WILLIAM O-BRIEN JR ARCHITECTURE PHOTO CREDIT: PETER GUTHRIE
As mentioned previously, (see below), the Mrs and I were all packed up and ready to head to beautiful British Columbia for a very early but much-needed Christmas with her parents and siblings. Essentially, I was expecting something along the lines of a snowy weekend in the mountains (see above), minus – of course – the chic minimalist cabin pictured. But as we hit the road early Thursday morning (think 4:00 am) we quickly realized just how destitute and treacherous the Trans Canada Highway really was amidst heavy snowfall, limited visibility, random patches of black ice, thick fog and overall slippery road conditions. So we made the difficult but safe decision of turning around and heading back home. What good would we be to anyone if we ended up dead on some remote highway in the middle of winter?
Instead of moping around because of missing our Cabin Weekend, and being depressed as we unpacked the car and bags (and Christmas gifts) that we had just packed a couple of hours ago, we took a decidedly proactive approach to this whole scenario. To make the best of a bad situation, we challenged ourselves to conquer the weekend and do some important things: catch up on homework, finalize all the outfits for the upcoming wedding, plan my mom’s upcoming birthday, clean the bathrooms and bedrooms, go out for breakfast, detail my car, sleep in, blog, do a couple loads of laundry, buy groceries, study for exams, go out to celebrate some birthdays, do some banking, cook dinner for the family, and most importantly, spend some time together before, as I mentioned, everything goes crazy.
So while I never got to experience the serenity yet warmth pictured above, I did re-learn some valuable lessons this weekend:
#1: Learn when to bow out, and do so gracefully.
#2: There is always the propensity to make the ‘best’ out of any situation.
And with that thought, I begin my week, and the craziness that follows me till approximately January 1, 2012. Happy Monday!
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