What a wonderful month I had.
I visited my brother James and his wife Jeany in Los Lunas, New Mexico. I helped Jeany make salsa with tomatoes, green peppers and onions from her garden one sunny afternoon. And, I woke up at 4:30 one morning to join 40,000 other people at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.
I watched a flag ceremony with 145 Girl Scouts and flags from the 145 countries in the World Association of Girl Scouts and Girl Guides at the National Girl Scout Convention in Salt Lake City.
Along with more than a thousand other national delegates, I made a commitment to get girls outside. No girl left inside! Did you know that the average child in this country spends seven minutes a day in unstructured play outside and seven hours a day looking at a TV or computer or some other kind of screen?
Finally, I attended the Texas Book Festival in Austin—where I heard Arun Gandhi, Gandhi’s grandson, the poet Naomi Shahid Nye, Jon Meacham and a number of other authors.
I came home from Austin—and collapsed. I completely lost my center and started eating chocolate nonstop. Fortunately, I have revived and I am eating fruits and vegetables again.
I am ready to stay home for a while. Stay home or go on trips?! The decision, of course, as with most everything, is a question of balance—although I tend always to favor more going and more doing. But, balance is key.
During the next couple of week, while I’m enjoying being at home, I plan to share some of the things that I learned from my adventures.
–Joy