Snippets

"No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today" ~ Fra Giovanni

1. I'm going camping in New Hampshire tonight with the family.  G and Sam planned all of the dutch oven meals, shopped for the supplies, and packed us all up. Apparently all I have to do is pack my sweatshirt, pajamas, pillow, and toothbrush. Heaven.

2. This morning I sat in the September sun on a bench with a good friend. We talked for two hours and felt the breeze and twinges of autumn. It was so restorative and helped me remember to look upward and outward more. Heaven.

3. I'm giddy with anticipation for a girls' adventure starting Monday. Christie and I are heading out on a long-planned, much-postponed and eagerly anticipated journey to London and Paris for eight lucky days.* (Believe me, I know how lucky I am. Europe? In October? With Christie? For a whole week? Heaven.) My happy dance looks like this:

Note: I don't know about the song's hypothesis about the relationship between wifely ugliness and any subsequent husbandly happiness that springs from it. I just like the dancing, not the message. But, oh, what dancing!

4. What I do know, however, is that I married a terrific man who really is willing to find ways to build bits of heaven for us here on earth. He continues to amaze me with his kindness and support. He not only tolerates my pursuits and wanderings he nudges me to do them, knowing me as he does. Here's to G. Heaven to me.

. . .

*please let me know what your Londan and Paris faves are. I admit I've been to London a few times but I've still got a lot to see and learn about that city. And I've only been to Paris once, when I was 18. What to see/eat/walk/experience?

North

We headed north for a quick jaunt to Vermont this weekend, G and I.  Our fab friends (from back in law school, oh, 19 years ago) are in New England visiting their daughter who's at Dartmouth's debate camp this summer. We jumped at the chance to hang out with them when they invited us to crash their vacation for a blissful day or two.

You've got to love a town with an announcement blackboard, right?^

Such great people. (Hope you don't mind my posting the photo, guys...hey look, I'm in the window. Never let it be said I don't post pictures of myself.) 

Amazing what a 24-hour roadtrip can do for your outlook. Vermont, you did yourself proud.

G generously offered to drive while I put back the seat for a bit and snoozed on the way home in the warm afternoon sun. Our time up north was filled with marvelous views but I think this one was one of my favorites.

True north, that G.

Losing it

G and I went on a romantic date to Costco on Saturday afternoon. I had the keys to the car in my purse so I drove us there while we chatted away about work and our kids and the upcoming summer and other sundry things. You know, like you do. We parked out in the nether regions of the lot since it was an hour before closing and everyone in the Boston metro area had realized they needed bulk toilet paper and mega packs of dog food.

We went in and spent a good 40 minutes amongst the packs of batteries, double sleeves of bagels, containers of blueberries, and bulk candy (for his bishop's office jar, of course). We bought our things, packed them into boxes, and headed to the car. 

We darted around cars and carts and trudged up the hill to the back of the parking lot. As we came closer and our car came into view I said "that's weird, it looks like there's smoke coming out of our tailpipe." We decided maybe the car behind ours was creating an optical illusion. We got closer. "No, there really IS smoke coming out of our tailpipe. What's up with that?" 

It was then that I reached the car and realized IT WAS ON. As in running. I had gotten out of the car, left it running with the keys in it (unlocked) and shopped for close to an hour.  Seriously. Preoccupied doesn't even begin to describe it.  Oy. 

At home, I confessed the whole saga. Kids, go mark this date on the calendar as the day your mom began to lose her mind. 

This does, actually, have me worried about my brain. Please tell me you've done something forgetful + absent minded + loopy? Otherwise I'm going to have to spend the next week googling symptoms of early onset dementia...

Thought bubbles, anyone?

As I was sifting through photos yesterday, I came across this gem taken after our reception:

This is just a trick of the camera, though. She's really not angry. My mom was a Greg fan from the start, supportive through the whole wedding planning and pre-marriage phase. She was happy for us. Right, Mom?

Thought bubbles, anyone? 

Lucky 21

 21 years later...

my love grows

every day

and I still feel like the luckiest.

Love you, G.

. . .

Listen:  The Luckiest ~ Ben Folds  

and (for anniversary authenticity)

Can I have this dance for the rest of my life? ~ Anne Murray*

**Can I Have This Dance was the (unrequested but awesomely quirky) song we danced to at our reception, sung & played by the equally awesome and quirky live jazz/cowboy combo band

All right, enough with the SPOF for now.