Every month I tell myself gee, it would be so nice to go to First Thursday this month. And almost every month I am so tired by Thursday night that monotonously go to the gym to home to dinner to the TV to bed. It's very exciting (Later, by the way, I have been known to throw myself a pity party lamenting my lack of a social life).
Not so tonight. A friend from church and I have been trying to get together for months. When I realized we could do First Thursday (where business in downtown Boise stay open late; there is often free food and beverage, tasting and music) together I hesitated. AGAIN. "Poor me, I'll be tired. I have to go to bed at 5:45 so I can get up and go to school (do you hear the world's smallest violin playing?). I ignored my doubts and we made plans.
Turns out I looked forward to this all week! It's so fun to have outings on school nights- I always feel like I'm going to get in trouble mixed with the excitement of getting to have a sleepover on a school night (which I got to do once when my friend's parents were out of town).
We met at Java and dove right in. Within 30 minutes we were all caught up on our travels and adventures and fully engaged in lessons learned in the past few months and days. We wandered around downtown. We saw art, jewelry, tasted amazing olive oils and vinegars (at a place called Olivin), each had a bag of free fries from the Boise Fry Company and listened to a great band called Bread and Circus. And I stayed out till almost 9 o'clock! On a school night!
Being out with her reminds me of how much time I spend fretting and energy I expend [read: waste] managing and controlling my life to get all the boxes checked off my list so that I will be happy when really the happy is right now, in this very spot, in this very circumstance with these people. Happy is not a goal I am striving for, it is a byproduct of living in this present with integrity and honesty. I am so grateful I am able to be present with others but more importantly, with myself, today.
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