Naomi and I flew to Washington State to visit my family for a week and one day. What a fantastic trip! The flight went perfect, and I couldn't have asked for a sweeter, more relaxed and pleasant baby.
My grandma from Alaska flew down to meet Naomi for the first time, and we had such wonderful times visiting coffee shops (See my child lunging for the coffee cup...yep, that's my girl!) out to lunch, holiday shopping, and even treating my mama to a nice salon for a fancy hair cut :). For the first time in my life, I felt like an adult. Really, a true grown up, like I arrived somewhere that I have been travling toward for the past 27 years, and it is nice to be here... Interesting to me, as I stare at these photos reflecting, that feeling "grown up" is the first thought that comes to mind...and it is not just because I get to sit at the grown up table for dinner, although that is part of it.
The trip was a time of 'catching up' on life outside my immediate own. The second my Grandma arrived with handmade knit gifts, hand carved jewelry and warm joyful eyes, I found myself craving to know details about my mom's family and her mothers heart. Hearing stories, thirsty for the wisdom from the woman who raised my own mother, just drinking it in, gaining new perspective of women I have known my entire life, but on a level I have never yet realized. The stories of when I was the age of the very person I held in my arms nursing under a blanket in the corner of Starbucks, gave me such a sense of self, in a non-newagie sort of way. This is the best way I can describe this feeling of 'grown-up'.
As for my siblings, I was blown away by their maturity, as in my mind they will always be 8, 10 and 13, calling each other names in the back seat of a mini-van... are now practically adults themselves! My sister is almost engaged, fresh from the air forces survival training, with experiences and skills beyond my comprehension. Overhearing a conversation between my two brothers involving instruction on what to do about college and saving money, left me asking myself "when did my rebel brother start dishing advice on education and savings accounts?" It is like feeling very proud, and very left out at the same time, as if I woke up from being asleep for 10 years, and sad, because I wasn't asleep, just absorbed in my day-to day, on an opposite coast.
And like all trips, the time flew by. Thanks giving meal was delicious (see photo) and my flight home was long (again, baby was perfect, sleeping sweetly in my lap most the way home).
Thank you Lord for all your blessings, for safe travels, and precious memories. For making me a mommy, and giving me mine, and my Mommy's Mommy...
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