Weekend recap: {nostalgia} Part I

Oh, Weekend,

I don't even know where to start with you.  You were so much needed, and while not incredibly far planned out, you came right on the heels of a heartbreak that I needed to get away from.  I may not have known that you were planned for me, but He sure did.

{pin}



What a great time to be surrounded by friends and family, old and new, food, sunshine, warmth, music,  beautiful nature, creativity, words, pictures {oh there are pictures} and ...a few compliments about me, observations people have made about me {from the outside looking in} that were great affirmations that I needed to hear.

Where to start?   Well from the begining of course.  It was nostalgic, it was an adventure, and like any good adventure, it is a small chronicle

{as my childhood friend would come to find out I am a chronicler of happenings, a keeper of memories, a documentarian with an itchy shutter finger and a head full of adjectives}. 

So we shall do this in parts. 



{above: circa 198?/below: Thursday}



Let's start with:



Part I

Thursday: 



I actually wrote about Thursday last week.  It was the beginning of this long adventure. 

you could read about it {here}

lunch with my dear, sweet relatives

shopping to feed the invisible army I imagine lives in my house

reuniting of long-time friends

family dinner read: comedy



{that's my sister, she came over to my house and made us dinner...awww}



a homecooked meal

and although my sister {fabulous cook and hottie that she is} refused to get in the picture(s) that I insisted on taking of her, I got her in my kitchen cooking us dinner!

dinner by candlelight on the back patio

late night stories with old friends

and, finally...4am





Friday:



Reunited with, Sleep, elusive, yet beautiful thing you...we meet again

{baked brie & honey}

a mid-afternoon lunch 

read: baked brie on the patio downtown in the sunshine

a little trip about town for the friend who hadn't been back in quite some time

shopping for what was supposed to be a flag pole for the 4th of July, but turned out to be a bar of dark chocolate, go figure

Magic Mike {need I say more?}



{Mike, we are waiting for the Magic!!}

Ross {as in Dress for Less, not the Friends character} - read: treasure hunt



{I love Ross Stores, it's a treasure hunt, but oh, the treasures I found, new dresses, some new shades, something nautical, something teal, something lacy, a painted bowl for the kitchen, a tisket, a tasket, a white & yellow basket ...}



went to work {let's pause here, yes, it happened, my friend came to visit me and then came to work with me for 2 hours.  Nothing happened, it was a boring little trip to the office, but just long enough of a breather to plot out our next adventure for the night}



which was nearly by accident as a friend told us about another friend who was singing at a local bar and so our next event was a town over in a seedy bar

{mmm...seedy bars, cheap drinks, and good friends, sign us up!]



{small towns, where he local police escort windmill sails over railroad tracks and down Main St at midnight}



As we strolled in to the bar {after wandering lost up & down the tiny postage stamp sized downtown area in just a town over} I was greeted unexpectedly by friends shouting my name "Lolo!!!" as we strolled through the open door.



{$4 total for a pint of Blue Moon & a vodka/cranberry?!   Say what?  Glenda said "at this price,we're sleeping in your car, these are the cheaptest drinks ever!!!}

We made the rounds and introduced her to him and him to her and her to her and, and, and...someone had already made an introduction saying about me,



"I just live through her, through her adventures, she's invovled in everything, just always on the go, lives every moment, has the best travels, the tattoos, sees the greatest things, I just follow her on Facebook everyday, this girl has the best life..." 

{insert look of wonder}

I do?

I just looked at her in a little bit of amazment, smiling, but bewildered:

"Really?  that's so sweet, but it's not all fun & games, it's a struggle lately, it's really not been easy for the last few weeks.  It's been hard to stay postive."

She just looked at me not understanding at all what I was saying.

{insert her look of wonder}

"I'm guess I am always going, but it's to keep busy.  I'm chronically single and currently heartbroken.  I guess I keep busy and keep going to fill up the extra time. I do, I have fun, but I watch you too.  I watch you with your kids and your hubby.  I watch you always making time to run and improve your times.  I guess I just do what I do cause that's what I have right now."

*shrugs*

...it made me think...

I know that I have really, really, great things and people in my life, I live in a place where I am free to be what I want to be, do what I want to do, and exist without fear.

While I'm am definitley not boasting about what what I have in excess and I am being constantly reminded to live in this day, not in the past, or the future, but still, hearing that from a friend of mine that she lives vicariously through me, well...damn. 

It was just an unexpected reality check. Not the first, not the last, but one that I need. 

This life has no guarantees. 

The people and opportunities placed in our lives are not by coincidence and while I believe in fate and karma, and yes, God's plan, but I think that we are responsible for making the best and most out of what we've been given.  We ARE given a choice. 

We still have to have courage and sometimes take a leap of faith.

Maybe that's why my camera is always out or I am always thinking of how to translate my days into words to share with someone else?

To share the things that I've been gifted with. 

The messages throughout, the once in a lifetime moments that I know I won't have again.

We didn't actually end up sleeping in my car, the drinks weren't that tempting, and In 'N Out was calling our names.  We headed home and stopped off in the drivethru.  As we sat there waiting for our food, and as I took a second glance in my rear-view mirror, my DAD sitting right behind us was looking at my license plate to confirm it was me ahead of him.

"Hey! That's my dad behind us!!"

(anyone knowing the struggle him & I have been through in the last year, would smile at my exuberant reaction)

I tried to jump out to say hi to him, but I was trapped in by being too close to the building.  Much to the amusment of the cashier, I couldn't squeeze my booty through the tiny opening my driver's side door left me. 

I did the next best thing: I paid for his meal and send my childhood friend out to go see him.

"Do you remember me?!"

"Of course I do, but I've been keeping up with you girls on Facebook, should you even be driving?"

Haaaa!!!  Yup, my dad, 72 years young is tracking me on Facebook. 

Oh nostaligia...

there's still Part II

xo ~ Lauren