Home

We are home and exhaustion has settled in around me like a furry winter coat as my busy life has swallowed me. It's so good to be home, so good to have made the trip to Canada and back. It was amazing to see friends that I haven't set eyes on for years and to witness the cords weaving tighter and tighter between Kid A and YaYa and their grandparents and Aunt and Uncle. I love to see their relationships grow.

The trip home was wearing and lovely. We went from the snow of the mountain passes in BC, where Kid A threw snowballs in utter delight until that point when it became painful and then his hands thawed out in the car while he cried, "Mamaaaaaa" wanting me to do something about that terrible aching feeling you get when your hands go from icy to warm. All I could do was sympathize. I remember all too well the days of running my hands under cold water to keep them from warming up too fast.

Then there was the beauty of the Fraser Valley, the fields stretching into the mountains, the rainy melancholy of Vancouver, and the crazy rain and low visibility of Seattle as I drove with hunched shoulders and a tense neck, trying to peer into the grey wetness. The next day was one of the most beautiful I have ever had, driving back into the woods on the smaller highways. Everywhere there were leaves changing, covering buildings and rusted out cars. We could have taken pictures for hours.

Instead we drove like mad people, taking short breaks, trying to make it home in good time. The kids have only so long before they transform into unrecognizable beasts and howl desperately while they claw at the windows. Eight hours is a long time, for a kid. It's a long time for me, and our kids are well-seasoned travelers, amazing in the car. I think Kid A is pretty content just to sit and pretend all day, staring out the window, or read the books he's memorized to himself. The YaYa Sister does pretty well too. (For her age category.) But at some point, enough is enough.

I was glad to find out how "do-able" the trip was for us. Considering that Chinua's license is still suspended, so I did all the driving (while he read books--ugh) and that we had a preschooler and a toddler in the car, AND that I'm seven months pregnant, well...Wow. It went so smoothly! Chinua and I were even able to spend long hours together, talking philosophy and theology and nonsense until we were hoarse. I'm so thankful.