Diagnosis- chronic swollen heart.

I stared at this blinking cursor for a long time last night wondering how I convey with words the way I live with a swollen heart due to the utter outrageous kindness of my friends…. all the time.  I came to the conclusion that some relationships are made of sacred feelings… like the way a mother and daughter love each other in a very distinct, specific way… I could write millions of enamored words about my friends and it wouldn't even scratch the surface of defining how I delight in them. We've gotten to the point in my life where I will call my mom with a story of some amazing thing my friends have done for me and the line sits silent. Both of us knowing we are just shaking our heads because these people are outside of description. There is not a word grand enough to tack on to them and allow you to understand the depths of their goodness. 

So, I will let your imagination run wild… think of acts of grand heroism and dream of beautiful people who are bold and lionhearted and hug big engulfing hugs. Listen for fits of laughter that are free and wild and silly and soul healing. Dream of loyalty that makes no sense and love that has no bottom. Now that you're in a fantasy, I'll give you the facts that make up my real life. This. Is. My. Real. Life. 

To set the quick scene, the following offers come to the table during tax season at our office. Which was hard, and busy, and very overwhelming for me this year. I was maxed out. 

Now, here's the story. One of my amazing best friends moved to California with her husband and his company a year ago. She has offered and offered and offered to fly me to visit her but I've always had an excuse not to be able to make the trip. 

Another friend, who knew I was super busy, dropped by my office one day to say hello. She brought up the fact that this plane ticket has been on the table for a full year now. She (Kristine) and another friend were flying to California to run the Big Sur marathon in a month. She put the pieces together and said, 'you know… this plane ticket is available…. and we've already got a room booked that we're paying for…. we sure would love for you to come cheer us on and wheel us away from the marathon in wheelchairs! Come with us.' 

I dismissed the thought for a bit but it kept nagging at me. I called Mom to run it by her and she gave me a conclusive, 'YES. You should absolutely take advantage of this offer.' She immediately said they would do whatever was necessary to take care of London and the decision was made. For the first time in my life, I was flying to California!!

From the very first minute, the trip was FABULOUS! London was so excited for me and didn't give me one second of the guilty mother feelings. She was THRILLED that I was going to see my friends! My child is a breed of her own and I'm over the moon about her. 

It's been years since I've been on a plane and I'd forgotten how enchanting it is to FLY! I took a hundred pictures so I could show London each state that we passed over. The farm land in Colorado was so interesting to me. 

And they blue sky above the clouds was like no color blue I'd ever seen. Spectacular. 

We landed and met up with our friends at the airport. There was much squealing and jumping and emotions that my dad would call 'total foolishness'. :)

The drive out of San Francisco was unbelievable to me. We drove through a section of state park with Redwood trees that were so tall, my brain couldn't make sense of their height. I looked on the web and it says that some trees are taller than the Statue of Liberty. I felt miniscule underneath them. We drove to see the ocean in Half Moon bay, totally goobed out about how pretty it was, then went for dinner where gorgeous Katy filled us in on their fun filled life in California! 

After dinner we drove to our hotel in Monterey. I snuck out early the next morning because I wanted to watch the sun rise. I was in no way prepared for the emotional high that I was about to experience. I don't know what to say except I've never, ever seen anything so beautiful. I called Dad in tears and explained it like this: You know that scene in the movie Frozen where Queen Elsa uses her magic and is rolling her creation in her hands, then she shoots out this magnificent beauty every where she throws her hands? It felt like that. Like God was standing there giggling at me and saying 'You think that's something…. watch THIS!' It was like he saw this little slack jawed country girl and decided he would just thrill me with how grand he can be!

That early morning adventure was one of the best things I've ever done in my life.

I also spent much of this hour literally laughing in delight as I watched the seals swim into the harbor from the ocean for breakfast. They were ADORABLE and would swim right up to you, look at you like they were saying, 'Hey! Great to see you!!' then they'd bark, and wrestle in the water with their buddies. I was dying. They were SO CUTE! 

I mean. Look at this dude. 

This was after breakfast when they all settled in for a rest. They gathered into these huge piles and would lay on top of each other and just chill out… flippers and bellies in the air! 

The harbor in Monterey. 

Later that day, we drove the race course that my friends would be running on Sunday. The start line was at Big Sur National Park and the race ended in Carmel, CA. We made about 15 pit stops because the views were so incredible we had to stop and document everything! So, here in pictures, is the Big Sur Marathon.

