Mar
Recharging
It’s been a crazy couple of weeks between writing, mom-ing, chauffeuring (see mom-ing), copy editing, and trying to look ahead (marketing wise) to the release of DEATH THREADS in a little over six weeks.
Then, to top it all off, I had some stuff come up related to my MS. Nothing awful, but a need for an additional medication for a little while. And, if that’s not enough, there’s a blood count that’s not what it should be thanks to the meds I take on an ongoing basis for the disease. I’m quite sure it will all be fine, but still… It’s a stress. The kind of stress that makes you feel more than a little alone.
This all leads to one simple fact: I’d hit my window yesterday. Big time.
So, with the temps approaching 70 degrees and the sun nearly splitting the sky open, I closed up my laptop in time to pick my youngest up at the bus stop. Rather than go home to the usual after-school-nut-house (a.k.a life with very involved teenagers), my 11-year-old and I went off in search of a place to walk. 
We found a wonderful trail that winds its way through the woods and over a reservoir –the kind of trail that goes on for miles and makes you want to run home and grab a bike or a pair of roller blades… We walked (which I desperately needed), chatted non-stop, and just inhaled the first real spring day in entirely too long.
An hour later, I could feel my spirits lifting. Ahhhh….
So how about you? What’s something you try to do when your battery needs a thorough recharging?
~Elizabeth
March 19th, 2010 at 6:49 am
I watch water. Seriously. Walking the greenbelt by the river at home, sitting on the beach at the Oregon Coast, taking in the calmness of the lake in McCall’s cove, and watching the water float by on the spring rising of the Mississippi. Total recharge.
Glad you got out.
March 19th, 2010 at 8:24 am
I take a stroll on the boardwalk, stopping to gaze at the ocean. It truly helps when you need that extra boost.
Have a good weekend.
March 19th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
I do a very long Yoga session.
March 19th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Hi Janet… I was wondering if you were my friend from Idaho but I knew you weren’t when I read your answer. Her’s would have been take my horse for a long ride….
March 19th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
I wish I had a horse or three! I do live near a lot of horse properties.
March 19th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
There’s a little village north of St. Louis on the Illinois side of the Mississippi. I like to go there, when time permits. It’s very Gothic and charming, and a wonderful place to stage a story. When I’m feeling self-indulgent, I walk the trails and streets and pick up little bits of color and pocket them for later.
When I can’t go there, there’s a country road a couple miles from my house. It turns to brick, and the trees bend over either side and meet in the middle to make a tunnel of sorts. Eventually, it passes a graveyard and opens into isolated farm fields. A good place to walk and think…and recharge.
March 19th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
And Lynn — nothing inspires like the look and feel and sound of running water! Why is that?
March 19th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
I like water, too. Yesterday’s walk took me over an old railroad bridge and we spent a lot of time on that…just watching the sunlight dance on the top of the water. Perfect!
March 19th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
I like the sound of the beach. But, since I live in the middle of the Sonoran Desert now I don’t get to hear the waves break on Jones Beach anymore.
March 21st, 2010 at 4:26 pm
I love going to historic places or touring museums to recharge. There is something about seeing old things and places that relaxes and inspires me.
Joe–I thought you were talking about Kahokia at first.
March 22nd, 2010 at 11:14 am
Janet, you must miss it! But I hear Arizona is great, too!
Sharon, I’m a fan of the old houses…where you get to see the way things were. Could look at those for hours and hours.