It has been a little while but we have finally settled down after the move. Or rather, we are settling down enough that I can get back to writing and reflecting a little bit.
A little bit of admin stuff up front…
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We moved out of our house March 16. We slept in our own beds again May 13. Almost 2 months of living out of bags and sleeping on floors! It was quite an adventure. Please Please Please do not think that we were having a hard time. It seems as though we did not suffer at all.
One of my objectives for the trip was to spend some time together as a family and see if we could strengthen some of relationships. There are some wounds in my kids that I have caused and I wanted to see if I could spend those months trying to reconcile their little hearts to mine.
It seems to have worked well. Now that I understand the hearts of my older kids a little bit better, we were able to connect in a more deliberate manner. My oldest daughter, the introvert, would sit next to me for 6 hours at a time. It was most comfortable for me to ride with my right arm resting across the seat-backs, and so my hand would rest on her shoulder. We wouldn’t talk about much, but the moments we did spend talking were precious.
Sleeping on the floor wasn’t bad either. We got to stay with family, friends, friends who are family, and family who are friends. All in all it was such a great trip. Spent time with a range of people like folks that my wife and kids have never met and that I have dearly missed (Thanks for the grape juice bro!), as well as family that we saw last Christmas.
And now we are here.
I have a lot of butterflies in my stomach right now. It feels like tomorrow is the first day at a new school… probably because it is. I’m more excited than I am nervous or anxious. I do wonder if I have what it takes. I’m not so concerned about graduating, I wonder if I have what it takes to actually be the sole medical provider on a submarine.
I’m sure it will be fine.
My soul rests as I wait.
Thanks for being patient with us as we travelled.
Thanks so much too for letting us sleep on your floors!! I cannot think of a better way to explore this great nation of ours!!
Until next time…
Great post, Christ heals and it seems that some blessings came to you and your family! That makes me smile! You and your family are special to me and one of my favorite memories in WA! I look forward to seeing you all again, but I will have a wife in tow now! 🙂 Y’all take care!
IMO You will be awesome as the sole medical provider for our submariners.. They NEED someone like you who is looking out for them and caring for them. You will do just fine in that capacity.. Just remember to really LISTEN to them when they come to you… Now wether or not you will be able to handle the LIFE on a submarine may be a different story. Its all up to you. 🙂 Good luck in this new chapter of your life.. and if you happen to run into my husband out there in Groton please give him a great big hug from me.. I miss him.. miss y’all too!!
your kids will remember this move all their lives. What an adventure.
Not until I was an adult did I realize that this was what our secondhand ski boat was for my Dad – a way to spend time with his teenage daughters, who were often shuttered about opening up their hearts but craved the time with their Dad. It gave us an opportunity to get out of the house, for the brave ones to test limits, for the quiet one to sit in the sun and have it be all right that she was quiet, for us to see things we hadn’t known before and understand that our help was needed to get the boat ready and in the water. When we were teens, we thought this was just an extension of Dad’s motorcycle years, having fun gunning a motor and playing with speed in a new environment. When I hit college, I realized from talking with other women that I had a treasure in the kind of relationship my Dad had cultivated with me.
You rock, Mike. Thank you for sharing this, and for being this kind of dad.
Thanks. I hope it develops a deep connection that helps to cover a lot of the less than pains and wounds I cause my kids. Either way, we really enjoy being on the water.