Lavandine

My walks with Sienna at night are when I do all of my good thinking.  Sometimes I am tired from work and don't feel like being functional for a 10 minute walk, but it is really the perfect way to unwind right before bed.  Even though my house is not even a block from hectic 5-points, my neighborhood is always freakishly quiet at night, and I love it.  I can mentally transport myself wherever my mood takes me for the few moments I'm out and about.

The past week or two, my mind keeps going to Provence last year with my mother, because a woman a few doors down from me has several large lavandine bushes right by the sidewalk.  Not that I am a lavender expert, but lavandine is a lower quality lavender used for more commercial scents, as opposed to fine lavender, which is used more for potpourri and perfume.  Nonetheless, it smells like lavender and so naturally it gets me thinking about visiting the lavender fields, listening to the bees hum, and smelling such a beautiful, heavy fragrance with every breath.

It got me thinking how ridiculously lucky I am to have so many "to do's" checked off of my bucket list.  "See lavender fields in bloom" is one that I would love to experience again, but the dilemma then is, why do something twice when you could do something new instead?  The opposite argument is that it was so wonderful, wouldn't it be great to go and do even more the second go-around?  I seriously doubt I will ever see the lavender fields in Provence again, but hopefully it will be because I am off having new adventures.  I am lucky to have so many people in my life that have made my life so fruitful, when there are so many people in this world who don't have a fraction of my luck.  Today, I was stuck in traffic in the rain for 40 minutes on the way home from work.  It was so annoying, but since I had nothing else to do, all I could think about was 1) I have a good job.  2) I wasn't actually in the humid crazy thunderstorm, I was in my safe, dry, air conditioned car 3) there actually wasn't a third thing, those were the main two, but I could think of one hundred more reasons why my life at that moment was better than a lot of other people's lives at that same moment in time.  I don't really know how I went from lavender to the rain, but I know I have my parents, grandparents, and friends to thank for making everything I ever dreamed of possible.  Thank you.

I know I talk a lot about France and Europe, because I am very nostalgic, but I am also very nostalgic about a certain part of NC that I don't have the opportunity to visit frequently.  I became very excited on my walk, because Kyle and I are off the the Blue Ridge Mountains, Boone, and Blowing Rock to celebrate our eight (!!!) year anniversary.  I am so beside myself with happiness I could (am) cry(ing).  I thought I wouldn't see my beloved mountains this summer, but I am!!  I can't wait to see the beautiful blue hills rising up in the distance, and then looking out on all the ridges.  I was a TOTAL diva (hah what else would I be) and refused to stay in a Marriott because I knew there was a cabin to be found with a killer mountain view in our budget (I was right, FYI).  I can't wait to get there and watch the sunrise next weekend!  Thank you to my mother and maternal grandmother for instilling the love of mountains into my heart.

I can't wait for this view!

I know this post was a little all over the place.   I didn't really feel like making good transitions tonight - welcome to my brain ladies and gentlemen.  All my thoughts flow from one to another and even I'm not really sure how I go from place to place or thought to thought.

Good night!!

Sienna says good night too!