We just got back Saturday from our week long trip to Door County. We really had a nice vacation with my parents, Lisa and her four kids, Becky and her baby and for a shorter time, Ted's parents. We spent the week swimming at Clark Lake, Nicolet Bay, Whitefish Dunes, and a couple of smaller beaches...Otumba and Sunrise Beach. We also shopped, tried a Fish Boil, and checked out some lighthouses: Eagle Bluff (at Peninsula State Park), Sherwood Point and Cana Island. I have a small lighthouse collection and added to my resin statues on this trip. We also took the older kids on a short, scenic plane trip over Sturgeon Bay.
Overall, I noticed how well the little ones adapted and easily went off with the older kids to the playground and the store. I felt like I had more physical freedom from the little ones on this trip. I don't feel like they clung to me as much as they did last year camping. They were able to entertain themselves much better. Bed time was not as difficult this year. I remember last year it could take an hour and a half to get them to settle down and go to sleep. And they were more fearful of the trailer. This year, they seemed more comfortable in their beds and more ready to sleep. However, we did have some major hiccups. Mary is going through a stage where she can be the demon child. Luckily, they were just moments...but very trying and required tons of patience. We've this coming on gradually and I think the trip brought it to a head. Sometimes I have to answer a question from her FOUR TIMES, before she stops asking it. And I've already talked about how she sometimes won't settle until we answer it the "right way". But then, she had that balanced with great times on the beach where she happily played for hours. I can't complain. Ben was pretty good...once he finished detox of his favorite computer game, "Toontown".
I'm ready to close up the camper for the year. We camped three times and that was enough this year. With school starting in TWO WEEKS (yikes!) and my crazy time with the PTO and Children's Liturgy...I have too much on my mind and I will be hitting the ground running. I was able to push everything aside for vacation and not think about it much, but on the ride home all these thoughts of things I needed to do came rushing into my head. After Ted's encouragement, I made a list. Lists always make me feel better.
I'm already dreaming how next year will be so different...no diapers. I can't believe that this time next year I'll be preparing Ben for Kindergarten. It makes me want to cry! He can't possibly be ready for full time school! He barely tolerates Mom's Day Out!! It always seemed so far away...and now it's just a year. Every year at this time, my sister, Lisa, cries about the passing of time. It's like she bookmarks each year with her tears and then moves into the business of the year. It's her way of pondering her kids ages with the realization of what will be lost as each year ends. She is always thinking about what is gained...but once a year she mournes what will be lost as they get older. I think it is a good thing to do. I think too many things slip away from us unnoticed and we never take the time to honor it.
For example, the last night we were at the campground, my dad stayed at the fire after everyone else went to bed. I asked him why he was staying up when every other night he was the first to go to bed. He said, "I'm a sentimental guy. I like to think about the trip and all the memories we made and say a prayer." Wow. As he was talking about it, I saw his emotions. He told me that he does this at the end of every camping trip! He also said he does it whenever they leave a house (which he's only done twice). He said when they left their apartment, as a young married couple, he would make sure he was the last one to leave. He would spend time in the room thinking of all the memories that were made there, almost like making a recording in his mind so he wouldn't forget them. He did that 39 years ago, before I was born, and he did it just two years ago with the house he raised his kids in.
I know I've done it before...like the night before I got married. I knew it would be the last time I would be sleeping in my parent's house as their responsibility. After that night, I would be on my own. After he told me this, I layed down in bed and thought about my Dad and how he won't always be there. And then I practically wrote his eulogy. I thought about how I would recite the poem I wrote, and then talk about this conversation with my Dad. I would say to the congregation that this room (the church), would be the last place my Dad would be before returning to his Maker. And then I would talk about all the people in the room and how each one holds memories of my Dad and that we should all mark this moment and remember who he was, because now he's moving on. And just like he does right before he leaves a chapter in his life, we should say a prayer...for him and everyone he loved. And then I started to fight back tears. I didn't want to think about my Dad's funeral, but it is a way to prepare the mind. And it's a way to treasure the gift he is to us while he's still alive. My Dad is not sick...he's not looking like he's ready to wrap up his life. I guess I'm just more aware of his mortality after celebrating him turning 70 over the trip.
Stacey, you are right...my blogs can turn into books when I haven't done it in a while. And to think I didn't know what I would write when I started...it all seems to unfold somehow....
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