Whenever I go home, I deal with feelings of both joy and sadness every day.
Joy, obviously, because we get to spend time with friends and family. Times which uplifts one’s heart immensely. And sadness, because I know that this short time together is all we get for the next ‘who knows how many’ months until we meet again.
Though none of us knows how long we have left on this earth, so we should enjoy every single day to its fullest, right? (but that’s a whole separate blogpost series right there that I won’t start into today 
)
We’re so thankful for Ben & Kim, who organized and invited a bunch of our friends over for lunch on our last full day in KC (okay, mostly my friends, since everyone except for Todd & Scott were from my hometown). I’d been looking forward to this for quite some time, especially because it was the first time I’d seen my cousin, Little Miss Lily, since she was just a wee little newborn.
I’m pretty sure she had no recollection of us from back then, but we were fast friends right away and I was seriously tempted to snuggle her back with us to Seattle.
And Crystal’s little boy, Gavin, so grown up and curious (and walking!) since the last time we saw him back in June.
Look deep into their blue eyes…..don’t those two cuties just melt your heart?
Crystal, Kim, little G, me, Ali & Lindsay. I’m blessed to have known these lovely ladies practically all my life.
While us girls chatted away, the men were left to entertain themselves and the kids. I got a good chuckle upon seeing the living room scene.
Cousin Ryan, Lindsay & Lily. Such a good looking family. Oh, how I wish I still lived just blocks away and could come over on a moments notice to babysit. It’s nice to see she seems to have inherited her father’s goofiness.
Or perhaps it just runs in the entire family…..
. . . . . . . .
On our way to the airport Monday morning, I was happy to squeeze in one last coffee date with my college friends Kaddie & Erin. These two girls make me laugh like no one else can and an hour with them really isn’t sufficient enough time, but I’ll gladly take whatever I can get. And at least now Todd & Erin are once again settled up on their cheeseburger bets.
So hard to say goodbye to everyone, but we had great fun and lasting memories during those 4 whirlwind days back home. Until next time….