Sunday

(Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grand Jatte, George Seurat)

Today was a wonderful day. It felt much like the image above, and might have looked like it had I made it to Dolores Park, however I did not make it to the park or to Stern Grove Music Festival (I had really wanted to make it to at least one show this year, but I failed). In fact I barely even made it to Rock Make. (I was only there long enough to see the pom-poms I had helped make to decorate to beer gardens. I know very random, but we made tissue paper pom poms* to decorate the chain-link cages San Francisco has decided to make people say in as they drink at the street fairs. I am not convinced it is a good idea to put a bunch of drinking people in a cage, but whatever, I helped make the cages pretty.)

All of this to say, my day was not what I had planned. And it was wonderful. I failed to make it to a baby shower in San Jose that I had wanted to attend but was unable to make ride arrangements for. That was deeply disappointing, but I feel that it afforded me some much needed rest. For the first time in months I was able to have my Sunday ritual: americano, farmers market, church, lunch at home, off to meet a friend, long run (I have gotten out of the habit so my 'long' run was only 5 miles, but whatever), some snacks and drinks mixed in so that I don't starve or dehydrate. I allowed my plans to be flexible, but I did the things I know I need in order to maintain my own sanity. I went to Right Spot, and Pops for the first time and grabbed some coffee and The Grand (a new place on mission that serves Four Barrel, it is super close to my work and I have been wanting to try it. It was great and the owner is super nice.) Today was exactly what I needed.

Now with this said here is my goal for the next 7 days: Keep all plans flexible and tentative. I am forcing myself and my relationships to relax a bit. As much as this might feel a bit selfish, I know that I will lose my ability to be any good to anyone if I don't get serious about doing the self care I need to in order to have the margins of space I need to love others. (My pastor spoke on this this morning and it really confirmed what I already know. I will try to post the link as soon as it is up so you can listen. Short version really loving people requires sacrifice and margins, costly caring was the title, and it was about how much it really cost us to really impact the lives of others.)

So here we go 7 days, flexible plans. Bring on the chaos! or the rest... whatever.

* side note: pompoms are awesome. You should use them to decorate. If you don't want to take the time to make pompoms you can buy them here. However, you should know they are fun to make and super easy. We had them at my friend Melody's wedding last year also. The ones we made this year were orange, pink and purple. Melody's were orange, pink, and white (I think). I kind of want to make some just to hang in my hall bathroom.