Friday, July 6, 2012

coming home


A few weeks ago I got to take these two little cuties on a trip. I felt like I was a professional courier with the most precious of cargo! Once our plane landed in San Diego these two would get to be with their daddy for the first time in weeks and more importantly their family would be whole for awhile.

Baseball has blessed them more than they ever could have imagined...but the realities of how hard it is were ever present in my mind on our traveling day. Madeline & Luke live on airplanes, out of hotels, and off the room service menu. These things are all fun when they are treats, but when they become your everyday you start to miss the basics that so many of us take for granted.

I knew they kids were beyond excited to see their daddy, but also a bit sad to be leaving the comforts of home that they cherish like many of us cherish vacation. I was totally caught off guard by what happened the next day.

I was only in town for one day before turning around and catching a flight back to Indiana. I had 3 little ones I left home with their daddy and a VBS program to race home from the airport to see. Steph and Eric were so thoughtful to plan a fun day of seeing the sights for me. We hit the Padres stadium, the famous "gas lamp district", local boutiques and a great coffee shop. Soaking up San Diego was a blast - a great change from the routines of mommahood. Then we decided to take the kids to the beach to play for an hour or so. They'd been so good all day (even with jet lag) being carted from place to place and they deserved some time to run.


Out of the car and allowed to play I watched this family truly come alive. They had been catering to me since the moment we got off the plane - when all this family really wanted to do was to "simply be" together. Hallie was asleep so I found a cozy spot in the sand to sit with her and watch the magic unfold.


The kids giggled as the cold pacific water hit their feet. They drew pictures in the sand and played chase. They let themselves go....unrestricted by time or location. 

They were together....a family...and it was priceless.


I don't think words will ever do justice to the joy I got watch them experience as they played together as a family for the first time in weeks. In that moment it didn't matter that they were thousands of miles away from home because all this family really needs to be home is each other.

When we first stepped on the beach we cautioned Luke to "be careful and not get all sandy" - we were in practical, traveling mode....


This is my sweet boy after 15 min. on the beach... living FULLY IN THE MOMENT - with all of watching in total surrender to the joy we were feeling. This moment was to good to be contained or constricted by silly rules that were torture to a little boy who LOVES getting dirty. So he rolled in the sand and we cheered him on. It was a beautiful, crazy, dirty moment and we could have cared less.




I got to watch this family get lost in the moment and it's a moment I'll remember forever.

They were together.

They were home.

1 comment:

  1. Oh Carrie, I love this post it made me cry!! Love all of you!!

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