sweet indulgence

Kat and I are sitting on our side porch. The twinkle lights are sparkling dimly and the doors and side window are open. The odd bird in our backyard is attempting to be a part of the scenery as well. Ray Lamontagne beckons in the background and slowly and unsteadily the rain comes. I just ate my favorite - Chicken tortilla soup for lunch. Maybe it isnt truly cold enough to thoroughly enjoy the soup but it works. I am not sure what time it is. Kat isnt even acting like I am here. She is in her world on her couch and I am in mine.
My perfect afternoon is followed by an exquisite day in God's Country yesterday. We drove the backroads to Athens and what was deemed a gloomy day of football turned into a perfectly sunny afternoon. I ran into most of my favorite people including Charlsie and my brothers, Matt and Carter. I ate barbecue and enjoyed watching all the undergrads sport their newest Red and Black find. Despite the terrible display of football, the Dawgs pulled out the victory and honestly, the rush of adrenaline while clutching the win in the last 90 seconds of the game was a good rush to my body. I need more of that. To top it all off I dined at one of my favorite restaurants: Last Resort. I had black bean crepes, vidalia bacon dressing and fish in parchment - all of my all time favorites list. I was even treated to this dinner which makes it all the more tasty.
Why would I take anytime to tell you all the petty details of this weekend? It's the little things that make the big things all the much sweeter. It's squeezing every drop of goodness out of every detail of life. It's allowing all five of your senses to take part in the sweet indulgence of everyday life. It's truly stopping long enough and turning the phone off in order to truly be in the moment. Last weekend at the trip to Sharp Top Cove with my highschoolers, the theme among rolling hills and winding streams and a beautiful lake was to 'breathe.' I was surely able to sit and breathe and relax among that setting. I knew on the drive home though that it is never as easy to find tranquility - and I am not even talking silence but just overall tranquility - when you live 7 minutes from the heart of a bustling city and you are in your mid-twenties with a whole lot of 'you' and a whole lot of 'world' to discover. This week, though, I was able to. It was a crazy week at work no doubt but in a peculiar way - I didnt feel in control and I loved it. Then, this weekend where normally I pack something into every hour, I truly relinquished the pressure to be everywhere at once. I decided last weekend that I would try to be in one moment when I am there and only be in that moment. What a relief! How invigorating to fully engage in each thing and not jump from one thing to the next.
And now in this moment, it is time for a nap. The rain just started a little harder and there is nowhere else I would rather be.