Mini Vacations

Yesterday, a good friend reminded me in an email, “Billy take in deep breaths of that spruce scented high altitude air”, and we did.  Our morning walk around the Broadmoor Lake was filled with geese takeoffs and baby carriages.  An osteopathic conference at the hotel has drawn young physicians & student docs with their kids.  What a hoot for 2 Texans missing their grandkids.  The research on mini vacations is clear how they replenish our attention resources / energy.  Even short mini vacations at work (walks & me time) can replenish your brain, concentration and productivity.  Today is another mandatory play day for me in CO, and for you a few mini vacations at work!

Awfulizing

Monday I had my monthly cancer marker assessments and I’ve been watching for the results.  Years of a cancer survivor journey has taught me to step back from the anxiety of the wait and be mindful it is what it is.  Yesterday my travel case dropped off the back of my scooter into a puddle of water.  I got home and immediately we headed for the airport.  Arriving in Colorado I unpacked and found some papers and my travel drive was wet.  I started a scan on the disk and we headed to supper and a movie.  Back from supper I found everything worked, and dried the papers with a hairdryer.  Don’t awfulize your life away! 

Road Trips

On our family road trips my sister would get the whole back seat for I had claimed floorboard where I could play. Today I start a road trip and my 1st stop is Colorado Springs, where I run the Arts & Science of Health Promotion Conference http://www.healthpromotionconference.com/. Second stop Atlanta and the ACSM Fitness Summit http://www.acsm.org/attend-a-meeting/2014-health-fitness-summit-exposition, where I will teach for several days about worksite wellness. If you are attending either of these conferences I look forward to maybe a walk-n-talk. Not attending? What looks good on the agenda’s that maybe I could try to share? Remember it’s all about passing it on!

Saint Patrick's Day DNA

My great grandfather, Henry Baun, married Sarah Adaline Thompson in 1864;   Sarah was from Aghalee Antrim Ireland, a village in Northern Ireland. One summer we traveled to Ireland arriving as the cold winds ushered in dusk.  I stood on the cliffs of Blacksod Bay and watched the waves lick the rocky shoreline and slowly a warmth wrapped around my soul.  It was like I’d come home.  Sarah had died in Punxsutawney, PA in 1931, but the deep connection I felt with the cold wind, endless fields of green and gray mist, I had no doubt I’d brought Sarah home.  Last night, as I rode my scooter past the Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations in our little village, I could feel Sarah smile, today be more open to your ancestry DNA. 

Visits from Great Grandparents

I woke up last night and had an imagined conversation with my 3 year old grandson about his great grandparents.  “Your great grandmother was shorter and smaller than anyone else in the family, and her hair was like white fluffy clouds, she taught kindergarten, and loved poetry.  Your great grandfather had one of those smiles that made everyone else smile.  He worked around food all his life, running restaurants, warehouses, and the church kitchen.  When can they come over and play?  When you get a little older they’ll visit and tell you stories about when granddad was a little boy, just like I tell you about your dad.”  It’s the way love works through a spiritual presence that’s so very real. 

Memorable Conversations

Memorable conversations that we replay in our heads sometimes aren’t about what was said, but are about what wasn’t said.  It was an early morning goodbye, and after a short wave I watched the car grow smaller on my horizon.  I started running to catch one last glimpse, and felt the morning dew on my face turn to tears as the car disappeared.  Tears distorting an image in my mind’s eye, a keepsake painted on my soul forever.  Memorable conversations are never lost, just left behind, and not forgot.  Today make a memorable conversation. 

Love

My mother was always dying of cancer.  Mrs. Kirby’s family was two houses down, and she was like my 2^nd mom.  Her two boys were older and we didn’t have much in common, but she was so loving and caring, and helped me feel whole.  One trip back to Baton Rouge, when my kids were in middle school, I took them to Mrs. Kirby’s house.  I hadn’t seen her for many years, and there was an old woman in her front yard working on the azalea bushes.  She turned, smiled, and rushed over giving me a bear hug, “Billy!”  I introduced my wife and kids, as she hugged everyone, and her love was back, but then I realized it had never really left.  Today be grateful for love that’s shared and never lost.