reflections

The girls and I returned tonight from our trip to Colorado.

We slipped into town last weekend, late at night, and awoke early to start our surprise visits. There were hugs, tears, screams and laughs, as we made our way door to door. As we went along we gathered friends to join in the surprise. It was an entourage of friends. And it felt good.

We stayed with grandma and the days that followed were filled with breakfast dates, lunch dates, afternoon dates and dinner dates, with as much talking and catching up that we could squeeze in. We filled everyone in on what has been happening with us since we loaded up the contents of our home and pulled out of town last December. We shared how hard some of those first days were and how life in the new house is. We let everyone know that the Dad (who was not with us because of a previous fishing engagement) truly is enjoying his new job. The girls talked about their new school and some of the new friends they have met. I caught my friends up on all of that, plus the perils of the "wildlife" in our yard! There were moments when our hearts were torn, filled and reminded, by those that we call friends. Some emotions flooded and tears were shed. And mostly, by all things that were just so very familiar, we easily reached out our hands and grasped hold.

It is a bit strange to just walk right into familiar surroundings and feel as though you have never been gone. Yet, there are reminders that make you realize that indeed, there is a change.

As we pulled into the old driveway, past the for sale sign with "under contract" posted at the top, there were heavy hearts all around. I immediately thought of the first time I pulled into that driveway and how a rainbow led us to it. I wondered how many times, after almost 20 years living there, did I pull into that driveway and feel proud of our old house.

We all wandered around the yard, the pasture, the barn and the empty rooms of the house. There were times we joined up and times we all wandered in different directions. There were so many memories flooding me from every corner. My emotions could not keep up with all the little tiny voices that were running through my brain. Incredibly, I was perfectly dry eyed. I could only imagine what the kids were thinking about.

The last day, we all (the college boy drove down and joined us in the middle of the week) sat on the floor in the empty living room and took a moment to reflect on things we remembered. Stories of sliding down the stairs on puff-a lumps, beanie baby hockey, hot lava monsters, barbie make overs, sleepovers in the little mini tent and many more. We told the story of how Austin was so upset when we painted the house blue because he wanted it to be "lellow". They remembered how they used to draw with their fingers on the carpet and practiced some of those drawings again. (I think we left some of those "drawings" behind. Sorry Miss Judy!)

It was a great house to grow our family and I hope that we will all look back on those times fondly and thank that big 'ol blue house for being there for us every day. As we drove out of the driveway the last time, I silently said my farewell. I could hear in my head, Austin's little two year old voice from over my shoulder... every time we use to pull out of that driveway he would always say..."good-bye house".

This morning, when the girls and I pointed the car south they thanked me for taking them to Montrose. And Rachel said...I'm ready to go home and Leah agreed.

Home to Arizona.