After 2 weeks of wearing our welcome thin, it was time to leave the overflowing hospitality Adam and his family showed us.
Adam torturing Bella.
She is a good dog.
He has a nice beard.
Washington Sky.
Washington trees.
A mosquito broke Garrett's windshield.
Driving, driving, driving.
(Oregon)
Sunset, sunset, sunset.
My Aunt Carrie graciously opened her home to us for a one night stopover on our way to San Francisco. I just love Carrie and all of her children.
I hope she doesn't mind that I stole this picture from her FB....
One Great Big Mormon Family.
Glorious.
Sometimes you just need to be with your own people. Having not seen my own family for 8 months (as my mom so kindly reminded me throughout the entire roadtrip) and feeling homesick for something I still can't put my finger on, I just needed to be with Carrie. Carrie is my mom's sister, and definitely my people. Carrie is one of the most welcoming and loving women I have had the pleasure of getting to know (another woman worthy of mention here is my aunt Wendy. I would drop plans with the President of the United States for these women).
Garrett didn't see the similarities between my aunt and myself. And maybe the things that I find very obviously genetic aren't as tangible as I think they are. I, after all, was raised by a Kempton woman in a Kempton woman's home, so the connection between things we find funny or tones of voice or laughter or the way we "cheerlead" is very noticeable to me.
My friend Kellie has seen me in my home environment; she's seen my bubbly, silly self completely untamed; she knows both my aunt Carrie and my aunt Wendy. Kellie says she sees the connection pretty clearly.
I guess I probably trade my more bubbly, silly, playful side for a more serious, subdued, catty side when I hang out with the dudes, so I don't blame Garrett for not seeing it.
Anyway, I, of course, offered Garrett's musical talents and poetic abilities for their viewing pleasure.
LOVE THIS SHOT.
Garrett either didn't notice or was a really good sport about me taking a picture.
Very much like my own mother, Carrie asked for one more song until Garrett was music-ed out. Then we moved right on into poetry. Garrett shared poems till he got hoarse (the family favorite was "Rabble, Rabble, Rabble, Science, Science Science," of course). THEN the older kids came back from mutual (church activity night) and Carrie convinced Garrett to perform Science again. It was a hit. I loved watching Carrie and the kids enjoy his talents. Usually it would be the artist excited about the captive audience, but in this scenario it was an audience excited about a captive artist.
Then, family prayer. Floppy, tired bodies and shy smiles as we knelt in a circle together, folding our arms and waiting to hear who would be called on to pray. I was raised in a home that had family prayer every night, prayers on food, personal prayers, a prayer in your heart. Lately, however, I've been having trouble talking to God the way I used to. My soul needed the warmth and sincerity of a family kneeling in a circle before the Lord.
Garrett went to bed and I stayed up laughing and eating cookie dough with Carrie and her son Glen. Glen wasn't terribly interested in talking to me the last time I visited their family, so I was delighted when he stayed up with us. What a wonderful man he is growing into. And funny, too.
I was not ready to leave them the next morning. I would've stayed for a week with them if our schedule allowed.
Chinchilla.
[Sidenote: As I have been writing this post, I happened upon the one and only Snoop song in my Itunes. I don't even know how it got here. However, I feel pretty thug listening to it...like I might actually secretly be Snoop's honey or something. "When I see my baby boo, shi', I get foolish"...]
The end.
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