Together
The last couple of weeks have been very full. Full of friends, sisters, an adorable nephew and my mom and dad. I've had many a good hash session with my favorites. These sessions usually involve a glass of good wine, dessert, and a good girl/mama/sister purge.
Relationships, parenthood, faith, these are the usual line-up, though circumstances and details may vary. My friend Jodi and I usually fit all three in. We had an awesome week together over her spring break packing plenty of girl time into the busyness of bonding with three busy littles. Then my sister Elissa arrived with her precious N. We've always been sister-friends, but now we're sister-mamas, too. It adds a new layer to our relationship, one I don't have words for. Plus, her little guy melts my heart in a thousand places I never expected. Then Kait came. She's my partner when it comes to hashing out social justice issues and the balance between raising kids in a safe, nurturing environment and raising them with vision beyond their front door. I love her passion for her work in East Africa (she's getting ready to make another trip in July!) as much as I love watching her exercise her creative auntie gifts. Insert time with Mom and Dad along with a week of spring break with Mark and E home and well, it's been a little slice of heaven served next to an equal share of chaos. My favorite kind of living. The only thing missing from the line-up was my sister Meg. The space her absence made has me itching for May and the sight of her coming up my front steps, my littles running to wrap themselves around her.
After two weeks of togetherness, I thought I might be ready for a little solitude, but not so. Being with friends and family only made me crave their company more, and each good-bye for now was bittersweet. Sweet because it meant I had welcomed people I love and need into our lives for a few days, and bitter because spending any amount of time with them makes me realize how much I miss them when we're apart. That's the funny thing about life--we get along just fine in our daily routines, for the most part, but when we pause to do the really important things, like reconnecting with loved ones, we realize we were a little soul-hungrier than we thought. I need time with my favorites like I need oxygen. Feeling so grateful to have had them, still riding on the high-low aftermath of it all. Counting days till my next dose of family-love.
This weekend we get ready to jump back into the routine--a conference on Down syndrome, work on the basement remodel, and organizing for school again--not the fun we've been having, but part of the ebb and flow of life's rhythms. On Monday, I'll kiss my big girl goodbye for a full day of school and miss her like crazy all day long. But I'll have the energy that came from our time together at home and the thrill of anticipating warmer weather, longer days, and more time to reconnect as a family. So thanks to all of you who fed me these last few weeks with food that is better than the kind on my dinner plate. And if you know me, that's saying something.
Happy Weekend!
Relationships, parenthood, faith, these are the usual line-up, though circumstances and details may vary. My friend Jodi and I usually fit all three in. We had an awesome week together over her spring break packing plenty of girl time into the busyness of bonding with three busy littles. Then my sister Elissa arrived with her precious N. We've always been sister-friends, but now we're sister-mamas, too. It adds a new layer to our relationship, one I don't have words for. Plus, her little guy melts my heart in a thousand places I never expected. Then Kait came. She's my partner when it comes to hashing out social justice issues and the balance between raising kids in a safe, nurturing environment and raising them with vision beyond their front door. I love her passion for her work in East Africa (she's getting ready to make another trip in July!) as much as I love watching her exercise her creative auntie gifts. Insert time with Mom and Dad along with a week of spring break with Mark and E home and well, it's been a little slice of heaven served next to an equal share of chaos. My favorite kind of living. The only thing missing from the line-up was my sister Meg. The space her absence made has me itching for May and the sight of her coming up my front steps, my littles running to wrap themselves around her.
After two weeks of togetherness, I thought I might be ready for a little solitude, but not so. Being with friends and family only made me crave their company more, and each good-bye for now was bittersweet. Sweet because it meant I had welcomed people I love and need into our lives for a few days, and bitter because spending any amount of time with them makes me realize how much I miss them when we're apart. That's the funny thing about life--we get along just fine in our daily routines, for the most part, but when we pause to do the really important things, like reconnecting with loved ones, we realize we were a little soul-hungrier than we thought. I need time with my favorites like I need oxygen. Feeling so grateful to have had them, still riding on the high-low aftermath of it all. Counting days till my next dose of family-love.
This weekend we get ready to jump back into the routine--a conference on Down syndrome, work on the basement remodel, and organizing for school again--not the fun we've been having, but part of the ebb and flow of life's rhythms. On Monday, I'll kiss my big girl goodbye for a full day of school and miss her like crazy all day long. But I'll have the energy that came from our time together at home and the thrill of anticipating warmer weather, longer days, and more time to reconnect as a family. So thanks to all of you who fed me these last few weeks with food that is better than the kind on my dinner plate. And if you know me, that's saying something.
Happy Weekend!