{play in the lake}
I grew up doing this. Swimming with the fishies. Knowing the little tug of a minnow nibble on my leg, and thinking nothing of it. Maybe that's why I'm such a big advocate of the water sans chlorine.
Summer is ending. Well, not really. But school starting back does kinda move everyone more towards what's next on the list. Friday night football games. Blankets and hayrides. Chili suppers. Caramel apples. Hiking in the crunchy amber melon leaves. Breezy soccer practices and earlier bedtimes.
It's just I don't want to forget the happy tucked away there in the sunscreen & sand filled beach bag. Since our move further east in this great parallelogram shaped state, the boys and I have made it a point to visit home each summer. I say home here because to the boys this was their first. They left my womb and the hospital to inhabit these 4 walls. They each began school inside these same 4 walls too. I've talked a little about how our new place here. I remind myself daily that home begins in the hearts that bring breathes to the sturdy concoction of wooded beams, electrical wires and plaster. That our memories are the colors we live and the pictures we hang.
But there's something that happens when you go back. When you re-insert your puzzle piece where it once fit. This place. It has served as a sanctity to me as a stay-at-home mom in the boys' early years. A safe haven where energy could be expended out and joy could be received in. Take a peek back with me here and here & you'll see. These posts were 3 years apart. Joy in. Energy out.
Brayden and the boys have been friends since his birth. I actually kept him on Thursdays our last year there. Oh what fun memories the boys have with this kiddo. Brayden came to our house in the wee hours of the morning all snuggled and sleepy-eyed so that his Mom and Dad could go have his sister 4 years ago.
The precious little princess McKenzie you see here is completely fantastic.
Spending some time with this little girl was such a treat for me. She is everything silly and expressive. She loves to laugh and has tiny mama bear instincts like I've never seen.
She keeps right up with the boys. With their shenanigans and silly faces too.
I love that the kiddos and the mamas pick up right where we left off. As if the miles between us really aren't there after all. Though our time is super fast and ends far too quickly, we still manage to find the place where our piece fit from before. It nestles in alongside the other jigsaw lines and, for a brief moment, we are one.
I am thankful for the energy out. For the joy in. Still. For the sand and the sweat. The heat. The laughter. The water. The reminder that going back is good. That staying connected is even better. That bittersweet is real and that 4 walls are just wooded beams, electrical wire and plaster. That memories are the colors we live and the pictures we hang.
