Done Already

I think I looked forward to the past month more than anything in the longest time......and suddenly it's over!  Thirty days ago, I was landing in the US, hugging and being hugged, seeing my parents and best friends, and enjoying the blessing of our house (and thanking the Lord for my dad, who power-washed, cleaned the windows till they sparkled, and acts as the best caretaker in the world for that house quite a few months out of the year, always with a smile on his face; and for my mom, who never tires of catching up my ironing basket, making cookies for my kid, hemming pants and making my house look so good to come home to!)

I gained another five pounds on that three-week trip home, to go with the five from my last trip in February and the five from September's trip.  I will soon expand right out of my skin.  It amazes me how much I miss my hometown restaurants, especially Mexican food and seafood!

Over the next few days, I'll do the catching up I always promise but never seem to get to.  Let's start with how much fun it was to just BE back in the South.  Practically the day I arrived, J, P and I went to Market Common.  It was Dragon Boat Races day, and we found our exhausted but always smiling friend B working hard as she always does.  She totally deserved more than the two bites of sandwich she got to eat that day.

 Doesn't their setup look great?  Chick-Fil-A is an amazing company, and I'm proud to love this whole family who works hard together.

Then we were off to explore Anthropologie and the Nacho Hippo.  I knew better than to allow myself near Williams Sonoma.  We had fun looking at all the decor at the Hippo, but honestly I like El Cerro, Habaneros and Abuelos way better.  I only actually got to go to Abuelos this trip, and I'm sure my jeans are grateful.

Look at the adorableness of these women.  Sweet tea personified.

Tomorrow, graduation photos.  Oh, my heart.  What a blessed month it's been.  How, then, are human beings so complicated?  How can it be that after one of the best months of my life, I'm both happy and sad at the same time?  Ecstatic that my girl has grown to be the woman that she has.  Devastated that the years of full-time mommyhood are over.  Delighted to have the chance to live in and explore Europe.  Exhausted by living in Europe.  Content at having had my girl all to myself for a couple of weeks.  Lost without her now that she's gone back home.  Grateful that God has blessed me over and over far beyond what I deserve.  Unsettled as I look for my next "life passion."    Seeking.  Shying away.  Energized.  Tired. 

I'm pretty sure it's my thyroid.

Home Home Home Home Home

Did I mention I'm HOME??  I'm incredibly grateful lately.  My Girl is graduating from college in a matter of days, my very dear parents have made the trip to South Carolina to be with me at this milestone event, and I'm getting to enjoy my house and my peeps for a way-too-short time before heading back to Adventure Life.
 
Most of the enjoyment will be in the form of things like getting the house power washed, and cleaning the windows, and discovering the origin of the giant pile of sand that was sitting in the middle of the driveway when I got home at nearly midnight on Thursday, and getting the taxes done, and moving My Girl home with her year's worth of stuff, and getting my hair cut and colored after many months, for which we can all praise the Lord because THE GRAY and THE SPLIT ENDS.

But there are also moments like last night, when three of my best girlfriends and I laughed our way through some magically delicious avocado enchiladas and then may or may not have eaten  or resisted  some healthy and some questionable desserts.  I can't begin to describe the thankfulness I have for my friends here.  In the living room I got out an 8x10 photo of my friend J taken on a mother/daughter girls' cruise several years ago (we loved Angela Thomas and Natalie Grant on that ride) just so J could be with us in elegant spirit while we gathered.  The other J was in her bed with an awful case of scratched cornea, and we missed her wry humor and silvery laughter.  The evening was positively medicinal for me.  I also turned a healthy four pound box of strawberries from Costco into a caloric nightmare by dipping nearly all of them into multiple bowls of Baker's dipping chocolate. 
It's a cacao-induced food coma, is what it is.

These women literally weave my life and hold it together.  We're sisters in the Lord, and that makes it perfect, but we also have raised our kids together.  Counting the Js, we sat and counted the blessings of 5 college graduations, 2 high school graduations, 2 successful finishes of freshman college year and three more climbing through late elementary and middle school JUST THIS YEAR.  (Yes, I know you don't envy me my gift-buying budget this year.)  But the joy! 

As I washed the dishes very late, two of the girls called to tell me to turn on the TV.  Y'all know the news by now - it has special significance for all of us. Brought back lots of memories....of the two friends from high school who died on the New York planes, the town not too far from my childhood home where yet another plane went down, and more immediately, the husband who for 24 years has willingly offered up his life daily to serve our country. 

Since I've embarked on The New Adventure, I've become more aware of the "layers" of our military.  Recently, Sir and I have been watching a dvd series of a now-cancelled tv show called "The Unit."  It was on for about four seasons and is based on a book called Inside Delta Force.    It's a fascinating glimpse into the part of our armed services that deals with special operations, even black operations.  Last night when we learned that Bi* L**de* had been killed, we weren't sure which branch of the service had carried out the assignment; but I thought of all the military spouses and children who exist with secrecy and uncertainty every moment of their soldiers' careers.  These families are truly unsung heroes, living a more isolated, difficult and dangerous life than those with the more visible jobs in the military.  Their soldiers' entire careers are continuous deployments to carry out missions like this one at a moment's notice.  The stress on their families is enormous.  The layers of complexity of their lives is astounding.  The danger is relentless.  Yet they sacrifice for all of us, willingly and daily.  And once in a while, we get to actually know the great things they accomplish.  May God bless 'em all!  Pray for them.

I'm clicking back and forth between Fox and CNN, and an analyst said that, of course, retaliation by the extremists is inevitable.  Now that their leader is gone, the groups may begin to act independently and actively, and they'll do the easiest things first - like kidnapping American tourists overseas, attacking American embassies on foreign soil, and targeting military bases overseas.  So, my friends, please pray for my little family and our bigger family of all those who serve with us.