a visit... overdue

I suppose it wasn’t enough that I had to make two round trips to camp last week, equaling over 16 hours in the car, because then…. we drove to the Florida Keys.  Eight more hours… just for fun. It was really beautiful, driving along… the sky just seemed to melt into the sea, leaving me wondering where one left off and the other began. If we had had all the time in the world, I would’ve asked Eric to pull off the road so I could dip my toes into the beautiful blue… but I just wanted to get there, and stopping along the way would've been time out of our visit. Because we didn’t go just for fun… we went for family, too. Eric’s cousin Pam and her girls were on vacation. I say Eric’s cousin, because she is… and I feel funny calling her my cousin, because the connection we have is so much more than that. She is a friend… a very special and dear friend. One I would drive to the ends of the earth for.
The summer visits started ten years ago. That just brings tears to my eyes. Ten. Wow.
Summer would mean meeting up for some kind of adventure...  giving the kids time to play, and the Moms time to catch up and visit.  But the past couple of years we have missed out on a summer visit, for one reason or another.  Last weeks’ was short on time, but not on laughter or love. We had to marvel at how the girls had grown… taller than their Moms since the last time we stood all together. We had to laugh about temper tantrums, and take time to be thankful that those years have passed us by... and of course, just when we needed it, the Free Bag was nowhere in sight.   It was good... just being together and seeing for ourselves that God has us just where He needs us to be, and that everyone is a-okay.  The hours flew... and just before the sun set, we headed for home.  There might have been a tear or two when we said goodbye... but our hug seemed to promise that there wouldn't be so much time separating this visit from the next. 

What is the Free Bag? Perhaps a story for another day…