Days 75 & 76: Merry Christmas!

“This is the message of Christmas: We are never alone.” – Taylor Caldwell

Day 75:  On day 75, aka Christmas Eve, I went to Pura Vida gym and squeezed in as much intense cardio that I could in one hour.  I started out running for 30 minutes, then switched to the big stair-stepper machine for 15 minutes and ended out the hour with 15 minutes of bicycling.  I was a hot sweaty mess afterwards.  I definitely had to squeeze in a nice shower before the evenings candlelight service

Before the church service started the Pastor came up and asked me what the best part of my day was and I immediately got tears in my eyes and said, “skyping with my fiance.”  He just put his hand on my shoulder and told me a joke.  Next he shook my hand and said, “my name is Michael.”  Of course I already knew his name, but the way that he said it made me smile with all my heart and made me feel like my Michael was right next to me for the next hour.  At one point I imagined him whispering something funny in my ear to make me laugh.  Even though I was physically alone last night and today, I could feel all the love in my life to the point where I was overfilled with gratitude.

Day 76:  On a sentimental holiday I like to treat myself to lots of sentiment.  Of course I chose to go skiing at my favorite mountain, Keystone Resort.  Only 38% of the mountain is open to ski right now, which made me a little apprehensive to make the 75 minute trek up.  However, it ended up being more than worth it.  My skis were happy to find fresh powder in a few spots, nicely groomed trails in others and loads of happy skiers ready to chat about anything.  I skied for three hours and called it quits once I felt my thighs quiver on my last run.

Although I was not quite sure if I would love skiing on Christmas day, I may have stumbled upon a new tradition.  Hopefully in the years to come I will have hoards of family and friends with me to celebrate after a day on the slopes!

Merry Christmas everyone!  *As a side note, I am really hoping that my fiance (in the scuba diving picture above) knows how to spell my name and that “Besty” is just a fun play on words!*