Fun on Two Wheels

A couple of years after we moved to our current home, we started to hear what sounded like a small dirt bike coming from the park that is across the street from us.

 

We noticed a dad with a son who seemed to be a similar age to Jack. Daniel went and struck up a conversation and our family ended up becoming really great friends with another family who had two boys similar ages to ours, who loved many of the things we loved.

 

 

Over the last (almost five years now), the older two boys became proficient dirt bike riders and the dads and older boys have been on many dirt bike rides together. Isaac and our friends younger son have had to wait their turns, and after our first hike of 2021, they both got their chance.

 

 

The big boys, Jack and TB, have graduated to bigger dirt bikes. Isaac has been riding his larger Trials bike, but was hoping to try the dirt bike. S gave it a shot but was still a little nervous and Isaac got his turn. 

 

 

 

Our littlest boy is in love! He had so much fun riding around the field on the little 50cc that looks entirely too little for the 9 year-old boys now. 

 

Our two families have spent countless afternoons watching our boys ride the field together, then ending the night with pizza. For old time sake, we ordered pizza and our friends came over and hung out by the campfire with us until way too late.

 

I am so grateful that the dads struck up a conversation all those years ago. That conversation has led to many adventures together for our two families.

Girl's Weekend

A few weeks ago one of my closest friends since junior high emailed to see if I would be interested in joining her on a girl's weekend to celebrate her birthday. 

In the Cayman Islands. 

My initial thought was "there is no way that is going to happen," but I told her I would think about it and at the very least discuss the possibility with Daniel.

The thing was, I was feeling really burned out. Most aspects of my life didn't really feel like they were in order. I was struggling with resentment and bitterness for where I was in life. I love Daniel and my kids, and have some really great friendships, but I was running on empty and wasn't really sure how to regain balance.

Surprisingly, Daniel was on board with me taking this trip. We agreed that it really couldn't be a yearly occurrence (not on the scale of leaving the country anyways), but that I shouldn't pass up the opportunity to catch up with a good friend I hadn't seen in five years.

As Kristalynne and I made plans, it dawned on me that we have been friends for twenty-five years. A quarter of a century had passed since we first struck up a friendship in the youth group at our church. A lot of living has happened in the last twenty-five years.

The last time we saw each other, she had just had first child and I was weeks away from becoming a mother myself. She didn't have a chance to meet Jack before she moved to Houston to start her career as a doctor. 

In our early months of embracing motherhood, there were phone calls to see how we were handling our new lives, and when we were sent to a Pediatric Neurologist to have Jack's big head checked out, she called and talked to me through that experience. Mostly we have kept in touch via Facebook, and her mom checks in on me from time-to-time as well.

Our friendship is one that can just pick up, as if no time had passed. There are no awkward moments, we just catch up on what we have missed and then move on to the present.

On the way to the Caymans, it worked out that we both had layovers in Charlotte, NC and would be on the same flight to our final destination. Thankfully the flight wasn't full and we were able to grab seats together.

The whole weekend was filled with relaxing, swimming, and a little adventure too. We swapped stories about our kids, and also funny travel experiences we have each experienced in different parts of the world. We laughed, we were serious, we talked about high school days and friends we wished could be with us. 

We were both grateful to step away from our normal lives for a few days. We could wake up when we wanted – with no expectations. Our meals weren't spent cutting up food for kids. We did grown-up activities. We missed our families, but we enjoyed the break.

I came home feeling renewed, grateful for the time to catch up with my old friend, but also grateful to be back with my own family. I feel like I have found the balance I was missing in my life. Taking time for myself for the first time in five years was one of the best things I have ever done for myself.

 

The Cayman Islands wasn't a bad place to do this!

Girl's Getaway Recap

Taking a Break from Motherhood ⎮ What We Did ⎮ The Food We Ate ⎮Waverunner Snorkel Safari

Friendship of the Grown-Up Variety

I have been thinking a lot lately about the friendships you experience as an adult, and how they are different from the friendships you have at earlier life stages.

For one thing, it is harder to make friends as you get older. For another, once you are married or have kids, you not only have to find people that accept you and mesh well with you, you kind of hope they have a spouse and kiddos that mesh with yours.

If you're lucky you have friends from your youth that meet all of this criteria... or they are just more accepting because you already have so much history together.

Earlier this week, Daniel's good friend (and best man from our wedding) came to visit us, his family in tow. 

While we don't see them nearly enough (it's been 3 years since our last visit), we love to get together when we can. They are the kind of friends we can just pick up with where we dropped off, even three years later.

As an added bonus, even though our kids are slightly off in ages, they play really well together.

We had so much fun taking Matt and Melissa, and their kids, to the Creative Discovery Museum here in Chattanooga, then to our neighborhood playground, and finally to the Pumpkin Patch playground on our mountain.

We visited. We ate good food. We enjoyed the sunshine. And the visit ended too soon. I'm so grateful for the friendships we have, old and new, near and far.

While it can be increasingly difficult to make and maintain friendships in this season of life, we have been blessed with some really great friends over the years. I hope our kids grow up to have these longstanding friendships as well.

Speaking of friendship, one of my favorite bloggers recently instagrammed this photo and caption:

139. On March 1st I began tallying how many times someone not in our family of 7 stopped by our house (unexpected & invited). 139. Our back door broke long ago from overuse. Back door visitors are my favorite. They don't mind the dishes or the shedding rug or the shoeless kids running every direction. I'll keep making cups of coffee and offering random snacks if they make sure my back door stays broken...

A photo posted by Ashley Campbell (@underthesycamore) on Mar 29, 2016 at 7:05pm PDT

It captures what I long for (not necessarily 139 visitors in one month), but a door that is always open, regardless of the messiness of our house or life.

Days Gone By

I am going to be honest here and say that I have not had the best track record for keeping up with old friends. I could chalk it up to having moved a lot when I was younger, but really that is probably just an excuse to make me feel better.

With the advent of Facebook, I have been able to reconnect with friends from my childhood and keep up with high school and college friends. I suppose the truth of the matter is that I have allowed myself to get too busy with life. While I can't spend all of my time following up with old friends, I should probably make a better effort to touch base more frequently. The older I get, the more I realize the importance of friendships.

A few years ago, I reconnected with a best friend from high school. We met in the seventh grade and our friendship was instrumental in shaping us into the adults we would become. After high school graduation, we parted ways. She went off to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor and I just floated along and let my life happen to me.

Through college, we drifted apart. Then I got married and she went to med school and our connection was further severed. When I found out she would be moving to Nashville to do her residency at Vanderbilt, I was ecstatic since my husband's family lives in the area. Since she has been in Nashville, we have managed to reconnect and squeeze in visits here and there when Daniel and I pass through.

When she called to tell me she was engaged and wanted me to be a part of her wedding, I was truly thrilled. We met her fiance and reminisced about days gone by. To be truthful, there would be days {at home in Charlotte, NC} that I would go on and on telling Daniel about all of our escapades together. The trouble we caused, the fun we had, the study sessions, the trips. Almost two decades later, the memories are still fresh.

This past weekend we traveled to Searcy, Arkansas to be a part of her big day. Her wedding was so beautiful. Exactly what I would imagine it to be. This beautiful, strong woman, from days gone by, has taken the plunge into marriage. And I am so very happy for her. I wish her many, many years to come. I wish her success in marriage. And most of all, I wish her and her new husband happiness, even when life doesn't work out exactly as planned.