Sunday, June 29, 2008

Home Again

The Road Trip is done. Hubby is back from California. Kids are tucked away in their little beds, visions of "Wall-E" floating through their heads.

I still have to clean up the remains of dinner (barbecue ribs, mashed redskins, purple slaw, and pumpkin pie). And do one more load of laundry. But first I wanted to stop and thank all of you who prayed for us during that final leg of our marvelous road trip.

Sarah and I are still friends. Better than before the trip, even. That in itself is a miracle. Three thousand miles and four small children can wreak havoc on the most intimate of relationships ... but somehow I know that the memories of this trip will stay with both of us for a long time. We've met each others' families, including parents and siblings, and now we know a dozen little details about each other that you simply can't discover without extended time together.

Sarah taught me that I can't hope to be a good podcaster unless I actually listen to podcasts (what a concept!), anymore than I can be a good writer without reading.

I taught Sarah that any bad situation can be made a little more laughable with the right song, especially when you improvise ridiculous lyrics.

Our children taught us that everyone needs a bit of space from time to time in order to maintain a positive outlook. And that traveling with four children (unrelated ones, that is) is not as easy as traveling with two of them. I'm working on a CE article about this even now entitled "Can't We All Just Get Along?"

Of course we can. We're already talking about our next road trip ... Not the same one, of course. Next year, Craig will be joining me at the Celebration! (Maybe we'll meet the Reinhards and the rest of you there!)

2 comments:

Ebeth said...

Heidi,

...and through your lessons, others can learn something, too.

Thanks so much for being there, for me, and all the rest of our wonderful Catholic blogger community.

You are a gift!

Hugs
Ebeth

Sarah Reinhard said...

And the song that accompanies this one, as I'm reading it, is, with your voice humming along, something like "Mary had a LITTLE BLEEPING LAMB" - oh wait, that was ME singing, and that's why it's not so cheerful. :)

Can't wait to read that article. I'm pretty sure I'll print it out and tape it to my forehead so I remember that. Can't we? Pahhh-leeezze? :)