Today is my 54th birthday! I like my birthdays. I have never been age-phobic. I like to ponder on my life on my birthday. Do an evaluation. It has been a really good one. Not without it's challenges, but I can see my weaknesses and strengths and how I have grown and where I still need to improve. I have wonderful parents who did the very best job they could do raising me. Being a parent myself, I know how it feels to make my own parenting mistakes--children do not come with parenting manuals and there is no way to go through raising children except by trial and error and doing the best you can with the skills you bring to it. So today has been peaceful and one of reflection. I have set some goals and feel satisfied.
We left at 7am for Arizona. We have never traveled this route before. It was quite pretty. A 2 lane road most of the way rather than a 4-6 lane highway. All the little Utah towns were darling and quaint. I wondered how one lives in such a small town away from a big city. Suburban life is all I have ever known, and I think it would make me completely crazy to live in such a small place. And if that's all they have known, the opposite would be true for them too. I like the accessibility of things in the city/suburbs, the cultural opportunities, I can be as visible or as annonymous as I want to be.
The drive also has it's ugly part getting into the desert just like our route on the 15 through Vegas. And then pretties up again as you leave it. We made good time and the baby was fabulous. For being 10 hours in the car he did a great job! He loved getting out at the gas station stops and feeling the warm wind. He made such a funny face at it.
When we got to my parents, two of my brother's kids were there. Tim and Rebekah. This is their first visit to my parents house since they have lived in AZ. We haven't seen them since I was pregnant with Christine, 16 years ago. That is a long time. I told my mom and sister not to celebrate my birthday. Even though I never get to celebrate with them, I wanted this to be about Tim and Bekah. I cannot even express how much I love them and how wonderful, fabulous, marvelous it was to be together after so many years. There is a division with my brother and our family. It has resulted in a distance between all of us full of heartache and longing. I have had to make my peace over the years that some things may not be worked out in this life, but I am hopeful that they will through the atonement in the next. I have faith in and trust in the Lord. His promises are sure.
We had a great fettucine, chicken alfredo dinner at Lisa's with salad and garlic bread. Please post the bread recipe Lisa!!! Robert and my dad got the crib set up. We are tired and happy.
2 comments:
Sounds like a nice but busy birthday. You must have driven through Kanab taking 20 across the mountain to connect you to 89. Brad and I know that drive from doing if (often) with our parents and families and again ourselves as as young married couple.
Happy Birthday late!!! So nice to see family, especially when you haven't for a long time!!
Post a Comment