It's St. Patrick's Day, not to be confused with St. Patty's Day (I get so irritated with people who mix this up!). It's a day that I get to deck myself out in my favorite color and brag a little about all the time I've spent in Ireland. I wore my Claddagh today, proudly, along with my green shirt and green fingernails.
March 17th is also a day that I get a little sad because I'm not currently in Ireland. I love that place, and if you aren't aware of that, check out http://hesinireland.blogspot.com. Still, I'm fortunate to have so many fond memories of my travels and living there, so I am grateful for that.
What I've been thinking a lot about these last few days, is that I have had some wonderful experiences on my travels (I am not trying to brag about it), but it dawned on me that I don't always appreciate my home town, Charleston, as much as I do these far off places that I visit. Actually, there were days I didn't appreciate Dublin and there were certainly days I didn't appreciate Milan. At least here, on an almost daily basis, I remember to thank God for the beauty of Charleston and the extremely long list of wonderful things to do here. I love this city. I've always said, "Charleston born and Charleston bred, and when I die, I'll be Charleston dead." It's in my blood. I've written that before. Charleston's pluff mud and southern charm got a hold of me early on (please don't reference the new Bravo series unless you want a good laugh...what an embarrassment). I do love it here, BUT, I'm often drawn to visit other places, and I do get the itch to go again after a little while of being rather stationary here. The thing is, when I'm here, I need to do a better job of taking it all in, no matter how simple or small things may seem.
Just this weekend, I had supper club with some friends. We ended up having a little slumber party so that we could enjoy each other's company even longer (and not have to drive home after too much wine). We sat up watching pointless TV, painting our nails, and talking about the past as well as what's to come in the future. One dear, dear friend said, "Nope, you're not moving." It about broke my heart. This friend has been part of my life for the past 14 years (wow) and we've certainly had our ups and downs, but the Lord knows, I'd do ANYTHING for her and her sweet family. ANYTHING. It's funny because we aren't usually so affectionate (we don't often tell those we love just how much we love them), but something about the unspoken affection we have for one another has been getting me lately. I guess it's because I know I'm leaving, and I'm more aware of it, but God bless her for ending the conversation quickly Friday night, because neither of us needed to sit around and ball like babies (she has her own baby that makes enough racket for the both of us!).
Saturday I didn't do much of anything, but that evening I was able to babysit my sweet M & M. These two kiddos crack me up. I've watched them since the oldest was just a tiny baby, and now he's in third grade. They are hilarious, no doubt about it. Saturday night, because I'm housesitting at their grandparents and their parents had a late engagement, I had them spend the night with me. I thought, "How special," when we all piled into the king-sized bed to call it a night after an afternoon of playing and watching a cute movie. (They had to talk me into taking them to the late movie, telling me, "It's educational." The movie was Mr. Peabody and Sherman, and it actually was really cute.) Of course I only thought our slumber party was special for a few minutes, just up until the point where the youngest started flailing all around and slapping me in the face! No, I only kid. She's a wild sleeper, but it was still a sweet moment. I especially loved when they left Sunday morning and the oldest M turned to say, "I love you Hannah." He's the one that two weeks ago told me, "You're going to die," when I shared my news about moving to China. Great pep talker he is!
So you see, nothing so special or outrageously fun happened this weekend, but gosh I wouldn't change a minute of it. I love the people I hung out with over the weekend, truly love them, and there are SO MANY others in Charleston that I love too...I can't wait to spend a little more time with all of the special individuals in my life. I think I'm down to 135 days left in Charleston before the big move (you can thank the countdown app for that accurate time frame). I want to make the absolute most of it, and appreciate every single moment...slainte to the simple things!
*FYI, I know "slainte" actually translates to "health," but as we use it for "cheers" and I'm big on alliteration, I thought I'd make it work here! Happy St. Patrick's Day!
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