Bienvenido a España

I cannot believe it! Months of training and planning...and we are finally here! Only 7 days to go until our first Marathon!!! It seemed like such a wonderfully exciting thing when we first decided to do this and all the months leading up til now...

We left TN at 2:00 on Friday and landed in Madrid at 9:00 their time. The moment that we landed it all became VERY real...and very real scary...but scary in a good way. The most miles that we have run are 20...but everyone is telling us that is fine. I have been saying all along that I just want to finish. As much as that is VERY true, I would really like to finish in 5 hours. The time limit is 6 hours. Please, Lord, don't let me get pulled! I would be very sad if that happened.

Enough about that...

What a lively city! People were everywhere today! We went down to the "square" and walked around after taking a little siesta. There were tons of street performers that were a lot of fun to watch. Here's a few of my favorites:

I would post more pics but the computer is taking too long.

Ok, so tonight the girls and I could not sleep. Mo was sound asleep snoring like a screaming banshee. Finally, we could take it no more so we threw on our sweatshirts, put on some flip flops, loaded up our laptops and books, and heading down to the lobby. As we were sitting there for awhile, we got hungry. We left our belongings with the guy at the front desk and heading out in search of food...in our pajamas...in Madrid. Now, APPARENTLY, Madrid is all cosmopolitan and such...and wearing pajamas in public, even at 3:00 in the morning is quite the faux pas! Oops...my bad!

Anywho...we find a pizza place. We know no Spanish so ordering is very difficult. (Mo usually does all of our translating for us but he is up in the room doing his best Sleeping Beauty impersonation...and has no idea that his girls are roaming the streets of Madrid with all of the drunks...otherwise, I am sure that he would have been on it!) As I am ordering our pizza in my best Spanish...you know..."Dos Queso Pizza, Por Favor"! My version of "We would like 2 slices of cheese pizza". However, the guy behind the counter obviously does not know Spanish very well because he had no idea what I was saying. Finally, a guy standing in line felt sorry for us and helped us order. We ended up with 2 slices of cheese pizza and one slice of tuna pizza. Yeah, I had no idea that was the meat on it when I pointed to it...whatever!

Then I go to pay with the only form of payment that I have on me, my credit card. They only take cash (aka euros)...go figure! So I tell the girls "Put all of it back. We can't pay for it". All the guys that work there say "No, it is fine. Take it". Huh? Oh...I see...so I say "Yeah, we aren't homeless." Remember, we are in sweatshirts, pajama pants, and flip flop in the fancy cosmopolitan city of Madrid. I'm pretty sure that we looked homeless. Actually, we had a guy laugh at us on our way back to our hotel and say "Hahaha...pajamas!!!" I would be embarrassed if I had any sort of pride left in me at this point.

As we are walking back, we see Mo. He's a little upset with us. Apparently, he awoke from his coma (Praise the Lord, he lives!) and couldn't find us anywhere. The snitch at the front desk gave away our location.

Regardless, it was a fun little adventure for the girls and I. Great memory and lots of laughs...I hope to have tons more of those this week! Night, night all!

Busyness

We are praised for being busy...for multitasking...for being productive. I recently had a conversation with someone that praised their grown child for "being so busy that he couldn't even think". WOW...is that even healthy?

My hubby and I were watching a show last week about how Americans are actually addicted to being busy! We are addicted to the adrenaline produced in our body when we are stressed. The reporter stated that, when we slow down and the amount of adrenaline is reduced, our body starts going into withdrawals. Then our minds take over and find something to keep us busy or stressed so that our body will produce more adrenaline! Sad, isn't it? Yet, society encourages this behavior. Often, many look down on others for not being "so busy that you can't think"...for not "being productive", as if this is some sort of character defect or laziness.

A few years ago, I was so busy that I "couldn't even think"! It was a disaster...or maybe I should say that I was a disaster. I am a recovering perfectionist and workaholic! I didn't take the time to nurture the relationships that were important...the ones that would fill me more than any job or volunteer work could. To the outside world, I was "amazing"! People were "so proud of me"! And I thrived off the attention from that. Those compliments, awards, and accolades were my drug! Just like any drug, I was being filled with a false sense of importance...most importantly, with a false sense of identity!

Then one day, I sat still long enough to hear God speak to me. I felt Him gently tell me that I had my priorities all wrong...that I needed to just BE STILL! So I did...and it was uncomfortable! I was uncomfortable! As the to-do list rang through my head, this still, small voice kept comforting me...telling me to relax...that my world would not fall apart in these few moments. Stop, breathe, relax, listen...so I did...and I had peace!

I don't know a lot of things about life but I do know this...for me, slowing down has been the simple most important thing that I have done lately! I am able to focus on the people that I do life with. By nurturing those relationships, my soul is nourished, my heart is full, and my faith is strong. God has spoken to me, guided me, and filled me in a way that no amount of praise or stress ever could. My identity is in Him now. Through Him, I feel secure. My family feels secure. They feel loved. They feel important. Isn't that what we all want...to be secure in the fact that we are loved and important to others?

I recently read this quote...

"You cannot be your best for those you love when you are constantly pushing yourself to the limits, filling every waking hour with activity- even good, productive activity"

Children grow up and we grow old. It's what we do during those years that define what is important in life. The words that fill my soul more than any award or praise are "I love you! Thanks for being present!"