Name this blog!!!: Are we there yet? Just wait and see...

There was a time, when the girls were still in car seats that faced backwards or had just graduated to the forward facing ones, traveling by car was easy. I say that in retrospect, of course, because in those actual moments, stopping for the 50th time to take care of an infant and toddler's needs could be harrying. Now that they are 6 and 8, we recognize how much easier it is to travel with children who are potty trained, can feed themselves, can read to themselves or play games and watch movies (even put the DVDs in by themselves).

But we forgot. We forgot about the "ARE WE THERE YETs" or AWTYs.

This began about one or two years ago. Maddy, being the oldest, started to realize just how long these trips to FL or MI were taking. Our travel kits filled with snacks, juices, books, coloring books, games, dolls and movies weren't doing it for her anymore. And so, as if pre-programmed or a timer set to go off at 6.5 or 7, she said clearly, loudly "are WE there YET?". Please add intonation, stressors, etc where you know they go.

I think my head snapped around like Linda Blair. What? No...

couldn't be. Where did she hear that? How would she know to put those words together into a sentence parents dread to hear on a road trip (besides 'I have to go bathroom' when the next exit is 100 miles away)? And you know the best part: it won't be the last time it's said on the trip.

We managed, of course, and once we got to our most recent destination in FL, all the "AWTYs" were 'no thing'. We attended my brother's wedding on Long Boat Key and to say it was lovely would be understating it. Standing there, sea shells strewn about, sand crabs wriggling by, water rushing in to welcome a long lost daughter...it just felt good to be home.

The girls were ecstatic to be flower girls and Beth looked exquisite, my brother handsome. It was all warmth and sunsets and love as my family gathered, some whom I haven't seen for a while. It was good.

I stood out on that beach the few nights we were there and watched my sunset as long as I could. They're my favorite. I claim them and the stars as mine - a gift God shares with me each evening. And it's a gift that's shared with others, of course, but in that moment, my eyes locked on the fiery horizon or on Orion's Belt - it's mine. Christmas for me is any night I get to stand out and immerse myself in the heavens.

I took a deep breath of salty air and tried to keep it in for awhile. The girls and my nephew Javitz ran along the shoreline watching sand crabs pop out and scurry towards water. I could hear them laugh with utter delight. I hope my daughters share a passion for what I have always loved for as long as I can remember - the sheer beauty of a limitless creation. It's a wonder Maddy's name isn't Sky or Cielo.