Tripping Over Typeset

We’re back from vacating and settling in.

We came home Saturday just in time to pick up wings, rings, and salad from our favorite place in town because after 2 weeks of taking it easy who wants to come home and cook?

We had a great time of doing nothing on our time away. Dave fished every day and I sat on the dock… or the porch… or the boat and soaked in the sun. It was quiet and that’s just what our souls needed.

Our family was quiet.

We rested, slept in and did whatever the day brought us. There was no agenda, “to-do” list or schedule. It was simple rest. We ate good food and visited the local DQ a few too many times. We consumed packages of Kit-Kat and Reese peanut butter cups along with eight boxes of Chicken in the Biscuit and copious amounts of cheese in a can because what says vacation like junk food and easy cheese.

We had our traditional family mountain climb. And once again we were not disappointed. There’s nothing like starting out on a journey… struggling for the summit and conquering it together.

Matt conquered his own little mountain by pulling his first tooth while on vacation. We knew it was loose and would be coming out soon.

One morning while finishing up his breakfast Matt turned and nonchalantly mentioned, “Oh mom, I forgot to tell you… Look!” and he smiled wide with his tooth gap grin. “I’ll go get my tooth… I pulled it myself while you were all sleeping!”

I love this kid!

We were sad to leave our little hideaway from reality but knew it was time to get back.

Sunday was Sunday… as everyone in the ministry understands… and yesterday was filled with laundry, unpacking and then repacking Sam for her new semester at college which is all sorts of sad.

Watching all these postings of kids on for their first day of school and parents dropping off their kids at college is just… well… depressing!

I thought I was doing pretty well this year. I was not a mess like last year. But then again I’m not in Seattle dropping off my daughter, setting up her room and then driving away from her which is all very heartbreaking again just thinking about it.

Instead we drove her to the airport this morning and sent her off that way. I held it together pretty well until she said, “Well, I’ve got 10 minutes before they start boarding.”

That sent my mind swirling and my eyes welling up and spilling over.

I was hoping the world would swallow us up and spit us out somewhere warm, sunny and all together lovely… like Quigley Pointe again. But that didn’t happen and instead the intercom lady kept interrupting my thoughts and reminding me it was time to let her go again.

Ugh.

I’m believing the older and wiser parents that this doesn’t get any easier.

Spending the last two weeks together at Quigley Pointe reminded me why we did this all in the first place. Dave and I have had so many moments with these people of ours…my most favorite people.

We canoed, paddle-boated and watched as the boys pulled the fish in. We spent late nights battling out Rook games and quiet mornings reading on the dock.

I was reminded how beautiful these kiddos that Dave and I raised together are turning out to be and I wish I could bottle the time and pour it out again. I would even be willing to go back and relive the sleepless nights of infant babies if it meant I got more time. But we only get the moments we have.  So I’m reminding myself to breathe deep, slow my own days down and take it all in.

In two days, Dave and I celebrate 21 years of marriage together. That’s crazy to think about. We are getting old and our kids are getting older. Maybe that’s part of all the emotion this week.

When we started out this journey together we had an imagined dream of… I don’t know what. We were young yet knew we were in it for the long haul. We would see retired couples holding hands and say, “That’s us, baby!”

We had no idea then or now of the turns, twists, rocky paths and steep climbs we would have to take to get where we are now.

We just keep living each day in and out; trusting in each other and in God’s faithful leading that whatever the day holds He will bring us through it.

And that’s where we are today.

We’re back from vacating… we’re settling in and starting up for this next year of the journey… whatever it may hold.

Ready or not, here it comes!