La Familia...

So here I am in Pittsburgh, very thankful to be sitting in the same room as my totally amazing and wonderful husband. Who- by the way surprised me today with the sweetest note under my windshield wiper! Ah!!!  Which directed me to meet my "secret admirer" at a coffee shop for a surprise date! I'm lovin it!
So during nap time as the tots were sleeping and the music was playing and the fan was blowing and you could here the soft, yet loud at the same time, very distinctive sound of thumb sucking....
These thoughts came to me
  Yes, it is good to venture out into the world and see where your adventures take you. It is good to see many faces and hear stories and grow your heart out in the wild. But it is also good to return "home" again and hear the screen door slam behind you as you walk into familiar arms and see good wrinkles and laugh with the people who love you, even when it's not convenient.
So this is what I am dreaming of these summer days. Remembering, missing , laughing and thinking these good thoughts....
  Warm sunshine trickling through old windows. Afternoon showers. Lime green shag carpet. How my older sister used to take us to the pool and then let us stay in our bathing suits all day long. My brother and I going for rides with our dad in his bread truck and screaming every time he stopped at a red light. My Grandmom in a tube top pulling weeds out of the cracks in the drive way. And mostly this -> eating, eating, eating. Washing dishes. So much laughing and more laughing. Fighting over the rice at the bottom of the pot, affectionately known as " pega'o". Dancing, dancing, turning the music up louder, moving the couches for more dancing. Yelling, but only the good kind. Summer drives with friends, windows down and AC on. Sleep overs in 8th grade when the lightning bugs came out. Love letters from far away. Best friends getting married on warm evenings in the mountains. Fishing with little brother. Casablanca with a pint ( of mint chocolate oreo of course!). My mama's good salads and soft hands that are always the right temperature, especially when it's hot out side. And my almost always shirtless Fath. ( er).
  This summer looks different than the many summers before. There is no Blue Cone or Dairy Inn. No beach and no mountains. There is no family down the road or good friends just a flight of stairs away. But there is sunshine and life and new beginnings.
And some good news: time off has been approved to travel south for a week to see la familia! <3
Tomorrow's agenda
 Boot Camp
Mopping the kitchen floor.. errr emm. cough cough.
Groceries... and Laundry.
Oh and maybe a bike ride...
Oh! and maybe the pool... !!