Luke and Nuala playing (Their dads have been great friends since childhood, growing up in Delmar together, and are now both GE finance guys!)
Michaela and Jenna were such great helpers with Luke during our Delmar visit. Thanks, girls!
Luke and Baby Alec- such little men!We also made a brief morning stop in Roanoke, VA on our drive. Perched on top of a mountain, we saw the giant star that served as a familiar symbol of welcome for this city where we bought our first home and spent 3 wonderful years. We drove through our old neighborhood, passed "our" house, commenting on the new paint color of the shutters, the changes in landscaping, and the noticeable lack of the 2 enormous shade trees in the backyard. I wondered if the woman who bought the house from us loved it as much as we did, if she shared a similar sense of homeowner pride at the completion of home improvement projects, gardening, and yardwork, and if her dog enjoyed swimming in the creek as much as Winnie. We parked the car, and Mark took Winnie on a walk through the neighborhood. He said that her tail didn't stop wagging and she proudly pranced along her "old route" as if she had never left. We reminisced over long-forgotten stories of neighbors, Winnie's puppy days, and the nostalgic memories that we created in Roanoke.
Happy young couple on the front steps of our Roanoke home.
Winnie's first day with us (October 2004).However, everything came into perspective for me as we stopped at one of my favorite places in the world- the downtown Roanoke City Market. Although we still had hours to drive on this particular leg of our journey, Mark indulged my wish to hop out of the car for just a minute to walk down the street and soak in the outdoor farmer's market that I love so much. Rows of fresh produce, vendors with bouquets of bright flowers, and adorable restaurants and cafes lined the street that once was such a familiar part of my weekly routine. In those (pre-child) days, Mark and I would frequent the market often and have weekend "dates" where we'd go out to dinner at fancy restaurants or explore nearby wineries. For a split second, I thought of how simple and breezy life seemed then, as newly married professionals.
I hurried to our Jeep, which was double parked, flashers on and engine running. Our stroller was tied to the roof and the inside was packed full of bags, beach toys, snacks, and enough Elmo DVDs to last on a cross-country voyage. I waved to my most precious cargo who were waiting for me: My loving husband, who has made and shared all of these memories, our sweet Winnie, who was our first "baby" and allowed us to become parents, and to my most beloved 2-year old son, who was just seeing these places for the first time. I glanced at my reflection in a shop window, seeing my rounded, pregnant belly, and thought, "How full and rich my life is right now." I didn't want to trade it for the world. And that's the thing about nostalgia. It's just a brief yearning for past moments. I realized as we pulled into the driveway of our house in South Carolina after being gone for over 2 weeks, that it was just where I wanted to be. This month marks 3 years since we've moved, which makes it the longest that we've ever lived anywhere. And as I reflect on this, I realize: "We're HOME."
