I’ve taken a few days to spend with a best friend of mine and we have been just having a blast! She has taken me all over, I 
mean ALL over. I truly am grateful for the experience and seeing the sites (not to mention the luxury of having her cabin to stay at while we are enjoying the mountains… oo la la! Sweet!). There was a party planned today by a friend of her’s brother at the next lake over and I just wasn’t feeling it.
Her friends met us last night at my girlfriends cabin and, while we had a great time, I couldn’t shake the feeling ‘another party? Oy veh!’ What can I say, there are some days where just hanging with myself is just what the doctor ordered. The old me would have sucked it up and gone, albeit begrudgingly… But now, I’m more into doing what I want to do, what makes me happy. True, within reason (I’m not totally selfish). But there comes a time when I have to decide “whose vacation is this anyway?” So I decided to speak up. My girlfriend totally understood. However, when I mentioned this to her friends, they looked shocked and as though I turned a few shades of green. I tried to reassure them that all was fine… I’m an introvert, what can I say? (we creative geniuses are often like that… lol).
But alas, I was able to convince them to go on without me, enjoy the party and that I would be happy as a clam, staying back, writing or reading (yippee). Sometimes you just need a little ‘alone’ time, don’t you find? Well, I do. So as soon as they left I high-tailed it to the nearest Starbucks and got my quad-shot, non-fat latte (with 3 sweet n lows) sat down and tuned into their wi-fi (woo hoo! I am a happy camper).
Now, for my trip; the trip started with a hike up to some falls that are near my friend’s house. First of all it was 95 degrees and second, I haven’t hiked in years (just setting the stage). But my girlfriend is totally in shape… she does all the Zumba classes… she snow boards… she lifts weights… does yoga. She quit smoking about 13 years ago and decided that she would train for the triathlon ever since (not really but the way she runs around… one would think… she is remarkable!). So, we start, I’m keeping up and all is right, we have our ‘camel-backs’ on filled with water.
We get half way up, I’m dying. We stop while I get my wind. I suck on some more water, we start back up. The path is 
getting steeper and steeper, and the sun is hotter and hotter; we come to a place where I am about to lose my ‘water’ on myself [I'll let you use your imagination]. I truly feel as though I’m blacking out or having a stroke and all I can think is “perfect, I meet the perfect man of my dreams and NOW I die? I can’t do this NOW!” So I sit, take in some water, eat a power bar and another hiker tells us that the falls are literally just around the next bend a few feet away. I push and make it, they are beautiful.
Our next adventure was in the desert – Palm Springs – we got there and had dinner and stayed with a friend. This friend I hadn’t seen in quite some time, so it was great to see her. The next morning we got dressed and set out to get some breakfast. By the time we got to the restaurant, I ended up with blisters on my feet (ouch!). So my girlfriend had to walk to the drugstore across the street from the restaurant to get some flip-flops for me (what a dear… a true bff); I felt like such a freak! Anyway, we made it back and went swimming and then onto downtown for a street fair, walking in the cool of the evening in about 95 degrees (114 degrees during the day).
So, by the time we made it to the mountains to her cabin, between the heat and the walking, I just couldn’t go to a party. I needed my ‘me’ time. So glad I spoke up for myself. Sometimes that is what you need to do, take the risk.
