A Breath of Fresh Air

A Brief History

My love affair with the "outdoors" was slow to blossom.  My most vivid childhood memories are of living in North Minneapolis.  When I tell people I lived on the North-side, they almost always audibly gasp and marvel that I managed to survive despite all of the guns and violence.  I'm not saying there wasn't any of that, but my early childhood felt pretty idyllic and I spent most of my waking hours outside.  And people are just people...whether you live in rural communities or in the city.  Some people are not so nice, but most are pretty awesome.  In any event,  each day I would roll out of bed, throw on clothes, slam down breakfast, and then play outside all day with the brief break for lunch and a couple snacks.  

This is before we moved to N. Minneapolis, but you get the picture.  We liked being outside.

I liked being outside, but I had no idea that I liked being "outdoors."  I mean, we took little day-trips to the Eloise Butler Wild Flower Garden and would visit cousins who lived on actual farms with actual farm animals (the AWESOMEST!).  Once I went on a fishing trip with my step-dad but my feet got cold and I accidentally killed my grandpa's minnows (big trouble!).  So, I had a sense that the "outdoors" existed, but I didn't have a connection to it.  I was a kid...I was going to have a good time wherever I was (that's how I'm programmed).  I didn't know what I was missing!

It wasn't until I was in college that I discovered that I love the "outdoors."  My friend invited me to go on a trip with the Outdoor Club to the Boundary Waters.  My freshman year in college, my practice was to say "yes" to everything except going to Microeconomics class.  So, despite never having really gone camping and only having the most vague of ideas of what the Boundary Waters even was, I said "yes" to that trip.  And...I. Fell. In. Love.  Words cannot even begin to capture how friggin' beautiful that place is, so I won't even try.  What I can say is that after that first trip, I learned I liked being "outdoors."  A lot.

Pre-children and just post-College.  I had time to admire nature.  The luxury.

After college comes adulthood.  And for me, that included getting married (who gets married when they are 22 years old?  This girl...).  It also included starting a family...almost right after getting married.  So, in the span of just a year or so, I went from a girl whose greatest responsibility was actually dragging my sorry butt to class and keeping track of the computer disks that contained all of my homework to a woman (what, the what?!?!) who had bills, an actual job, and another little human depending upon me for survival.  Two more little humans followed in close succession.  And a mortgage.  And graduate school.  And...well, you get the picture.  Early on, it still felt do-able to fit in time for getting fresh air.  I even walked almost every day with two great friends when my kids were small.  And then...it got trickier and trickier.  Until I reached this point...where I spend most of my time working or driving small-ish humans to their various activities.  The most fresh air I get most days is when I walk from my house to my car.  

Way too many car selfies.  Because that's where we are a lot of the time.

I'm the type of person who will just keep trucking and will always do what's got to be done.  Always. So, it's been easy to let mothering and social working and adult life-ing crowd out everything else...especially Sara-ing.  Except...I miss it.  I miss that part of me that comes alive when I breathe in the outdoor air.  I miss feeling my cheeks turn red from cold all while feeling warm and cozy inside from trudging through the snow.  I miss stumbling upon little gifts from nature.  I just miss that.  

As I think about this, I keep recalling a conversation I had with a friend of mine a couple of years ago.  We were professional colleagues and I asked to meet with her to consult on a case.  When I got to her office, she wasn't there.  It was winter and it was cold, but she was out for a walk.  When she returned, she apologized for having forgotten our meeting, but said she makes it a priority to get outside every day.  Every. Day.  I thought that was so cool!  I wanted to be her when I grew up.  I wanted to be someone who went outside every day.  

Back to #ProjectNorway

Well, my friends...  The time is now!  The rules for goal #1 for #ProjectNorway are simple.  I just need to get outside.  On purpose.  Every day.  No exceptions.*  For at least 15 minutes.  Yesterday, I shoveled the sidewalk...that counts.  On Monday I went for a walk near my house...that obviously counts.  Walking from my house to the car...that does not count.  This will get tricky, because even though I've decided to take on this project, those three little humans still exist and they still need to get carted around.  It's going to be easy to procrastinate and put off #ProjectNorway for another day. 

I shoveled that driveway (and the sidewalk you can't see) all.by.myself!

So, this is where YOU come in!  Inspire me! Tell me how you fit fresh air into your busy life!  Give me ideas about new stuff to try or (cheap) places to visit that will get me outdoors (I love to try new things).  If I see you in real life on a regular basis, let's go for a walk together...on our lunch break (I'm looking at you, Fairview peeps).  Let's all get a breath of fresh air together!  

I'm so very excited to give this a try and I hope you will come along with me.  

Hopefully yours, 

~Sara Renee

*I said no exceptions, but if the news says you shouldn't go outside because you might freeze to death in 30 seconds, I think I'll waive the no exceptions rule.  I mean, seriously.  That's not fresh air.  That's hell.