(This is Katy. Isn't she the most beautiful? She was the prettiest view in California!)

We watched a humpback whale swim all the way across the ocean here. Unreal. 

The famous Bixby bridge that is on the downhill portion of the race just after a TWO MILE up mountain run!! HOLY MOLY!

Some of the people here were a bit odd. The nice guy with the guitar was singing songs about bunnies while one sat on his head. My friend Kristine loves bunnies so she and her hilarious sister decided to let the bunny squat on their head and shoulders! 

Isn't it astounding? It's like the ground just shot straight up out of the ocean and voila! There was land! The drama of the teal water exploding off the side of the cliffs on impact was magnificent. It was violent and gorgeous and forced you to sit quietly in awe of it all.

This is hard to see but if you zoom in on this picture, you can see one of the only houses out here built into the side of this cliff. The drive down to it was horrifying. The only explanation is that these people boldly and daily claim 'DEATH BE DAMNED!!! We WILL live as close to the Pacific as possible!' I applaud their courage!

I did the 9 mile race which was on a different course but was fabulously gorgeous. Here are a few of my views! The run was SO GREAT! I encourage anyone who likes to run to do this race once! (Or move here and run it EVERYDAY! :))

I wish I would've gotten a picture of these two while I was running because I passed them on my route. This was a 90 year old lady and her daughter. I passed them at a gorgeous ocean spot and they were holding hands, walking the course together. I immediately got choked up but decided to keep on running. A few hours later, I was able to catch them crossing the finish line together! They interviewed her right after she crossed the finish and asked the trick to racing at 90 and she said 'just keep moving'. :) I love that answer!

Post race, the non-marathoners decided to head into Monterey to explore. We came up to a protected beach where hundreds of harbor seals had beached to birth their babies! I KNOW, RIGHT?!?! This place is MAGICAL! We were giggling away at how cute they all were and we asked some silly question and lo and behold, the lady next to us had been studying these exact seals for most of her adult life. She was there documenting them and sat with us for a good 20 minutes filling us up with knowledge on these seals, their behavior, and their history. It was fantastic!

She said they don't like to get their tails or fins wet because it makes them cold, so whenever a wave would wash in they'd all go FINS UP…. and send us into laughing fits. They looked like graceful, posing women and it was too darling! 

Here's a collection of everyone's pictures from the weekend. Despite what it looks like in this picture, I do not play for the WNBA. My friends are just SUPER short! Cute little troll people! :)

Kim and Kristine, our marathon CHAMPS!! I'm so proud of them! This is supposedly one of the toughest marathons in the States! WAY TO GO, ladies!!!

Mid race entertainment! Couldn't you just eat Kim up? She's so adorable!

I liked this picture Kristine got at the beginning of the race (in Big Sur National Park).

We indulged in Ghirardelli sundaes after some racer's recovery time!  

Then we hit up In-N-Out Burger before we headed to the airport. In-N-Out is worth the hype. Cheap and delicious! 

The flight home was wild. We were able to mostly stay on schedule, but Birmingham was being pummeled with massive storms while we were in the air. I took this picture shortly before we rolled on top of the madness. Life above the storm. Incredibly beautiful compared to the fear below this cloud shelf. 

We landed and I had a flood of texts saying 'stay where you are… we're all in the basement.' We had a short delay but boarded our home bound flight anyway. The pilot said they were watching the radar and they felt like they could slip in and land between the storm cells. He said he had plenty of gas so if it wasn't safe, we'd turn back to Atlanta. Our 30 minute flight turned into 2+ hours, but it was perfectly fine. A little bumpy coming in to land, but our pilot aced it. After I checked in with my people, Lauren sent me this text with our flight pattern from Atlanta to B'ham. An in-air dance around the tornados! Wild! Thank you, sweet Lord, for bringing us home safely!

A summary of my 'take aways' from my glorious trip to paradise: 

1. California was remarkable. The views are impossible to put to words. A true feast for the senses. 

2. It felt like we were living in a real life zoo! I couldn't get over it! How fun to watch all of these incredible animals! 3. The vegetation was so interesting and lovely! I could talk about it for days!

4. But my very favorite part was walking aimlessly down the street, under the sun that can only be described as 'california sun' and chatting away with my favorite girls in the world. Sometimes you're 2,500 miles away, but the company you keep makes it feel like home. 

I will never, ever forget these 4 days. Thank you to all who made it possible for me. You are all treasures to me.