Utah Utopia
Looking back on the past 10 months of 2019, I realize how difficult this year has been for me in many different ways, particularly mentally and emotionally. Although I started the year off on a high note, having just gotten back from the vacation of a lifetime in South Africa and road-tripping to LA for a Disney-packed weekend of fun — it has been filled with a lot of low notes too.
After January, things at work started getting tough because a lot of great people, including my manager, left my team. Over the next 9 months, I felt a lot of stress resulting from the instability that comes with navigating am internal job transfer, and eventually the stress and chaos of it all really got the best of me. Spring and summer felt like a blur - I worked non-stop despite feeling burnt out, until August when the real mental struggle set in. Then an emergency family trip to Malaysia added to the stress and exhaustion, and when I finally looked up, it was somehow October - and I felt like I had lost myself.
All of this is to say that I feel like I hit rock bottom this year - my soul and my mindset was depleted more often than not. I knew I needed a complete mental reset. So on a whim I booked a trip for my mom and I to go to Utah for a weekend for a mother-daughter getaway. I needed to get out of town, and my instinct told me that I needed her with me.
On this trip, for the first time in several months, I completely unplugged. We explored a beautiful city together and had the BEST TIME EVER. I truly can’t put into words how good it felt to just feel happy, present, and carefree for more than 48 hours. We slept in, shopped til we dropped, ate delicious food, visited Park City, saw a movie, got massages and pedicures, ran in the freezing cold - it was incredible. For the first time in a long time, I feel like myself again.
But putting aside the beautiful scenery and thrill of exploring a new place, I learned that spending quality time with my mom is the best medicine for anything I’m going through in life - heartbreak, sadness, stress, burn out, everything. She is my best friend, and one of the few people in this world who I feel really understands me and accepts me not only at my best, but also at my worst. She is my rock. She grounds me and also lifts me up. Her love is unconditionally healing and being around her is calming and easy. Spending time laughing, talking, and just “being” together is everything to me. Combine that with my life passion - travel - and it was the recipe for a healing weekend.
I will forever have this bottomless sense of gratitude and love for my mom and everything she is and has taught me in life. I can’t imagine who I would be or what I would be doing without her because she has been such a cornerstone of my life. This weekend was more than just a getaway - it was a reconnection with my mom, myself, and the huge part of my heart that she holds.
Life goes by so fast if we don’t stop to actually spend it with people that fill our souls. As I enter this new decade of my life, I’m realizing that people I love aren’t always going to be here, and moments I want to experience with them won’t always be possible. As we were living it, I knew in my heart that this random weekend trip would always be one of my favorite memories I have with my mom.
They say that when times get tough, call your mom - but I say, take her on a trip to Utah :) Thank you mom for being you, and for loving me the way you do. I love you with every ounce of my being. Xoxo
Salt Lake City, Utah
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Our first morning exploring downtown, we stumbled upon the largest grouping of signs I’ve ever seen. Each sign was an oxymoron and it was so neat! My favorite was “less is more” :)
We walked to Temple Square, which was absolutely breathtaking. Combine that with the perfectly orange trees and the bluest sky, and we had ourselves the most ideal autumnal day. Learning about Mormonism was really interesting and seeing many of them at the temple that day was cool too!
We walked over to the state capitol building because I was obsessed with getting a photo in front of the “State of Utah” sign. The building was absolutely massive and I got my picture, so it was a success!
Park City, Utah
We knew the weather would be the best on Saturday, so after exploring downtown we took an Uber to Park City since everyone recommended it. It did not disappoint - the streets were lined with the cutest boutiques, restaurants, and shops. After eating an acai bowl and big salad at Harvest, we got hot chocolates and made our way through bookstores, clothing shops, spice shops - they had everything! We smelled 8 million different spices and candles, tried on clothes, and wandered around as if in our own little world. Every time I thought we wouldn’t go into any more shops, another one caught our eye and we excitedly ventured in. My favorite purchase was a gift from my mom - a little gold necklace with my initial “R” that I am never taking off! After spending a few hours there, we took an Uber back to Salt Lake City and went to CityCreek mall where I had another amazing acai bowl and shopped some more. It was so much fun!
The next morning, we woke up to literal SNOW. It was like we had woken up in a completely different city. As a treat to my mom (and myself) I booked us massages and pedicures at the cutest, nicest spa EVER. We walked out feeling completely refreshed. If only we could go there every weekend! We had plans to go back to the mall after, but we didn’t realize that almost everything including the giant mall is closed on Sundays, so we headed to the only thing that was open: the movies! We got hot chocolates and had ourselves a little movie date to shield us from the snow. It couldn’t have been more perfect.
P.S. While we were eating lunch that afternoon at California Pizza Kitchen (literally the ONLY restaurant that was open) we ran outside to snap a picture in the snow together. Even though we were freezing, and the weather had thrown a bit of a damper in our plans, we made the best of it and ended up having so much fun. Just being together was really the only thing that mattered. The picture below is my favorite picture of us from the trip - no perfectly styled hair, makeup or outfits, no perfect lighting or beautiful background, just us outside of a CPK in the middle of Utah, completely and utterly happy to be together. The smile on my face says it all: out of all the moms in the world, I’m so glad she is mine.
“My mother shed her protective love down around me and without knowing why, people sensed that I had value.”
-Maya Angelou