I’ve been gone for a month.
Yep. A full month. In fact, I won’t get home until tomorrow. I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and not living out of a suitcase.
I’ve never done this before. I had several activities, one after the other, and we just made it work. In the last month, I’ve:
- Spent almost a week at a spiritual retreat in Philadelphia.
- Had fun with my three older sons and my brother’s family in Texas.
- Was a vendor and speaker at the Great Homeschool Convention in Round Rock, Texas.
- Dropped our youngest son off at camp in Missouri.
- Gone to Indianapolis so my husband could see the racetrack there.
- Went to Michigan so my mom could see her brother and his wife.
- Went to two National Parks.
- Visited the Lincoln Presidential Museum and his house in Illinois.
- Visited another son and his wife in St. Louis.
- Dropped my husband off at the airport so he could go home and get back to work.
- Went to Oklahoma so that my mom and I could visit more relatives and go see Pawhuska (and the Pioneer Woman’s Mercantile).
- Went to Missouri again so that my mom could fulfill a lifelong dream of visiting Laura Ingalls Wilder’s home and museum.
- And finally, picked up my youngest from camp and started home.
I’m so grateful for this wonderful trip! It was busy but we had several days built in, to just rest. I actually read several books! REAL books! And a couple of them were fiction! Usually, I just listen to audiobooks, and I very rarely read fiction because I have a hard time putting them down.
I had a few really big takeaways from this trip.
1. It really helped to start something big like this with an activity that helped me center myself.
2. Seeing people I love get excited (my husband at Indianapolis and my mom at Laura’s & Pawhuska) gives me so much joy.
3. Being present – not thinking about work or the future – was AMAZING! I’ve got to take time to do it more.
4. I’m bubbling over with ideas! I can’t wait to share some with you soon!