Coming Home

Last week, H11, S9, M6 and I traveled from our house to my parents home in Florida to visit with sisters and cousins.  It was a mini-reunion and birthday celebration.  The only downside to the trip was the fourteen hour drive each direction.  Thankfully, my children are excellent car travelers and made the trip as painless as possible.  We listened to books, they watched movies, did a little school work and stayed cheerful, even when I wasn't.

During the visit with family, I heard my children asked several times what they thought of their new house.  Over and over again, I heard them, individually and collectively, talk about how much they loved where we live now and why they love it.  It did my heart good to step into warm weather and relax a little.  It also did my heart good to know that when we returned to real life we would be returning to a place my children wanted to go.

Admittedly, saying goodbye on the last day of our visit was difficult.  Goodbyes are never easy.  The drive home was long and boring.  We felt every one of those fourteen hours.  The trip was broken by a stay in a lovely Marriott Courtyard in Rock Hill, South Carolina with an indoor pool.  We all enjoyed the swimming time.  The best part of the trip was knowing that we were coming home and that all of us were happy to be returning to a place that, even after only a month, we'd truly missed.