Because I like to write and lunch with friends...

Both of which are not a part of my current job desciption. Hence the creation of this tool to do both. 2 for 1! Two birds and one stone! Buy one get one! I love bargains and I feel quite efficient! (despite googling every possible variation of a blog name for the last 3 working hours only to arrive at the most sensible for this new blog -"thebagwells!!!")

Nonetheless, yesterday was a refreshing Sunday for me. Throughout the day I was longing to grab some paper and start jotting down the beauty of the day. They were small glimpses of beauty but all equally refreshing. And in a world that is full of everything instant, super-sized, and, easy - refreshing is just what the doctor ordered. So I'll write about it. And I'll savor it all over again with each word.

Brad and I set our alarms earlier than we had in any of the Sunday's we've been married to make the 4 hour trek back to the city. We had travelled the day before to Valdosta for a cousins wedding. Typical of our weekends...the wedding was barracaded by activities and time commitments so the travel time seemed to be daunting on an already full weekend. Luckily, on the way down both Brad and I reminded ourselves that family is a top priority and we would enjoy even the minutes together in the car this weekend - and that we did. So we stumbled out of the hotel room already exhausted by the agenda for the day and ran into my sweet grandparents. Beautiful moment number one. Brad and I enjoyed the rarest of breakfasts' with Nana and grandad. Breakfast is truly my favorite meal of the day. More so, my Nana is truly the most lively-Nana you have never known. She is the sole care-giver for my grandfather who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease nearly 8 years ago. He is well into the sickness now but it seems the more unaquainted he becomes the more my Nana seems to grasp her role in this chapter of life. She probably wouldn't agree with me on that because her responsibilities have truly become unmanageable I think for one person but she always seems to have this particular light in her eye that affirms to the world that she is okay. I get this part of me from her. Nana is driven and she is tough I think for a woman but in a womanly type way. Elegantly tough I would say. And as "Jim Daddy" says - she is "sooo classy." (I wish, too, you could hear Jim Daddy when he says this because his voice, too, is refreshing simply refreshing.)
So we ate and we laughed and we smiled and we answered grandad's repetitive questions and listened to his stories of raising his kids. He is good at those stories and could probably even tell you the shirt he wore the day he took his kids to see the alligators in Valdosta back in the 60's. Unfortunately, he probably couldn't tell you that we were in Valdosta for that breakfast yesterday. But he loves Nana. And he tells her. And that, too, is beautiful. Even when you forget how to take care of yourself you can remember who it is that truly loves you and like my nana, who would be there for you, literally when you dont know if it is Sunday or Thursday.

Once our buckets were filled from the sweet time with our grandparent's we started the 3+-hour-long decent to Atlanta-the-fast-and-busied-city. Brad and I had a beautiful 3 hour ride. We sang to Billy Joel and the theme song from Dirty Dancing and we held hands and we laughed. It felt so good. It's crazy how you can live with someone that completely entertains you but among a hectic weekday schedule you forget that you even need entertained. Brad makes me laugh and as many older and wiser people have told me - that is one of the keys to a rich marriage. So even the car ride was perfectly-beautiful. I like to ask Brad questions about everything, too, because I believe any answer he tells me and he always seems to have an answer for everything. "Why is it 'Una-d-ill-a, Georgia, Brad? and not 'Una-diya?" Why?

I'll hurry this up a bit...once we made it home in exactly 3 hours and 4 minutes and felt like rockstars - I took that speed to the streets. I went out for one of my favorite Sunday runs down Peachtree. The wind whips between the buildings on this road but it reminds me that I am alive!.....And that I get cold easily. Therefore, I ran super fast. The sun was out so I got my daily Vitamin D and an extra dose of those endorphins that I am addicted to since I ran so stinkin fast. The beauty in this - my knees didnt hurt. Some days - they just dont hurt. At all. And when that is the case I praise GOd every step for the last step. Even when they do hurt I have learned to praise God that He made me either stupid enough to keep running or tough enough to fight it out.

After the invigorating Sunday run, two of my favorite people came to visit our new condo...and me of course. I love the Terrace girls and loved that sweet time of life before Brad swept me away to condo land. What a treat to sit and hear how wonderfully each of them are doing. It is neat to see that God sent each of us in a new and exciting direction when we finally split after nearly four years. It would have been terrible to watch the Terrace thrive while I was out being a wife (even though I love being a wife.) So, as you can see, this time, too, was so yummy. I walked out the door to church just beaming from all the joy from the day. And it was only 4pm!

Laslty, Brad and I ended our Sunday eating leftovers. We do this very well. I will say mainly because my cooking is pretty delish the first time around so the second time around is good just remembering how good it was the first time. Granted..... I know 3 recipes but I have certainly mastered those three. After dinner we watched our sole-favorite show on television, Friday Night Lights. We love Tivo because of this show. We love to watch it together, after the fact, and without commercials. Secretly, I think the show transports us both back to our glory days in highschool and whether you are a Plains, GA-truck-driving highschool boy or a cheerleader (in what I thought was a small town) - highschool football captures us all. The most beautiful part of this quiet nights was the bed time of 9:42pm. How's that for old and married? Rather, married and yet another slice of beauty on the most perfect of Sunday's.