fighting for it...

Hubby and I got a few days away this last week!  We celebrated our 20th in May, and had a generous gift given us to use specifically for some time away together.  Schedules, busyness, back pain, indecision--all contributed to us not making it happen over these last months.  We finally found a weekend that seemed to work...and decided on a resort in Vail to visit for a few days.  It wasn't ideal timing...there was a baby dedication at church that Sunday and, as Children's Ministry Director, I normally help facilitate.  But my dear Pastor believed in the need to get away as much as we did...and happily gave me permission to not be there.

It was finally coming together!  Then the battle began.  Dave's back got pretty bad, causing him to miss work.  We misplaced the gift certificate we were hoping to use for part of the expense.  Snowy forecasts on both of our driving days made us leary about driving the mountain roads...especially when the driving could fall to me due to Dave's back.  (I have very limited driving-on-mountain-roads-in-snow experience.)  And we learned (how did I not know this?) that our sweet niece Maisie would be one of the babies being dedicated on Sunday...couldn't miss that!

So we almost gave up on the whole thing.

BUT, God was on our side and gave me a simple idea.  Change our plans.  We could go a day early and return before Sunday.  We could change our plans to downtown Denver--closer to home and no mountains to conquer.  We decided the hotel room was the destination rather than a beautiful spot somewhere...so we searched the internet for a hotel with really nice rooms.  We decided on the Ritz-Carlton and were not disappointed.

we tried several times unsuccessfully to get both of us and the whole Ritz sign in the pic...

We had a large room, an incredibly comfortable bed, and no need to sight-see or do anything in particular.  No plans or schedule, or agenda.  We order room service for breakfast and stayed in our hotel robes until noon.  It was fantastic.

our bed turned down for the evening

We found that by eliminating distractions, and the need to be anywhere or do anything at any particular time, allowed us to really connect.  It made me aware of how often important conversations are cut short or don't even happen in our day to day lives--cause our brains are always moving on to the "next thing".  It's hard to connect in a significant way at that pace.

And, even 20 years later (or probably even moreso 20 years later) we need to connect.  The long, intimate conversations we shared were priceless.  I'm so glad we fought for this time, and I'm celebrating it with emily at Chatting at the Sky today.