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The Big Day Has Arrived

Jul21

Today is the day of Hannah and Andy’s wedding. My sister is getting ready to leave for the farm where the wedding will be held, and the rest of us will follow in a couple of hours. It’s always hard to imagine that your kids are old enough to get married and be out on their own. This is the second time my sister has gone through that. Last year, in fact, her eldest took the matrimonial leap. I’m just trying to prepare myself for when my eldest goes on his first date.

I remember Hannah as a baby. I didn’t get to see her or her siblings much, as we lived far away from each other. She’s the only girl between two brothers. The girl cousins are outnumbered in our family, 2 to 1. She and Morgan, I’m told, are a lot alike. I hope Morgan grows up to still be like her. I wish they could know each other better. But there are 14 years and 3,000+ miles between them. But that’s true of all the cousins. None of them live near each other. It’s sad, but that’s the way it is.

We’re very thankful we can be here today to celebrate with sweet Hannah and Andy, whom we hope to be able to get to know someday. We’ll have to depend on future family gatherings. This stay is winding down way too fast. After today, we have two more days until we leave. Sweet times, too soon gone, to be held in our hearts forever.

Thankful today for:

480. wedding celebrations

481. a sunny day

482. more solidified plans

483. flowers

484. hills

485. lots of green

Saying Goodbye

Jul19

Day 17 of our trip finds us in one of our main destinations: Kirkland, Washington. It’s here that my niece Hannah will be getting married in two days. We stayed overnight with friends in Medford, Ore., and saw another old friend the next morning. Whereas seeing friends and family has been fun, fact is, I may not ever see some of these people again. My 94-year-old aunt; my 92-year-old prayer warrior friend. The fleetness of life has hit me more in the past couple of weeks than it has in a long time.

When my mom died 5 years ago, and we sold the house where we had grown up (my dad had preceded her in death 16 months before), I

I keep this close to me as it is the image on my Discover card.

knew going back to the Bay Area would never be the same. But when we drove through the other night without stopping to see the place, I felt sad. I really can’t go home again; my home is no longer there. My home was with me in the car that night in the form of my husband and my three kids. The place doesn’t matter. As we drove on, I said goodbye. I won’t refer to California as my home anymore.

Driving up to the Pacific Northwest is a joy. As we drove through lush green valleys in Oregon, I thought to myself, I could live here. Horse farms, flowing rivers, mountains on every side. It was so peaceful. If it was 78 degrees year round, I’d seriously consider a move.

We’ve passed the halfway point mileage-wise and time-wise. After the big wedding on Saturday, we will relax on Sunday and then have fun rooting against the Yankees at Safeco Field on Monday. Then, we hit the road again, this time to Idaho to visit more friends. After that, Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park.

We are blessed.

Thankful today for:

471. open doors on a summer day

472. safe travels

473. the smell of coffee

474. the ability to help

475. hot tubs

476. varying terrain

477. birthday celebrations

478. wedding preparations

479. technology that allows far-away people to stay in touch

This Land is My Land

Jul16

Day 14 of our travels–almost the halfway point–finds us in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is where I grew up. I’m listening to my Oakland A’s on an audio broadcast, because I get blacked out on MLB.com when I’m in the place where the team plays. Happens at home whenever they’re playing the Tampa Bay Rays. But it’s better than nothing. We’re staying with my college roommate and her husband–whom I’ve actually known longer than her–while we visit our ministry partners in the area.

We arrived yesterday from our 3-day stay in Bakersfield. What a great time that was, visiting with my aunt and uncle. We enjoyed introducing them to our kids and getting to know them better. My great aunt, whom I mentioned last time lives on the same property, is 94 years old, and we don’t know when we’ll see her again. Having grown up with her often at our house for holidays, I felt a little sad that this is probably the last time we’ll see her. But if my aunt’s predictions are right, she’ll outlive us all!

From the heat and humidity of the south, to the dry, arid desert, we have experienced temperatures in the 100s down to the 50s. We’ve driven hours in the flat, flat lands of Texas and climbed our first mountains as we headed into the Grand Canyon. Rivers, oceans, bays and bayous have escorted us on our way.

Today, perhaps we’ll take a trip over to San Francisco. Morgan really wants to see sea lions. But since it’s going to be in the low 50s and windy, maybe we’ll just stay on this side of the bay. We’ll see what comes.

