Reverb Ten Day Fifteen - 5 Minutes

I'm participating in Reverb 10, a fantastic month-long initiative for reflection. Here I will be responding to one prompt every day.

December 15 – 5 Minutes
Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010.

So many wonderful/intense/scary/beautiful things happened this year.

I went to a beautiful cabin in the North Georgia Mountains for Tom's 30th and to another cabin in North Carolina for Thanksgiving. I went to San Francisco, Ireland, Turkey, Paris, the beach of South Carolina. I spent quality time with my family, my friends, my love, my Barley. I went on a 100 mile bike ride, I hiked mountains, and I ran a marathon. I spent two gruelling weeks at a Basic Officer Course in DC, met the Surgeon General and the Assistant Secretary of Health, worked my butt off on a project that tested my capacity for scrutiny, and met people - real people - that made my work real to me. I got engaged, I cut off my hair, I started a blog {this blog!!}, and I started my bucket list. I moved to a new house, learned how to can apple butter, went to two weddings (last year I went to six!).................

Five minutes? I read the prompt and thought they were out of their mind. How would I summarize the year? How could I choose five minutes? Should I spend a few seconds on each big event and remember each one until the five minutes were up?

No.

If my mind were about to be erased, and I could only hold five minutes close to my heart and keep them forever, I would choose the five most peaceful moments of my year. I would remember my stillness, the feeling of warm air on skin, looking at Tom across the cushions, eating cucumber and feta and tomatoes meal after meal. I would lie back in the warmth, hold the Efes in my hand, breathe in and out, look at the people in the courtyard that represented country after country talking with each other, playing ping pong, sipping beer, heading out for a walk to the Mediterranean. I would capture this moment of being in Turkey with Tom, sitting still and enjoying the moment, not being a tourist or an American or a person with a list, but just being. I would close my eyes, listen to the different accents commingling to form a perfect harmony, and I would smile.

If this were all I could remember of 2010, I would be happy. I would be content. I would remember it as the year that I didn't do much, but felt it all.

*Curious about this trip to Turkey? I spent much of my time in Istanbul, but we started our vacation with a three-day stay in Olympos, one of the most relaxing places I've ever been. Go here if you'd like to read a bit more about the trip

And as for that relaxing bit in the beginning, I'll post some pics to elaborate.....

{little relaxing oasis in the trees}