Cathy's 3 Day Walk- continues...: When escaping is the answer...

It's sign of how my life is right now, that these pictures from my weekend are only now making it to the blog. I looked at my schedule, my responsibilities, my "shoulds" and almost didn't go away this weekend. Jill had invited me to join her and a couple of other gals at her family cabin it the Carmel Mountains. I told Glenn I should really go and he informed me... "You have to go."

I don't know if the veins popping out on my forehead or the nail marks on my desk gave him that idea, but of course he was right. The zillion million gazillion things I had piled up were not going to be taken care of even if I stayed. Myriam (my co-worker) was set to leave on Tuesday for two weeks and I would be flying solo, with more work than ever once she left. Glenn knows Cachugua is a "heart" place for me. The kind of a place that takes you back to simpler times, and God knows we all could use that in these stressful days.

So off I went. I threw my sleeping bag, my swimming suit, my walking clothes and a couple of bottles of wine in my car... all the essentials and took off early Saturday, by 7am I hit the road. The sky was full of the grey and misty kind of fog that you need to use your wipers to make it through. It didn't lift until I was climbing the Mountain to Carmel Valley.

I arrived at Syndicate Camp around 9:30am and was in time for breakfast.

Susie Hopper, Jill Lamont and Patti Bott were all there sitting sipping coffee and snacking on pastries form Gayle's in Aptos...

The weekend blew by with a great walk to the dam, and the store. We cruised through the Princess Camp garage sales and were invited by a Reverend to come to services at the store 4pm on Sunday, followed by a Spaghetti dinner.

We sat in the river and watched from crawdads, and fish in the crystal clear water. We talked about life. We talked about Cancer. We played Things. We slept late and ate and drank too much. I felt re-newed at the end of the trip until I drove down into cell range. Immediately there was a pile of business and some of it serious.

My Father had gone into the hospital with clots in his lungs and legs. I struggled to try and get more information, finally talking with him in his hospital room. A part of me felt guilty for having been away. A part of me knew it wouldn't have changed anything if I was around. I felt at once far away and then again closer than ever to my sisters and brother. All of us spread to the wind and too far away to go by to actually see in person how he was doing. They talked about when they would fly out there. I groaned and full of guilt thought of how impossible it seemed for me to get away.

Since then he has improved and hopefully will continue to do so. My calendar will need to make room for a trip perhaps after the 3 day walk. There never seems to be enough time and distance only adds to the problem. I think about what it will be like when Glenn and I are older. I feel certain neither of our daughters will live anywhere near. It makes me feel lonely (even though it will be a long time off when it is of consequence.).

Now I am half way through the week. I have resurrected an escrow, and it will close tomorrow after a one month+ delay. I have put a short sale into escrow. I presented a listing presentation, took Myriam's client out today and showed them all of Marin... then came back to do a walk through (when all I really want to do is WALK).

Now I am off for my mammogram that my busy schedule made me forget last month. As I am hurrying to write this blog entry I remind myself that stress can contribute to Cancer and other illness and I need to find a way to slow down, even if it is to the detriment of business. Two days left of the business week, can I find a time that I can walk? Perhaps tomorrow I will walk to the inspections I have to attend in San Rafael - Or Friday before the Memorial Service I will be attending. Surely at least sometime on Sunday... Saturday we are taking people out to scatter ashes. Yup it is that kind of a week. And so now you know why Glenn said "You have to go to Cachauga...."

And now PICTURES