Worth the Wait

Jace went on a Pathfinder campout this past weekend. It's been in the works for awhile and so, Roy and I, recognizing that we were going to have an entire 24 hours child-free, have schemed and planned and configured how we exactly wanted to spend that day.

Roy and I are rut-people. We do the same things day in and day out. Though Asheville has a plethora of restaurants, we traverse the same four or five options when we choose to go out and rarely try something new. In the evenings when the weather is behaving, we take the golfcart out for long rides around the "neighborhood." We take long naps when we should be taking long hikes. And we love the movie theater.

So when it comes to trying to figure out something new to do...well, we pretty much stink at it.

I was telling one of my co-workers that Roy and I had a whole day to ourselves and she immediately chimed in with You should go to Hot Springs and soak in the hot tubs. It's a beautiful drive and so relaxing!

Oh my word! That sounds amazing! And so, I googled it, read about it, shared the idea with Roy who readily agreed...

...for a minute.

But when it came right down to it, Roy isn't exactly a hot tub kind of guy. Soaking in natural springs up on the mountain where the air is crisp and the water warm just isn't his idea of a good time. And that's perfectly okay. This is why I have girlfriends.

And so, our day was spent in a typical Seals way. Nothing spectacular or different really. But it was a perfect kind of day and certainly worth the wait.

Last night, just about the time I was getting ready to go to bed, one of my best friends, Jacque, sent me a text: Does June 16-22 work for you?

Yes yes yes!!

Just as I felt sleep washing over me, my phone buzzed--one of those buzzes that lets me know I just got an email. I reached over to turn my sound off when I saw that the email was a flight itinerary from Jacque. She's coming to visit. I had a difficult time turning off the dreamworks in my head as I imagined driving to Greenville to pick her up and then talking and talking and talking and talking. Because that is exactly how it will be. Jacque has been a lifechanging force in my life. She is one of those people that everyone should have as a friend. She is that amazing.

Having Jacque here? Well, it will absolutely be worth the wait.

Today is my last day of work for the week as I have tomorrow off. Ah--a four day work week. That, my friends, is a beautiful thing. I enjoy weekends and days off as never before now that I have one of those regular jobs. I don't take time off for granted as I used to because time off is something to be cherished, to be savored. I have tossed around several different ideas for how I'm going to spend my Friday: shopping at the mall? just hanging at home and making for a really long day filled with hot teas and my book and Netflix and a long walk down Holcombe Cove Road? I'm still not sure as it all sounds good to me and the day is mine to do as I choose. And so, I want to choose carefully. I want to make it the best day off it can be.

Darian sent me a text last night that she and her friends may stop in on their way to Nosoca for the weekend. It will be a quick stop right at supper time and so, if they are able, I will throw together a quick meal so that the laughter of young people will fill my dining room before they head out for a weekend filled with campfires and boats on the lake and cabins filled wth little kids.

My day off just went up a notch.

Life is mostly regular--filled with the mundane. But in the midst of the washing dishes and folding laundry and working the job day after day after day are moments that are worthy of being soaked up, savored, remembered, cherished.

Moments that are worth the wait.