Midlife Creative

I got a text from a friend today asking how I am doing with the constant flurry of social time, jumping from house to house and being with new people more than I’m used to. Introverts who get energy from alone time, and are drained by extended periods of needing to be “on” around other people will understand this question.
Today I am in a bedroom with the door closed in complete silence, and it is heavenly. I have intentionally found times to steal away and soak up this kind of “quiet time”

One of the things I find myself asking Mark and the kids each day are “what were your highs and lows?” As we reach the 3 month point of being on the road, I have taken some time to recollect some highs and lows.

BEST DAYS

I have 3 standout days that I remember most fondly.
❤️ Biking along the beach in Hilton Head, SC

❤️ Day at Cumberland Falls followed by KFC in Corbin, Kentucky

❤️ Theater of the Sea and Key West on New Years Eve Day

HARDEST DAYS

Four days stand out as the hardest.
😢 First night cabin camping in Kentucky and not sleeping at all.
😢 The car ride from Indianapolis to Cincinatti. Another sleepless night followed by frustration of not being able to find a tennis court, being hungry, and overwhelmed.
😢 The transition from Naples to Key Largo, a cold and rainy Christmas, financial pressures and family tensions.

😢The lowest point of the trip was when Mark was going back to MN with Ivy and Malia and I were staying back in a tiny, dark, casita (that smelled like marijuana). It also just happened to be our wedding anniversary. Thankfully that very day I received a surprise text inviting Malia and I to spend the weekend in a beach house nearby.

An interesting observation I made while writing this is that our hardest days were immediately followed by our best days. The sleepless night in the cabin was followed by a breathtaking morning of seeing a waterfall. The cold and rainy Christmas was followed by a dolphin show on New Years Eve. An exhausting travel day ended with being welcomed into the home of the Grigsby family. A detour that I almost refused to take ended in my favorite day at Hilton Head.

Are you in a rough season of life, feeling confused or frustrated? Are you having a bad day today? Just wait it out. You don’t know what tomorrow may bring. Sometimes we just endure some hard days in order to more fully appreciate the good days.