Vacation of Love

The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.
~Vincent Van Gogh~

I just got back from a vacation during which I visited several people who I love dearly.  All of them except one are related biologically and the other is related through our hearts.

First visit was to our son and daughter-in-law.  The 8 hour drive was amazing.  They live in Tennessee - right in the heart of the Smoky Mountains and we live in eastern Virginia so we had to drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Both ranges are spectacular and, truthfully, each range is probably an extension of the other.  I might be just a few minutes drive from the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean, but give me mountains any day of the week.

It was so good to see my kids - it felt as though it'd been ages since I'd seen them when, in reality, it had only been a few weeks.  I'm the kind of mom who wants her children to fly the nest but only to a new nest in the next tree.  Our youngest son lives about five miles from us and that's a perfect distance in my opinion.  But no matter how many miles separate us from our children, we remain a close and loving family.

After a couple of days with our kids, we packed up and headed to Ohio. Of course, the kids joined us on this leg of the journey.  We spent a wonderful afternoon with my aunt and uncle who I've not seen in several years.  Neither my uncle nor my aunt are in the best of health these days and they're not getting any younger.  I wanted to make sure to see them on this trip since I'm not sure when (or if) I'll ever get to see them again.  My uncle, God bless him, spent the morning cooking for us and had a spread laid out when we got there.  They didn't want us to leave - and frankly, I didn't want to leave either - but we were chomping at the bit to get to our final destination.

After long, drawn out goodbyes, we piled in the truck and headed north to my chosen sister's place in northern Ohio.  She and I met several years ago when we both joined a Patrick Swayze fan based email list.  We clicked right away and decided that each of us was the sister that God hadn't given us.  It had been seven years since we last saw each other in person so this was a long overdue visit.

The final destination was sort of my chosen sister's place.  I say "sort of" because the real reason for the trip was to visit our granddaughter who is living in a nursing home just a short drive from where my chosen sister lives.  Our son and daughter-in-law had to place her there because of the physical and mental handicaps she has.  Though they told us it was a good place and that she was happy there, you know Grandma and Grandpa had to see it for themselves.  We never doubted their word, but still, I want to see things for myself and, in this case, my husband did too.  We were not disappointed.

Our girl is extremely happy in her new home (and yeah, I have a really hard time using that word to describe where she is now).  She's actually flourishing and isn't "different" anymore.  In fact, she's the normal and WE are the ones who are "different" now.  I was worried, though, about how she would be when it was time for us to leave her.  I shouldn't have.  She was glad to see us but was happy to stay behind when we left.

We spent a few days with my sis and then headed back to Tennessee and, finally, Virginia.  I learned on this trip that love is an amazing thing.  I saw it not only in the faces of my family but when the staff at the nursing home tended to my granddaughter, when she looked at them and when she interacted with other residents of the home, when my chosen sister wore herself out seeing to our every need and when my uncle cooked that huge meal for us.  I'm sure it was a chore for him but I have no doubt that he did it out of love.

I consider myself very blessed that God gave me the family I have and that He lead me to the right friends.  Life is good and God is good.