Taking Time to Play

Whew, dreaming can be exhausting.  A lot of work.  Climbing mountains.  As I do most Tuesdays, I link up with Holley Gerth’s God-sized dream team here to talk about our dreams and how to achieve them.  But I LOVED Holley’s prompt for today – she said, “take some time to play, and then tell us about it.”  Have we forgotten to have fun?  Y’all, I am ready to have some fun.

So……..I’m not going to tell you about fun that I had (though I did have an absolute blast with my entire family at the zoo on Sunday!), but I’m going to tell you about some fun I’m planning this weekend.  I turn 40 this year.  As do a ton of my friends.  My best friend from law school turned 40 in February.  My birthday is in September.  So for a couple of years we’ve planned a joint couples trip to the California wine country to celebrate in April.  Why the wine country?  Well, we went together in law school and had a blast, but we were broke.  Really broke.  It was a ton of fun, but we wanted to experience the wine country at a little nicer end of the spectrum.  Plus, it’s gorgeous and we both love wine.  But, turns out, they had a conflict when it came time to plan at the end of 2012.  And, it also turns out, I’m celebrating my seven year wedding anniversary with my husband in two weeks.  After wondering what to do, we just decided to make it an early anniversary trip, early 40th birthday trip for me, and go anyways.

Guess who is not going to be a mommy with three year old triplets in tow for a few days?  That’s right, MOI!  I’m sitting here typing this with travel books spread out and maps of the area.  We’re staying at a lovely inn nestled in the heart of Russian River Valley.  Big oversized four poster bed, fireplace, and Jacuzzi tub.  Decadent breakfasts off the patio.  A rental convertible to tool down to Healdsburg vineyards and into the heart of Sonoma if we decide to leave the valley.  Dinner reservations at sunset on Bodega Bay.  Maybe a hike through the redwoods.  A massage.  The kind of trip you only get once every ten years.  The kind of trip you never get with young kids.  My dream trip.  Friends, this is the weather forecast:

I loved the permission I got from Holley to revel in this break, “You and I are made for joy. We are also made for happiness, fun, laughter and enjoyment. We don’t serve a taskmaster. We serve a good and faithful Father who finds delight in His children receiving His gifts. So let’s open our hands, our hearts, our lives a little wider to what He wants to freely give us today. What do you truly enjoy that may not seem “spiritual” at all?”

This trip doesn’t seem very spiritual.  I know I could do a lot of good building water wells in third world countries with this money.  I am mindful of that.  I also am incredibly grateful that I’ve been given the rare opportunity and the wherewithal to take a few days to escape.  No work deadlines.  No middle of the night bed creepers.  No throwing together dinner in 10 minutes and then eating it in less time than it took to make.  This trip is designed to be slow.  Restful.  Delicious.  Secluded.  Restorative.  And I’m hoping it’s just going to be a lot of fun.

Can you take the time to go play a little today and remember that dreaming is supposed to be fun too.