I’m back…kind of.
Keeping to my 2015 resolution to travel to one new state and one new country, I’m getting the domestic trip off the checklist. I’m headed to Oregon for a three part adventure: retreat, reunion, road trip.
First, I’ll be at Sunriver Resort for a five day yoga retreat. Although I’ve been practicing yoga for 2 1/2 years, I’ve never been on a retreat before. When I was making my trip plans for the Walsh family reunion, I wanted to tack something on. A four-six hour flight begs for extra time in the Pacific Northwest. I googled ‘yoga retreat Oregon’. And the Yoga within You option matched up perfectly with my reunion dates. And even more interesting, the group is from Chicagoland. Kismet! So, yoga retreat is Tuesday – Sunday.
Next, I’ll be heading to Grant Pass. The reunion is from Monday to Friday. All 6 of my dad’s siblings will be present. Some of the spouses, the in-laws, will be there too. And a few of my cousins and two of my sisters, the outlaws, are coming. Plus, we’ve got two other generations of Walshes participating… my cousins‘ kids, my sisters‘ kids, and my niece’s kids. The house will be a 4-generational gathering. Since Walshes are known for being loud, funny and bitchy, it should be a hoot.
Following the reunion, I’m heading up the Pacific Northwest Coast Highway for a mini road trip with the folks, Jenny and Abby. We will be making our way to Seattle for a Sunday night red eye flight.
The itinerary seems robust. But frankly, I’m all about the chillaxing. I’m NOT going to ‘try to get it all in.‘ I’m going to take care of myself by addressing my somewhat neglected mind-body-spirit connection. In the last few months, work has been intense. Among the day-to-day hoopla of my development and communications position, I was covering a vacated position, hiring two new people and launching a new website. And coinciding with these stress-filled days, my yoga studio was flooded for three weeks. It effectively threw my routine and my work/life alignment out of whack. And then during the most intense phase of my career, Josh, my personal trainer, went on vacation last week. I know he has to have his own downtime but jeez…
As hectic as work has been, it isn’t the only reason I haven’t been blogging out my personal musings. I’m actually working on a book of personal musings. I’m exploring the concept that everything you need to know about happiness you already know… you just have to remind yourself, continuously. I started the project in March and am about four chapters in. I’m hoping to free my mind over the next two weeks to write more. I’m enjoying the process which is the most important life nugget of all.
So, Oregon… I’m flying in to meet you. Get out the nice guest towels.