Anyone that reads this blog or comes to the barn knows that we have a deep LOVE of music. I love new music, old music, and most genres. However, my very favorite songs have lyrics that make me stop and think, or sound truly poetic. Macklemore’s “Good Old Days” instantly became one of my favorite songs with the line “I wish somebody would have told me babe, someday these would be the good old days...” WOW…that perspective made me (and I suspect a lot of us) stop and look at our daily grind a little differently!
I recently went to the Women’s Softball College World Series. My alma mater was back for the first time in years and it was the perfect reason to make my way back to Oklahoma City. I had the privilege of playing for two national championships in ’99 and ’00. We lost both…. But that is a story for a different day! While I was sitting in the stands with my three best friends and teammates from college and surrounded by other alumni I wondered if the girls playing knew how special this moment will always be…if they appreciated that one day they would look back at these days and tell stories that make them laugh until they cry. I know the answer is that they probably don’t… their focus is on that they lost and how devastated they feel. Plus, it is sometimes hard to know what the “good old days” will be until you have the convenience of hind sight!! Do I want to go back to my 21-year-old version of myself? Not at all…but I do want to take the wisdom of knowing that time just keeps passing by!
This is the 19th session of The Beau Collective and I have been a part of 18 of them. When I look back at each of these sessions I get a little twinge of I LOVED that, I MISS that, I CAN’T BELIEVE we pulled that off. From Hotel Park City, to the Temple, to the Barn -some of my favorite and most hilarious moments have happened. There are times I knew how special the moment was as it was happening, but some I have only really realized as I look back.
As the collective wraps its time at the barn, I am very nostalgic of all that has been created there. Whit and I entered the barn as two moms leading a few fitness classes a week and are leaving with a community that is more special than anything we could have imagined. Although the barn has been a beautiful and fun backdrop for our daily fitness parties, the people that have filled the space is the true HEART and SOUL of this community. I look forward to the next 8 weeks at the barn…I know we will create so many memories together and I commit to recognizing and enjoying each of them in the moment. But as summer ends and the heart and soul of the Beau Collective moves to a new location….I know with every part of MY heart and soul that the best is yet to come!!!