Good Things Are Coming

We made it back home safe and sound yesterday afternoon after an uneventful two day trip. Lucy, as usual, travels like a boss. Much better than either of us do. As is always the case, our house seemed huge when we walked in the door, each room bigger than we remembered. This morning I had to think for a minute to recall how to make coffee. But eventual it all came back to me like muscle memory that had atrophied. It felt good to settle back in to our home. We are lucky to have a place that we love to go, and a place we love to come back to.

There’s no telling what awaits me at the office this morning. Whatever it is I’m sure that Kristin has it all organized and laid out perfectly on my desk. Although I have not missed the work, I have missed the people there. It will be good to see them again, to begin anew my daily harassment of each of them. I’m sure they have missed it.

So, Pam had gone to the grocery store and I was unpacking when I hear a knock on the door. It’s Kennedy from next door, she’s the artistic middle child who is always painting, sculpting or knitting something. I have accumulated quite a collection of her work over the years. I’m keeping them all since one day she will probably be famous and they will be worth a fortune. Anyway, I opened the door and there she was on my front porch with her hands full of stuff she had made. I sat down on the steps and listened to her explain how she made each one. For me there was a coaster that she made at pottery class. For Pam there was a potholder she knitted, and then there was a bag of warm chocolate chip cookies…

My heart melted. First of all, she’s in elementary school yet has the skills to create this type of art. The coaster is a dog’s paw of her own design. That she would choose that to make for me is adorable. She knows how much I love Miss Lucy, I guess. But beyond the merits of these things as art is the thoughtfulness, the kind and tender heart, her desire to…give. Her little sister Sully and her big brother Cash are the same way. Their parents, Jamie and Stu, are killing it, even though they don’t think so half the time. Like all parents they are overwhelmed by the responsibility and the hard work involved in raising kids today. But they are doing something right!

I had planned on giving each of them their Maine gifts last night, but by the time we had finished dinner I was pooped. So I will go over this afternoon.

I often think about this culdesac where I live and the kids that have been raised here, including my own. Among them are one who wound up at West Point, another at the Naval Academy. There is a girl at JMU, another girl in high school who has been the go-to dog sitter and baby sitter for the entire street. There are two beautiful little ones down the street with blond curls and radiant smiles who we have gotten to see grow up from strollers to bicycles. Then there are these three knuckleheads next door who have squirreled their way into our hearts since the day they moved in.

It’s one of the reasons we live here, that we have stayed here. I watch these kids grow up, watch their parents raising them and I take heart for the future. Good things are coming.