Friday's appointment

My work week is Monday through Thursday at the university. For most of the last seven years, I have preserved a shortened week to allow me to parent well and take care of myself. On Friday, I knew I would go in, as I sometimes do, to attend a few meetings and finish up our work flow chart for 2012. I love my work and enjoy going in. However, in order to protect my time for self-renewal, I also accepted an invitation for an afternoon bike ride.


All day long I had the feeling that I would run late, or miss, our bike ride. I tried several methods of accountability including stating that I had a bike ride scheduled at 3:30. At 3:06 pm, I flew out the office door, down two flights of stairs, and began the very familiar race against the clock. I literally ran to my car, across the busy road, and hopped in. I glanced at my phone to see that my friend had nudged me to meet at my place sooner than later, and I texted back that I was just a few minutes away. I pulled into my drive to see my friend with her bike loaded up on her bike rack. I hopped out of the car in dress and boots and rushed in my door shouting over my shoulder, "Wait for me! I will only be 3 minutes. Oh, and come on in! Do you want water, tea..." My voice trailed off as I slipped on yoga pants, long sleeved tee, tennis shoes. Rushing through the living room, I charged out the back door, keys in hand, to grab my bike and load it up. At 3:30 something, we headed toward the prairie.


I didn't know why the ride felt so important to me but it was pressing. I felt it was an appointment that must be met. We biked a ways and then hiked along the La Chua Sink Trail on Paynes Prairie.


Here are a few of the beauties we saw along the trail...

 I am developing a course in Northern Ireland and had reached out to a new, local peacebuilding effort to connect. We made a beautiful connection via phone and set good intentions to meet face to face at the first of the year. Guess who else we met along the trail...