Going Strong

So, Tim gave me some roses, the day before Valentine's Day, which was also the start of our February Break from school. Today is the final day of that break, and I have to say, I am amazed that those roses are still going strong. Other things these days seem to require a substantial bit of work, patience, and maintenance, but those roses are just sitting there, looking pretty, and I am so appreciative of them for the message they send me. Every time I walk by them there's a little jolt, a little reminder, that life is beautiful, life is just fine.

At the beginning of this break, we were so excited to be heading off on a little mini trip, a just the two of us trip, to a beautiful romantic hotel, with a fireplace, and a jacuzzi, in the old town area of Montreal. The week before break, though, I was shot, tired, feeling like crap. I went to bed at 8pm one night, feeling achey in particular on my right side. I woke up the next day with a tell tale rash wrapped around my torso. I had shingles. Seriously. Who does that? Well, me apparently. The stress of life got to me, and broke out right along my side. I went to the doctor, had the rash confirmed, and got started on some meds.

Needless to say, disappointment set in as I was rather uncomfortable, certainly feeling unattractive, and semi down for the count due to medication side effects. Our trip was off. We still sent the kids off to stay with their grandparents for a few days, but we ended up just staying home. Not in a romantic hideaway out of the country, but at home, again, on a "stay-cation," which was exactly what we wanted to avoid. We have had so much stress over our house the last 6 months, through a remodel, decorating, and tweaking things that pop up, that we just wanted to escape it. We wanted to run away from the stress, but the stress found us, nailed us down, and forced us to face the place that has been driving us a little bit mad.

Our "stay-cation" started out, and we slept a lot, both of us. We slept away illness, and medication, and we slept away stress. We both slept, we both recharged. We watched a LOT of Netflix. And when I was feeling better, we did get out and adventure a bit. We didn't cook. We let restaurants do that for dinner, and we ate the leftovers on the couch the next day, with a little more Netflix.

Ed Sheeran's new album kind of was a backdrop soundtrack, and one day, listening to the song "Thinking Out Loud," I found myself taking in the lyrics ..."we found love right where we are"...I realized what a truth it is. We faced a big old bummer, but made the most of it. And you know, when I look back, this was really one of the nicest breaks we have ever had. We had time for ourselves and we didn't overdo it, we didn't make it more than it needed to be. We just had a break. The kids did too. And going back to school and work tomorrow doesn't sound all that bad to me. I'm rested, healed. We, and I, like those roses, are going strong.