It’s been a long time since I’ve written anything here, and for that, my loyal followers (!!), I do apologize! But I do have good reasons….or, at least I think I do. It’s been a whirlwind summer. Summers usually are when you live somewhere like Edmonton, where the season is so short you feel like you are “wasting” a beautiful day if you do anything indoors or chore-like (seriously, my house went un-cleaned from May to September).
Part of me thinks I didn’t get much done this summer, which is why I am feeling the need to provide some thoughtful reflection on it right now. Scott calls this “seeing the forest through the trees” – I’ve been so busy looking at and climbing each tree, that I didn’t notice the scope or breadth of the forest within which I have been playing. So, here we go – a careful examination to better see my forest this summer.
May
1. Visit from one of my best friends, along with attending her stagette;
2. First triathlon of the season (and let’s not forget all the training!) – Coronation. 1000 m swim, 24 km bike and 8 km run;
3. Wedding dress shopping (time consuming!).
June
1. MS bike tour – 180 km ride over two days (I raised nearly $1500 this year, so let’s not forget the fundraising efforts…plus the training!);
2. 16-day trip to Germany which included a wedding, cycling 200 km along the Romantic Road and many other amazing experiences.
July
1. Great White North – half ironman. 2 km swim (my first in open water), 90 km bike and 21 km run. Biggest athletic accomplishment of my life – I was on the course for 7 hours! And again, let’s not forget the training!
2. Planning and Execution of another best friend’s stagette in Calgary – planned from conception to implementation and traveled to Calgary for an entire weekend to execute!
3. 3-day trip to LA – to visit one of the companies Scott has been working with;
4. Engagement photo session.
August
1. 11-day trip to California which was exhausting and included:
a. Again visiting the company in LA Scott has been working with;
b. My best friend’s wedding, including all the bridesmaid duties that go along with it (and let’s not forget preparing the speech!);
c. Driving along the coast, seeing Santa Barbara, Monterey, Santa Cruz and then stopping in San Jose (well, Campbell to be exact) to visit the other company Scott has been working with…and then a final landing in San Francisco before heading home!
And I suppose that’s it! It doesn’t look like much when it is down on paper. But I suppose I should include the fact that I was working full-time amidst all of this, working on one of the most high-profile projects our city has ever seen, and dealing with some fairly traumatizing work drama.
So, I’m curious – what do you think of my forest? Full and vibrant like the Muir Woods near San Francisco, or is it more like a tree-lined boulevard in one of Edmonton’s newer neighbourhoods? Share your thoughts and what you did this summer!