Settle in, if youre interested.....this could get rambley. I promise it, in fact. There has been so much to be thankful for in the last week or two, and Im a bit blown away at the greatness considering all the rough water weve been treading. For instance, as long as I dont dwell too deeply, my biggest complaint right this second is that I have gravel stuck in my foot from running around barefoot in Portland, laughing, trying not to cry, running in the cold across the parking lot in a rush to the airport this morning....and it hurts, and my kids, all smiling, cant seem to stop making crazy noises as they play a borrowed PS3. Yep, thats rough. Well, and my 11 year old is crying now, but that just happened in the last few seconds and...hes 11...it happens. Anyway, last weekend I had one of the proudest moments as a moma, simple and inspiring. We needed a break, just a change of scenery, and I had a conference in Eugene, so I took them with me to the schwanky hotel my work had booked. It was late, we were tired, we were near broke. But.... The pool was still open for 1/2 hour after we got there, it was salt water and not chlorine (winning) and the Bigs had the run of the fitness room. I had managed a killer deal at the store and laid an all-they-could-eat spread when we got to the room and we proceeded to make pride inducingly humble holiday lists and cuddle up until I fell into the best nights sleep I have had in ages. The next morning I had to leave really early, so the Bigs were in charge of cleaning up, packing a travel bag and being at the curb with all the luggage on the short break I had so I could drop them at the mall. My kids have never been to the mall. Yep. Never. None of them. Except the outlet mall locally, which doesnt count. My unbelievably generous boss had given them about $40 to spend and I gave them bus money and the name of a local park....and a bunch of faith that my small town kids could figure out what they were doing. I thought they would spend forever at the mall. They didnt. When I finally picked them up, late from the conference, in the dark, in the rain, in the cold....they had no stories about the mall. They had handfuls of acorns, roses for their moma, giant leaves and stories about the community gardens they had wandered through. They also had most of their money left and no demand to hold on to it. THAT is a proud moma moment...and they were HAPPY :) We stopped for cheap pizza and I drove the next few hours home with a glow. Then Saturday I call one of my best friends who I have apart from for over ten years and in less than 24 hours his plane touched down from AZ to OR. Now that, that is a friend. I have known him for 24 years and he has yet to be unkind to me. Ever. Even when I deserved it. The kids had a great time meeting and remeeting their Uncle Russell Howe, I was reminded the greatness it is to share genuine caring without judgement or expectations and we got caught up on lots of smiles and hugs. This time well make it months, not years. Seems like its the time of the season. In the middle of making Thanksgiving dinner, suddenly a wave of quieter voices swept through my house. I look over and the kids are looking back at me. I walk to the porch and there stands Cassie Evans. Yep. And her girls. And a very hesitant smile. And there were more hugs, and smiles, and more catching up, and more .....glow. We havent gotten to tagging each other yet, but I do appreciate the leap, and you can have the shortcake pants. And it doesnt stop there, because were doing good things in threes now, not bad ones. So there have been all of these conversations, these unexpectedly calm, honest, open conversations with Rains dad, Randy Howe; conversations that have been a decade in the waiting, and turned out so....so....so...so....much better than the twelve hundred times I imagined they would. And lots of laughing, and smiling, and remembering, which inevitably leads to more laughing....and some head shaking. Ya....thats all been this week. And then there was Thanksgiving. Our family experienced a Thanksgiving so moving, so beautiful that even trying to get food on a plate and focus on eating instead of the overwhelming love and sweetness surrounding us was almost impossible. Well, the love and the crazy amount of food and souls all squished into one long row of smiling, babbling faces. Im going to randomly smile thinking of this for a long, long time. Mollie Gower and Joy Grey even left their kind daughters here to spend the night and the kids entertained themselves well into the morning. This was great because after trampoline time, hula hooping, campfire hours, great music (thanks Fever LeRoux) we still stayed up talking with my mom and Coby for hours. I am beyond all, grateful for them. I cant explain that one without my face leaking, but its true. Ta-da.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 05:28:37 +0000
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