Thanksgiving: Escaping to Palm Springs
I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of love, family, friends, and laughter. Due to the wonderful fact that my parents do not enjoy spending any form of holiday in the cold and grey we spent our holiday in the sun and warmth of Palm Springs, CA.
This vacation came at just the right time as it was a prefect response to the devastating wind storm Spokane experienced the Tuesday prior. While we personally were blessed to not experience any damage we had been out of power since Tuesday the 17th at 5 pm and it would not return until the next Wednesday. With temperatures beginning to consistently drop below the 20s it was mighty cold and dark in our house; a flight to Palm Springs was the perfect escape.
Sunshine, summertime, and family is a blessed way to spend Thanksgiving. With no concrete plans besides Brandon and my dad golfing, making sure that happy hour was ready when they got back, sitting in the sun, sleeping in, working out, reading, and cooking dinners it was hard to not relax.
Brandon and my dad golfed five out of the seven days we where there getting the chance to experience a multitude of courses ranging from Gary Player courses to country clubs and the hotels own Pete Dye course. He was literally in heaven!
So while my wonderful husband had the trip of his life I had the most relaxing trip I've had in a while. Read two books, sat in the sun, worked out twice a day, and even took a chance and went running!
I even got the husband to go running with me one day, which is a feat in itself.
It felt fantastic to be running again. Thanks to the holding pattern I have been in waiting to determine what is wrong with my left hip I have not run since the Portland Marathon. While technically I probably shouldn't have run, you can chastise me under your breath, I just couldn't help it. With the sun shining, warm air, and all the time in the world running was all I wanted to do. So I kept it slow and short not allowing myself to go under 8 min miles and no more the 5 ish miles each time.
It was such a blessing to be able to run again, and while it was not pain free it was doable. The fact that I did not wake up the next morning after running feeling as though I was hit by a bus, merely a small car, gave me hope that maybe it is not a tear. By focusing on keeping my stride true, keeping the pace slower, and not running multiple days in a row I was able to log a joyful 15 miles in this past week!
On top of running, lifting, golfing, and getting pedicures with my mom and sister we did a lot of walking for it was impossible to stay inside with the sun shining.
For Thanksgiving we were blessed to be able to make our own traditional turkey dinner in which we stuffed our faces with a 13 lb turkey, stuffing, potatoes, roasted vegetables, and cranberry sauce. This ability to make our own dinner and enjoy the holiday as we like to were not the only blessings to be thought of that day:
1. Being with my family: I am blessed to be a part of a family that even at the ages we are now enjoys traveling together. 2. My husband: As many of you know I can speak all day for how thankful I am to be married to the man I am. 3. Sunshine and Warmth: I am blessed to be able to travel to the beautiful places I get to. 4. My In-laws: I am blessed to be able to call my in laws my second family and thankful for them allowing their son to have married into my family. 5. Running and my health: While I am a bit in a holding pattern on being able to push my body as I would like, I am beyond grateful for the fact that I was able to run, I have my health, and a strong body and mind in which to push it eventually.
Thankfully we returned to our home on Saturday with power fully restored, heat on, and a puppy who was over joyed at our presence.
I leave you today with my glass raised and the prayer that your holiday was wonderful! CHEERS!!
