Egg Sandwiches & Many the Miles

It's been a while since I've updated the boombox playlist. Especially this past month, there's been a lot going on around here. I've spent a lot of time driving (fueled by coffee and hot chocolate, of course), lots of early mornings and late nights thinking and praying behind the steering wheel. With that, I've realized a thing or two about love languages that I wanted to share.  

A few weeks ago, my car broke down twice on my drive back from Atlanta. I was actually on my way back from a trip to D.C., which meant each time I had to have my car towed, I had to drag my checked luggage around, find an uber in rural Georgia, and trust that the tow truck was hauling my car to the right garage. For those of you that don't know, I'm a pretty independent person, so being rendered basically stranded three days in a row was a hard pill to swallow. However, things weren't all bad: I was able to stay with my friend Brooke in Atlanta for a few more days (I even got to stick around for her birthday). I also have a job and a boss that allowed me to work remotely from the coffee shop around the corner from Brooke's apartment. Little victories, I tell ya. 

Then the situation got a little worse when a man at the Subaru dealer told me my car was basically useless without intensive repairs. I immediately called my dad, who has a billion things going on at work and is running a campaign for re-election for local office. I figured he would be in a meeting and maybe not able to pick up the phone. But of course, he answered just when I was on the verge of a meltdown. After two minutes of me dumping details and repair costs on him, he told me, "Haley, here's what we're going to do. I'll clear my schedule and  I'll be there first thing tomorrow morning to pick you up. It's going to be okay, don't worry."  I'm convinced my dad should wear a cape, guys. Long story short, I ended up buying a new car in order to get back to Nashville. He helped me through the whole process because I had absolutely no idea how to buy a car.  To him, all he did was show up for moral support. But to me, it meant the world that he'd drive two hours each way to help rescue me.

Another sweet moment around here- last night my friend Erica and I were driving around looking at pretty neighborhoods, listening to the new John Mayer album and talking about our current phase of life. We're both in similar stages in that things are not always easy. In fact, we've brainstormed starting a podcast to share some of the ridiculous situations we find ourselves in. We're learning to laugh at ourselves and smile through the hiccups of twenty-somethings who don't have it all together. She shared a nugget of wisdom with me last night that I wanted others to hear, too. She said, "You know, what we're learning right now is resilience." Those words were so full of truth and so encouraging to hear another human say. 

In case you couldn't tell already, I feel most cared for by others when they show up and are present. Sometimes the most important thing we can give others is our time.  I learned this the hard way in college when I often deprioritized other people below the number of other things I told myself were more important. The key is to just be there for people and treat them like they are more significant than the next thing on your calendar.   

One more example of how my dad does this so well. Growing up, dad's trick for taming the triplet chaos was lining all three of us up on bar stools while fixing us fried bologna sandwiches. While mom no longer lets us eat them (we didn't know they were terrible for us), he's since upgraded to his famous egg sandwich. He'll cook one for me at midnight, one after my first half marathon, and even one for Harley because the dog is one of his kids, too. Then fast forward a few years, to when an egg sandwich won't fix my broken down car.  His nature is to take care of us, and he does it so well. 

I hope you all have people like this in your life- one's that show up no matter how many the miles. 

Here's a little bit of what I've been listening to lately, from my speakers to yours.