I’m not very good at slowing down. I tend to push forward through exhaustion, writer’s block, life obstacles. I’m a pretty determined person, so it’s easy to just keep moving. This last weekend, I stepped out of life for 24 hours and spent it with two of my heart sisters. These are women who were my neighbors…and then they moved away. For at least seven years we talked about trying to connect somewhere for a weekend…but life was busy and our kids were really little.

Now we’re back in reasonable proximity to each other. And last weekend we got our quick girls’ escape. We darted down to Nashville, Indiana, an adorable little town filled with antique and other shops and quite good restaurants. And then we drove on a SCARY (because it was dark) series of small roads to get to Story, Indiana, where we spent the night talking and catching up on sleep in the cute little house behind us in this picture. The Story Inn is a collection of these old town buildings that have been turned into different rooms you can rent. The breakfast/brunch was incredible!My writer’s mind was spinning with possible ideas. And my soul was filled to have time to talk life, faith, and future followed by time to journal and process.

We’re determined not to wait seven years for the next one! Do you schedule soul time with friends? The friends who can ask deep questions?

My Valentine’s gift to y’all is that you can download Sandhill Dreams for free on Kobo, Barnes & Noble Nook, and iBooks. It is free on Amazon, too. Enjoy this story of the WWII homefront romance!