Off The Beaten Path

A car. A life vest. A trailer. The smell of sunscreen and bug spray. The feeling of the sun-scorched sand beneath your feet and the sweeping lake breeze whipping your hair. The sound of the waves at night.

Are these my children's memories or mine?

Happily - both.

This past week we went off grid and leapt through waves and put kites in the sky. We climbed dunes and watched the sun light up the sky all pinky purple at the end of the day. We slept soundly and close together. We licked ice cream and chased seagulls and climbed nature trails.

A family trip is many things to a Mama, but it is very rarely a vacation. Indeed, I did at least a load of laundry a day, nursed a sick baby for the first few days, washed dishes and made meals and if I thought I'd get much of a rest I would have been sorely disappointed. But the truth is, I didn't go on this trip for me. I did it for them - all for them.

And the beauty of giving without expectation is the abundance of what you get when you aren't looking to receive.

So I tuck into my little stash of memories the new ones I found this year.

Them riding that driftwood down the shore.

Her footprints in the sand

His face when he held that big fat toad

Basketball with Dad

Monarch caterpillars and the boy who loved them

My mom rocking my baby to sleep

My dad holding her dimpled toddler hand

The peace of shutting out the noisy world, tuning out and turning in to see the beauty of every created thing and the sure closeness of the One who holds them all for me to see.


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