Tomorrow we hit the road again to start our northward journey to Washington. The big wedding is just 5 days away!

Thankful today for:

459. a chance to see my brother and his family

460. God’s creative animals

461. my sweet friend Sabrina

462. the view of the bay with the fog rolling in

463. time spent in my home city

464. people who know my history

465. our kids doing well so far

466. the friends who support our ministry

467. rest stop restrooms

468. generosity

469. faithfulness

470. longevity

Going Home Again

Jul12

Day 10 of our journey finds us on the family ranch in Bakersfield, Calif. This is the place where my mother grew up, and I spent many happy summers as a child. It’s right down the road from Pumpkin Center. It’s the boonies. But I love it. We are staying at the house of my aunt and uncle, whom we haven’t seen in more than 20 years. My kids have never met them. My aunt was my mom’s only sister.

We’re having a fun time catching up and chatting. My great aunt, known as Zizi, is here also. She lives on the same property in her own little house. She’s 94. We haven’t seen her since Morgan was a baby. Seeing this family was the impetus for this trip that has now morphed into this incredible journey. It’s possible to go home again. But “home” is definitely not the same. We’re grateful for this chance.

We are also grateful for the chance to stay with friends in Arizona and Southern California, visit the San Diego Zoo and show our kids what So. Cal beaches are like. We visited Newport Beach and Huntington Beach, and we saw more fancy sports cars in two days than we have in our entire experience in Florida. (At last count, I think it was 3 Lamborghinis, 3 Ferraris and at least a half dozen Porsches. The boys were highly impressed.) In Huntington Beach, we had breakfast with my friend Steve, with whom I went through grade school, junior high school and high school. We got to meet his wife and one of his kids. They took us to Ruby’s Diner on the pier. It was a fun time. This pelican was just standing around on the pier. It was odd behavior. Then we saw a woman throw him some fish. He’s not so dumb after all.

So, just as much fun for me as seeing the sites of the States has been seeing friends we very rarely, if ever, get to see. And there’s still more to come! The big wedding is in just 9 days, and we’ll be making our way up to Washington in about 5 more days. Meanwhile, we enjoy the company of my aunt, who reminds me so much of my mom, and my uncle, who now has a new audience in my kids for all his bad puns.

It feels a lot like home.

 

 

 

 

Thankful today for:

447. building relationships

448. the smell of pies in the oven

449. more than 2 nights in the same bed

450. the smoothness of the journey so far

451. being able to show my kids stuff that was important to me in the past

452. my kids being able to know their California relatives

453. a cooler day in a hot place

454. beautiful cotton plants growing in the fields outside the house

455. lots of fun things to look at in my aunt’s house

456. finding more statehood quarters that we need for our collection

457. rocking chairs

458. our tax refund

It’s Grand All Right

Jul8

Day 7 of the Incredible Journey finds us with good friends in Glendale, Ariz., where the sun rose this morning at 5:29 a.m. Nice. Yesterday was a full morning at the Grand Canyon, after staying the night on historic Route 66 in Williams, Ariz.

I loved the kids’ reactions upon first seeing the Canyon. Amazement. Awe. Excitement. First thing they wanted to do was hike way out on the tips of these rocks that were hanging out over the precipice. Yikes. It took everything I had in me to not keep saying, “Be careful!” I said it to myself. And I prayed. At one point, my entire family was out on one of those rocks. If they went over, I was hosed. The keys to the van were in David’s pocket. (For the record, I didn’t go down there the the first day because I was wearing flip flops. I got my share of hiking out onto precipices the next day, in decent shoes.)

We hiked the South Rim trail. At one point, it felt like we had the place all to ourselves. Most of the other visitors were in the other direction. It was wonderful. Sometimes, I just felt overwhelmed by the vastness and majesty of the place. There were some vistas that I didn’t even try to photograph; it just wouldn’t have done it justice. It is one of the 7 wonders of the world. I can see why.

Thankful today for:

435. swimming pool on hot days

436. the sun coming up

437. friends along the way

438. the U.S. highway system

439. firefighters (they put out a highway blaze that delayed our drive into Glendale by a half hour. Could have been a lot worse).

440. cool cacti

441. mountains

442. Gas Buddy

443. my job, even if it has to be done at an inconvenient time

444. anticipation

445. travel mercies

446. varied landscape