Go go go go go! Stop!

So.  Sunday turned out to be pretty restful.  Such a stellar day.  Michael and I had so much fun tooling around the neighbourhood on our bikes.  We re-discovered this cool coffee shop up in Edgemont and had a coffee and a treat in the sun and then we found this absolutely unbelievable sliver of a park, high on a ridge, nestled between two houses, with an absolutely exceptional view of the water and downtown Vancouver.  It was so stunning we decided we wanted to pack a lunch and return one afternoon and just hang out there.  I love finding random stuff like that.  We biked over to West Van and then headed over to another coffee shop that we had discovered a weekend or two ago in the hopes of procuring a sandwich, but they were closed so we went to the other coffee shop, secured a sandwich each, took them to the park and then fought ants and watched angry squirrels before finally heading home.  It was so much fun.  I think an ideal thing to do would be to go from town to town across our country and just explore with our bikes, stopping when we're hungry, flaking out in parks.  Yeah.

Yesterday I picked up R and we met Squishy for lunch.  She and Skyhammer have moved to Victoria which, though not ideal (for me, ahem), is a nice destination and R and I are actually going to make a road trip to see them there for a couple of nights at the end of the month.  Road trip!  We wandered down to Granville Island in the sun and then I left them so I could meet C to go for the trail run that we'd been discussing (and I had been bailing on) for some time.  It was great.  Everyone's been pushing us to get on the trails: time goes by faster; it's easier on the joints; it's more dynamic, and lo, that is true.  The hour flew by and we exited onto Spanish Banks and walked into the water to soothe various aching spots.

Came back to my mom's place and called Michael as I looked out at the seawall and the runners, cyclist and walkers enjoying the sun and scenery.  At the dragon boat crews rowing by.  The sailboats in the harbour, the North Shore mountains in the horizon, the downtown skyline.  Sitting there in this luxe apartment after spending a day enjoying all that Vancouver has to offer with my friends I felt guilty at the amount of privilege afforded to me. 

I am so lucky on so many different levels.

I have a 32 hour work week.  I just came back from visiting two incredible cities and BC's wine country.  I'm spending time with an insane, furry animal suffering from dementia in an amazing condo right in the heart of one of the most beautiful cities in the world.  I was able to hook up with four of my friends over the last two days (dinner with Big D tonight: Happy Birthday week, man!), have great meals and have the ability to run 10k and finish up on a beach?  Come on.

I sent this article to Michael this week.

Appreciation.  Crazy thought.  I appreciate what I have.  I have a lifestyle and opportunities that have got to be in the upper percentile.  I don't forget it.  I appreciate every lunch, every dinner, email, phone call, trail run, view, coffee, bike ride, coincidence, trip, visit with my family, surprise birthday party, yoga session that comes my way.

This past month has been crazy with goodness.

I don't take any of it for granted.

I love it.

I even love you.