It's Saturday evening and I write this with a big pile of clean laundry next to me that I kind of pushed over to make room on the bed to sit here and type. It can wait, right? I feel like it's been forever. Eleven days to be exact but I miss you, I miss writing here and sharing here so I thought I would pop in with an update.
It's been a busy few weeks. So much travel, some good things happening, and some bad things too. I think the biggest thing I've been thinking about these past couple of weeks is how strange it is to watch your parents age. It's horrible actually. I still imagine my Mom and Dad to be about forty in my mind- that's where they're kind of frozen. But then sometimes, like this past week, I'm suddenly struck with the fact that no, my father is almost seventy and my mother isn't far behind. How did this happen? It's scary, isn't it? It's this weird thing where we're so lucky to have a lifetime with the people we love, but as we get older and realize that the better part of that lifetime has already been lived, well, that's hard. Goodbyes are inevitable of course, but when you see your parents sick or hurting or not the way they've always been, it's a weird place to be as a grown-up child. They should be invincible, right? Forever forty, forever my young, able parents who took care of me- not the other way around. Growing up is hard, even at 32.
The other day I was hiking with my friend Alana and we were talking about growth and change and how good it feels to discover different parts of ourselves as we get older. It got me thinking about the past couple of years and what a shift I've experienced in myself. All I want to do now is be outside, go into nature, hike and explore. This hasn't always been the case, and it's so interesting to me because now it's something I need in almost a spiritual way. I'm going to stop here before I get going, but if you ever want to discuss this, come join me on an adventure and we can sit on the side of a mountain and cry about how beautiful the world is. Half kidding. Haha.
And speaking of beautiful, this stage of life with the boys, you guys! It's just the coolest. They're getting so big and Charlie is such a chatterbox. Henry is learning to read, and it's one of the absolute neatest things I've ever seen. It's especially interesting as someone so in love with the English language, because I've never watched someone actually learn to read before. Paired with Charlie's daily language acquisition my mind is pretty much blown everyday. Very cool stuff.
Some other things going on- work is keeping me busy. I've figured out a good balance with my job and life, which was a challenge for me in the beginning as I balanced my new "work at home mama" gig, but half a year later I'm buzzing along and we've got it down. Hank and I have a wedding coming up next week that I'm really excited about, and I actually head to Utah in a couple of days too. Zion National Park, here I come. I've also been reading some really amazing books lately that I will share more about very soon here, and one in particular has totally got me thinking. I'll tell you more about it this next week.
For now I'm off to tackle this pile of laundry now (fold, fold, fold), but I wanted to say hi. And thank you. And that I love you! I hope you are having a great night too, wherever you may be.
xoxo
