Category — Life

Starting at Labor Day weekend, Joel had two weeks off. We went camping. We weren’t sure how it would work with the girls, but we wanted to give it a try. So we bought a big tent, loaded up the van, left town, and hoped for the best. We thought it might last for a couple nights at most, but it went well enough that we spent eight nights in the tent. The girls seemed to enjoy it, and they experienced many new things, such as swimming in a lake, lots of bugs and caterpillars, being around lots of trees, seeing how dark it gets at night, and eating marshmallows every day. The weather was perfect for camping, except for three nights that we spent in a hotel due to thunderstorms in the forecast.

We wanted to know if camping would really be a relaxing enough way to spend an away-from-home vacation. We found it to be a lot more work than just staying in a hotel, but it was worth it in so many ways. We learned a lot about each other and working together and communicating. . . imagine that. . . even after ten years of marriage. We made memories for our family that go way beyond what you could ever experience in a hotel vacation. . . even just getting the chance to be outside all day, cooking outside, enjoying campfires at night, and waking up inside a tent every morning.

I think our low-key approach helped make it work. . . if it’s going to thunderstorm, then we’ll stay in a hotel tonight. . . if this campground’s too noisy, we’ll move to a different one. I have to admit that Joel’s iPhone really helped us with our on-the-go trip-planning, mapping, laundromat and grocery store finding needs.

We also learned that all the New York State Parks have really great playgrounds, at least the ones we visited.

More to come.

With the college girl friends, that is. This trip was truly wonderful, for a lot of reasons.

• It was the longest that I’ve been away from home by myself since I became a mom. It was a nice break from my normal routine, not that my routine’s all that normal.
• Spending time with some of my best life-long friends, who came together, literally, from around the world.
• I got to drive around in a ‘67 Camaro with one of those best friends, in an off-the-beaten-path adventure to surprise-visit another close friend, who I called up out of the blue after not keeping in touch for several years, praying that her phone number would still work. It was so great to catch-up, reminisce, and to see where God has taken us since them. So many ways he’s blessed us and worked things out. . . amazing. Thank you, Jane, for letting us use the car! I got to cross one item off my list of things to do someday. . . drive a classic muscle car.
• It was amazing that even though eleven years have passed since we got to spend this kind of time together, it didn’t feel like it had been that long. We’ve kept up, to varying degrees, through e-mail and quick visits for all the weddings since then, but there’s nothing like actually being together. Right away, I felt completely comfortable in my own skin, being exactly myself. There was no pretense. There is nothing like being loved and encouraged by other women, and being free to be exactly who I was made to be.
• I was kind of caught off-guard, as we shared our stories, about all the pain and hard things that we have collectively experienced in the last eleven years. I shouldn’t have been surprised, because I know that life includes both amazingly good and heart-breaking difficult times. It is what it is, but there’s so much more that we can’t see unless we are looking for it. Our lives are in God’s hands, his perfect and loving care, even through tough things that we don’t understand. I left Oregon with my heart burdened in ways that I didn’t expect, but I hope that this will motivate me to keep in closer contact with my friends, to encourage, pray and help each other along the way.
• I will always be an east coast girl at heart, but I did like Oregon, and I got to spend three days on the Oregon Coast, see Multnomah Falls, and drive down Klickitat Street.
• Clam chowder.
• Jane’s cooking.
• Oregon has little drive-up espresso places everywhere. Really, everywhere.
• Even though we got a flat tire on the way to the airport and I missed my flight, I made it home an hour earlier than my originally scheduled flight.
• I got to watch “Chuck” on my iPod on the plane.
• I got to use the bathroom all by myself for six whole days. Really.

