Missing My Boys

When the alarm went off a little while ago, my husband said his first thought was, "Where are we going today, and are we flying or driving?" That's how much we've been traveling this summer! I know how he feels; when I woke up the other day at the hotel in Arizona, I thought I was at the hotel at which we stayed when we flew out to the Midwest for our granddaughters' Baptism, and I had to give my head a shake and remind myself where we were and what we were doing.

We just got back from our trip out to Arizona yesterday, and this morning we leave for Upstate NY (by car--yippee!) for a family reunion--my side this time. Not only are all of my brothers and sisters going to be there with their spouses and kids, but most of my first cousins and their families are coming, too. They're traveling from all over the country for this event; some are staying with my sister, some at a rented cottage, and some are pitching tents and camping out on my sister's property. It should be lots of fun.

The only thing I'm bummed out about is that we're not going to be able to have even one of our children with us. My oldest is heading back to Afghanistan, and his wife and babies are out in the Midwest. Sons #2 and #4 are in the middle of a cross-country road trip (they're in Oklahoma at the moment) and won't make it back until the reunion is over. Son #3 lives and works in Virginia now, and he just splurged on an airline ticket a few weeks ago to attend the Baptism (he's the godfather to Cutie Pie); he really can't afford another ticket at this time, and the drive would be a long one for a weekend visit. That leaves my baby--and he has to work on Friday and Sunday. I suppose I could have begged him to try to find replacements for those days, but they're hard to come by on weekends. Plus, he probably wouldn't enjoy it as much as he would if at least ONE of his brothers was going to be there, too. He's always loved being with his big brothers. I remember when he was a toddler, every time they came home from school, he was overjoyed and he'd yell, "Dies!" (He was not a violent baby; he was yelling "Guys!")

So that means it's going to be just my husband and myself. I'd like to show off my guys, my wonderful sons--and of course my three beautiful girls, my daughter-in-law and the twins--of whom I'm so proud, especially to my cousins, whom I haven't seen that much over the years. I love being around my boys; my husband and I both do, because we are in the extremely fortunate position of not just loving our children, but liking them, too. We love spending time with them--they are our favorite people in the world--and I think they'd say the same about each other. The fact that they are such good friends brings my husband and me joy beyond measure. I'm so proud of them all. I mean, look at this picture of them, part of a Father's Day photo shoot from 2008 (a gift for their cowboy hat-wearing dad). Aren't they adorable, and don't they look like they'd be fun to hang out with?