My company gave everyone a half day on Friday so we could all have self care time. It was a lovely surprise and I spent the time cleaning and journaling. That’s kind of self-care, right? If my home is clean I feel a lot more at peace. Regardless what I did with the time, I do appreciate my company giving us that time, it was really nice. In the evening, Elisabeth and I met up with Kayla at Ketring Park. This is the park that Kaitlin and I went to last June with Emily and Ollie. I find it curious that I went to that park just over a year apart. If you click the link to see that blog post, check out the baby faces of the kids, oh how they’ve changed in a year, I am fascinated. The whole farm part was closed due to covid so we walked around the perimeter which was also beautiful. We found a nice picnic table in a grassy part of the park and plopped ourselves down for the evening.
What I thought was going to be a fun evening of friends visiting was actually a sad evening of Kayla telling us she is moving to Oregon. I felt very sad. I love this young woman and knowing that I won’t be able to see her in person as often as I’d like is heartbreaking. And while I do feel incredibly sad, I also know that this move is exactly what Kayla needs and it’s going to help her grow and be happy. She’s really going to flourish there, I can just tell, and knowing that makes her move a tiny bit less painful. That, and she promises we’ll always be friends and we’ll stay in touch all the time, so that helps ease the pain as well.
Life is painful. But it’s painful because of love, and love is something I am not willing to give up.
Yesterday I tried on the majority of my clothes and took pictures in all the different outfit combinations that I had. I wanted to see how I looked in my clothes and figure out how many different outfits I actually have. Through the process (which took a couple hours, and I didn’t think I had that many clothes to start with, geeze). I got rid of a handful of items, which I’m proud of and somewhat surprised by. And after moving those items to the donate pile, I still have 37 outfits that I can make. I’m feeling like I’m pretty set. I might buy a couple more pieces, like a long sleeved white shirt I like better than my current one, but I don’t think I’ll need to buy a lot. Over and over again these past few months I keep thinking how I can minimize the amount of items I own so everything I have is meaningful and useful to me. It might be a lifetime process but it’s worth it for sure.
While I was snapping pictures of my outfits, Elisabeth was making homemade biscotti! I didn’t think I was going to be a huge fan, mostly because I don’t love almond flavored baked goods, but holy moly hers came out wonderfully tasty. They’re almost dangerously tasty and the only thing that’s keeping me from eating them all is because I know Elisabeth likes them in her tea and she has tea every day. So I might have to beg her for the recipe so I can make my own batch and gobble them down.
In the afternoon I went over to Kaitlin’s to help watch over the kids while Kaitlin and Kevin cleaned and organized. ‘Tis the time for spring cleaning! Emily and Ollie tired me out almost immediately and I did very little movement, but that’s life with children that young I think. While Emily and I were playing, I asked her how old her duck family was and she responded with, “4, 10, and the momma is 46.” I was surprised she knew the number, 46, so I asked her what was the biggest number she knew and she thought for a moment and responded, “12.” Hahaha, kids are hilarious.
Ollie and I had a blast playing with a whistle Emily found and at dinner he kept hugging my arm and eventually climbed onto my lap to hang out with me while I finished eating. He’s saying more words now which makes me think he’ll be talking in full sentences before I know it.
At the end of the day, Kevin gave me Ollie’s old dinosaur lamp for me to take home! It’s currently sitting on one of the end tables by the couch but I might figure out if it’ll fit in my bathroom, since my bathroom is dinosaur themed. I’m not too sure how that’ll work but I can at least try. I think it could look great in a cubby bookshelf too, surrounded by plants. I don’t know how I’d do that right now but for the future perhaps. Basically, the lamp is going to look great wherever it goes and yes, I am 31 years old, sue me if I have a little fun every now and then. ;P
Just Lauren 