I got to spend the 4th of July in Nashville with a chunk of the Turner crew, swimming and eating and sweating our butts off.  It was in the low 100's with high humidity for most all of our stay.  The fireworks show is considered one of the top 3 in the country, and I'd believe it.  It was fantastic!  Before the show began, I walked up to Kim's office where they were hosting a big event and said hello to all the people I've met over the years.  Then her and Jason walked back with me to where the Turners were all camped out on blankets on the lawn. I was able to watch the fireworks with my sister, John, and his sister (not to mention a lot more).  It was maybe a little thing, but it was a wonderful moment.

Not only that, but after surprising John the night before, I joined him, his sister Ann and his cousins for a fun night of honky tonking.  That's right: honky tonking.  My sis and Jason have taken me out for a bit of it, but most of the time we've really spent downtown at night, I wasn't 21.  That said, I've never really gone "out on the town" with a bunch of young people on any of my visits to that beloved city.  That has now been amended.  And I can't really imagine a better group of people to have done it with. 

John changed his flight and when all his family returned their separate ways, we got to spend some down time with my sister and brother-in-law.  It was amazing for both facts: I was with my sister.  And it was downtime.  And on top of all that, I was in Nashville. With John.  It was wild.  (That was for you, Meg & John.)  This genuinely has been one of the busiest past couple months of my life - with so much going on in so many aspects of my life.  Having time to just be was critical right now in many ways. More than I think I realized, until after seeing its affects.

Highlights of my trip were definitely the evening on the town, dinner with John, Kim & Jason at The Pharmacy, the drive-in, dinner with John at some amazing restaurant we found in East Nashville, the thunderstorms and all the other moments in between, relaxing. There are so many more favorite moments then I feel I can share.  Simple moments of conversation, games, walks, naps, reading, sleeping in, honest conversations with my sis as I fell asleep, etc.

As you go on, I think you realize you have more and more on the line.  More and more people may be watching.  And more and more you see that you've got no chance unless you are willing to risk it, even if it's in front of everyone.

Somehow, that is connected to my previous statement: Don't forsake what is right in front of you.  Because you can't be too worried about the onlookers. You can't be kicking yourself over what you could have done better before.  You can't be so obsessed with prospects in the future that you don't do a darn thing today.  Somewhere you have to start living.  And the best place to start is right where you are, with the person right in front of you.  There are too many wonderful people within my arms reach for me to be constantly peddling my phone.  That is what I am realizing.  And working on.  And maybe failing on (Instagram is just so gosh darn addicting!!), but I don't want to take people for granted when they are standing in the same room as me.  And I don't want to take any other opportunity for granted either. 

I'm having to literally re-train myself to focus on one thing.  Just one.  One person, right in front of me, and what they need, or need to tell me, in that moment.  And what a great learning season it has been for me - with weddings, work projects, a new apartment & moving, trips, family, friends, and a new relationship.

I know it's the same old thing said again: live in today.  But, somehow I wish I could make it new as this moment.  Make myself really grasp it - how to live today fully, as a means of fighting for all that's to come.  Live in a way that is powerful, focused and unreserved.  A way that helps ensure I don't miss the best parts and people in my life.  A way that helps me love better.