Sometimes weekends bring surprises. This weekend was spent mostly at our future retirement place. I took Friday off work and left early, so I would have plenty of time to run a few errands in town, unload some of the boxes and bins I took along to our storage, and do some writing.

There is currently no internet, so I usually use my alone-time to read, and to write my next book draft. I had no idea how much self care I would manage to get it in this time, but it happened all the same. Spending time in the country is quite rejuvenating I have found.

The first thing I did before getting started on anything was take my puppy and traveling companion, Sammie, for a walk. She loves to take walks, and our favorite thing is to make the “walk-around” of what we call “shed row.”

I love watching her get her steps in. Not only is her strut so cute, but it reminds me how important it is to get my own fitness in, no matter what. The work of unpacking and unloading, and writing and reading, can wait. Taking care of self is important. Getting our walks in is important.

It was a busy weekend filled with family and friends. Our son and his family arrived on Friday evening, and we celebrated his thirty-first birthday. They spent the night. Then, on Saturday, I took my best friend and her husband on a tour of our property and out to see the lake.

The visits included meals, conversations, work and fun, and a trip with my friends and my granddaughter to the Frio River. It was an adventure. We hiked only a few short yards, but it was filled with saw vines, mosquitos, and steep inclines and declines.

Once there, the view was amazing and well worth our expedition.

The weekend ended with only my husband and I. He worked on different projects, and I napped and wrote. Sammie? She napped, too. It was a productive and much-needed relaxing, enjoyable, and just-spend-time-with-family-and-friends kind of weekend.

With today’s busy lives, we all need the kind of weekend where you feel you are taking care of self. And, taking care of self sometimes isn’t a bubble bath or pedicure. It’s stopping to smell the flowers. It’s noticing that the cactus is growing; and, if we’re going to transplant it, it needs to be soon. It’s making time to take friends to see the river. And, it’s enjoying the dawn of another day, while everyone else is still sleeping.