August 4

It was, in sum, a lovely sort of day. It started with my very first (and decidedly rain-soaked) trip to the new Damascus Mother Ship and a quick hop, skip, and jump through Dunkin Donuts (because there were more flavors I needed to sample while I'm here). 

Then it was off to Target to pick up some groceries my mom requested, and back to the house (where I nibbled on morning donut number two --a tasty apple filled number-- for "lunch"). 

At 2, I headed out to meet up with Gretchen, who is one of my very oldest friends. (We go all the way back to the first grade.) By then the rain was over and the sun was out in full force so I sustained a significant sunburn on my shorts-wearing legs, but the conversation was well-worth the burn. She's an amazing, brave, kick-butt gal and I'm super proud of her for executing some pretty serious changes in her life of late. I hope she keeps on remembering her awesomeness!

Then I went back to the house for a few hours before heading over to my mom's to bring her back to Bobby's for the rest of the week. I spent the latter part of my childhood in that house and I haven't been here during the summer months in quite some time, so I was amazed by the size of some of the trees along the road. Although I'm sure it's a lot of work to keep them maintained, it's beautiful, and I took note. 

So that's where we are now. Today, I'm grateful for time with kick-butt women --like Gretchen and my mom-- and I'm hopeful that getting up at the crack of dawn tomorrow won't be too hard on my night owl self.