Sometimes you just got to sit back and relax

I hope every one of you had a great Easter weekend. As some of you who follow us on Facebook know, both myself and my little family and Brenda (my publisher) and her husband, decided to "get out of Dodge" for the holiday weekend.
Brenda headed East for Salt Lake to see family while I headed west to Oregon to celebrate with friends.
When I left town on Friday after work, our only plan was to get to our friends house in La Grande, slip into comfy clothes and spend the weekend relaxing. Our other friends had brought their children up from Mountain Home as well and between us three girls meals went together fairly quickly and easily. All of our kids are pretty spread out in age, but with three boys cooped up on a rainy weekend you could have expected a lot of bickering and running like crazy children through the house, but they just kicked back and relaxed as well. Other than an occasional Nerf war that is. It was a relaxing and rejuvenating weekend and very needed.
Why am I going into such detail about traveling over 400 miles to lounge around? Well, because I for one needed a weekend to lounge and I bet a lot of you do too. I also am the type of person who isn't really going to stop long enough to truly relax without feeling guilty or having my mind going a million miles a minute whenever I try to relax when I am within easy distance of work or chores. I know that in order for me to truly relax and enjoy it without regrets I have to get away. Besides we hadn't gone to our friend's house in Oregon in quite sometime and it was our turn to go see her.
I tried to put a damper on the completely relaxed weekend though. I was trying to sneak my work laptop into my bag, but was caught by a nine year old. He quickly informed me that he didn't think he would want to be an editor when he grows up if they even have to do work on vacation. After I replied that they don't always have to work while on a trip, he took my computer and hid it from me. Now I could have gotten after him and immediately made him give it back, but I decided to listen to the sage advice of my child and actually chill. I did let him know that he would be handing it to me promptly upon returning back to town and he did right away without me even mentioning it.
I'm really glad I took that advice and also took the opportunity for a "do nothing" weekend. Not only did I get to spend time visiting and hanging out with some of my favorite people, but it was a mini-reset for me. A chance to clear my mind of all of my to-do lists and just live in the moment. I forget to do that sometimes especially when I get so caught up in my work.
Things are about to get extremely busy around here. Once the weather begins to warm up, community events begin to kick into high gear in our area.
Next weekend it begins quickly with the Cinco De Mayo Celebration and the Camp Wilson Barbecue. I think its probably safe to say that after that there will be something going on every week until the weather begins to cool back down in the fall.
I have one camping trip already scheduled for next month and will try to slip away a couple more times during our busy season, but it was nice to have one weekend before it got busy to really just recoup before plunging into the event season. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy the events I cover, but there is always the work element of them for me so it isn’t quite the same.
We all live such busy lives these days and I feel we often run ourselves way too thin. I hope that all of you have the ability to come up with a way to unplug for a little while. It doesn’t have to be as extreme as driving four hundred miles over a weekend like I did. Just find something that lets you truly shut your mind down from all of your responsibilities at work and at home and really rest. Maybe fishing helps you not have to over think things, maybe it’s gardening or reading a good book. Whatever it is that helps you feel enough at peace to not think about work, school, bills etc, just for a little while just do it, and do it often. Your mind will thank you. I know mine thanked me and I’m pretty sure my husband’s and son’s did too.