to lunch, and then I headed back home. It was a great weekend, but it always feels good to be home again. I could probably have gone to bed at seven, but I'm doing some laundry and catching up on my DVR before I crawl into my bed.
Life is so good right now. I have a crazy busy summer ahead, and sometimes I wonder if I'm overdoing it. But then I remember the winter will be long and cold, and I figure I'll have plenty of time to be a hermit when there's snow on the ground. Until then, I'm going to enjoy life, family and friends.
your weekend sounds lovely and all nighters are hard. but i agree, when in a setting like that, you can't help but be thankful that you are there to pull that all nighter.
ReplyDeleteVery cool that you did Relay for Life. It sounds like a great weekend. You'll never remember the times you got a good night's sleep anyway!
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