We woke up to the sound of our patio door getting taken off. . . with crowbars and hammers. We were expecting this to happen, and even hoped it would happen today. We just didn’t know that it would happen at 7:30 a.m., without any warning. They’ve been doing a lot of work on our building for the last week or so. We’ve been waking up to lots of noise for the last few days. This morning, I tried to ignore it at first, burying my head deeper into the pillow. But then I found myself thinking thoughts like this. . . “man, that sounds really close, like, maybe right in our living room.” I walk out there, in my pajamas, and there is a gaping hole where the door used to be. We live on the second floor, and we have a balcony, and last week they took off the railing. So, there’s this big hole where the door used to be. There’s a balcony with no railing. It’s the second floor. And there are two three-year-olds just down the hall, wide awake and, thankfully, still in their beds. Nice. 

Ten years, baby. We made it. Let’s try for eleven. 

So on the day after Thanksgiving, Joel gave me my birthday present. This was pretty fun for me, since my birthday isn’t until Dec. 5. He just couldn’t wait. It started with a movie. . . of him taking Emily and Erica to get mommy a birthday present. It started with the girls getting into the car and doing the buckles on the car seats all by themselves. They kept saying “I’m unique” over and over again, I think because we just watched the Doodlebops, and Moe said that on the show. So they go out for lunch and shopping. At the end, when they are getting back in the car for the trip home, Joel got them to say, “Happy Birthday, Mommy” into the camera. Then Erica says, “Mommy’s two and she’s going to be three?” “No,” Joel said, “she’s going to be three and two.”

Erica: “I did the buttons.”

Me: “You did, didn’t you.”

Erica: “I did, didn’t me.”

So I just got back from a road trip with my sister and all three of our kids. We drove to my mom’s house near Rochester, NY. We rented a minivan, so we could drive together, since both of us have regular cars. We have not graduated to minivan ownership yet. Ten hours on the road with my two two-year-olds and her three-month-old. It was only 7 hours of actual driving, but we had to make lots of stops.

Some highlights of our trip. . .

Two days at Finger Lakes CFO. . . a camp that we went to every summer when we were growing up. It was really great to see so many friends that I haven’t seen in years, but I have known for so long. I mean, these people have known me since I was, like, eight years old.

We had a picnic at Harris Hill with some of our extended family, just like when we were kids, except now we have a new generation of kids. It felt so familiar, even though it’s been probably twenty years since the last time we went there. There is a kiddie amusement park. We took Emily and Erica on the carousel, but couldn’t get them to go on the horses. So we went round and round on the little benches.

Sarah and I sang a song, “All I Am,” by Reuben Morgan, at my mom’s church on Sunday, just like when we were teenagers. I played the piano and sang background vocals. Sarah and I had similar feelings about this. . . that it’s crazy how even with so much performing experience, doing it in a place like that stirs up so many emotions, memories, and old insecurities. Of course there is so much love and support for us from the people there, so it’s all in our heads. . . but these sure can be powerful feelings.

We went to the Strong National Museum of Play, in Rochester, NY. It was awewome. Emily and Erica’s favorite part is the child-size Wegman’s Market. Real shopping carts, just their size. . . real-looking fake food to load into the shopping carts. . . and real checkouts with real conveyor belts, just their size. The older kids run the cash registers, and even give the little shoppers a real receipt! And, of course, when Emily and Erica figured out how to press the button that prints out receipts, we printed a lot of receipts. We also went to a butterfly garden, had hot dogs at Bill Gray’s, and the best part is that we got to do all of this with some of my dad’s family who we haven’t seen for a really long time. Emily and Erica got to ride on a carousel again, and by the sixth or seventh time, they both went on the big horses. Emily tried it first. It took a lot more convincing and reassuring for Erica, but when she finally did it, she had a blast. They loved going “up and down.”

I got to see my mom’s new house. Yes, my mom just bought a house, for the first time in her whole life. It’s just so exciting that she has a place all her own. And it has a really nice yard.

Emily and Erica are already asking to go back to Grandma Lynn’s house.

Nine years ago today, we got married. Joel, you are the best. I am so blessed to be with you.

Happy Valentine’s Day to my man. Joel, you are the best.