Thursday, June 28, 2007

Last Night of the Trip


IMG_7599
Originally uploaded by Chez VH
Before I get into more details of our love2learn get together - which may take quite awhile - I'm going to skip ahead to the last day of our vacation. We broke up the last leg of our trip with an overnight stay in western Wisconsin with a family of TAC friends who were hosting Nutmeg and family at the same time! (She has some pictures of their visit here).

Now, I have to say that the advantage of spending the night at friends' houses is that there is plenty of time to chat with said friends after all the kiddos had gone to bed even if this does add up to a certain amount of sleep deprivation. Such was the case at this house, though I thought Nutmeg and I were very restrained in only staying up til 12:30 (at one of our other stops I managed a chat until 2:30 in the morning). It was delightful to catch up with her in real time and I enjoyed comparing notes on children, homeschooling and various challenges that make up those two.

The next morning consisted of several amazing large-scale meals with loads of munchkins, some bow-shooting on the part of John and most of our kids (they had a blast!) and a mini-15-year-TAC reunion (consisting of a great deal of reminiscing and laughing out on the enormous front porch) with my classmate Elizabeth. It was great to re-connect with her (I also taught with her for a year after we graduated) and we've already made some tentative get-together plans for the future. The kids were excited to hear this as they instantly bonded with new friends galore.

What a terrific way to end our incredible journey of faith, friends and family - especially with only a handful of hours to drive on the last day. We are indeed blessed!

One other thing that struck me on this trip (besides the blessed part!) is the richness of people and places to see that aren't so very far from home. I've sometimes had a touch of envy regarding friends who took major European tours for their honeymoon (John and I camped at Monterrey for just a few days) and I certainly dream of leisurely tours of foreign lands. But at the moment I can hardly imagine a more pleasurable or enriching vacation than what we just experienced - scenery, history, culture, science, friends, family-time, pilgrimage and more all wrapped up into a great feast for body, mind and soul.

3 comments:

Kristen Laurence said...

What fun, Alicia! I wish I could have joined you.

The older I get the less I want to go far away. You're right, there is so much good right where we are in life, and it is nice to stop and appreciate it once in a while!

Suzanne Temple said...

Alicia, What a wonderful vacation. I've enjoyed seeing you in everyone else's blogs lately (especially the picture at Ana's--beautiful!)

nutmeg said...

It was really great to chat and compare notes with you. Very uplifting to find yet another kindred spirit in Wisconsin!

Must be the state.

:)