Vacation Addendum

I decided it would be nice to write the highlights and low-lights of our vacation which began 10 days ago. We were to arrive back home in Utah tonight. Three of us did arrive home but I stayed behind in Seattle with our daughter to help with some unfinished business. It's interesting that before we left home I felt like I should ask her if she felt that I should stay a little longer at the end of our week. She said, "No I don't need anyone to stay longer!" But still, in the back of my mind, there was this knawing feeling that I should pack more than two shirts and two pairs of pants for this trip - - and so I did that. Turns out I did stay longer because there was a need for me to do that. What do we learn from that? Always listen to your thoughts, feelings, promptings. Don't ask others what they think, just follow your heart! That's all I have to say, now here are the highlights and low-lights of our trip.

1. Picked up parents and headed for Seattle staying one night in Boise ID on the way.
2. Driving with sweet parents who had not been away from home in awhile. We laughed and listened to them talk about the past, dating experiences, school experiences, work experiences. Eating, driving and listening to good music was the best. I always love the drive to a vacation the best - - because of the anticipation of the journey and what it could be.
3. Seeing our four-year old grandaughter Ashlynn and her mom, our daughter Rachel, welcome us on the front porch as we drove into the yard of thier Auburn, Washington home. There is no happier person in all the world than Ashlynn because she has special needs which really is a oxymoron because someone this happy could never really have special needs.
4. Breakfast at the Sun Break Cafe in Auburn. Lunch at IVARS fish house.
5. Driving through Seattle sight-seeing and taking pictures of all the sights of Seattle. I wondered if we would see my favorite movie sights, "Sleepless in Seattle," Frazier's Apartment building, "Love Happens." We did find a house on the end of a pier that looked just like the house that Tom Hanks resided in for "Sleepless in Seattle." That was fun.
6. We found out we're having a grandson in about 4 months and I was at the ultrasound appt. with our daughter when the news broke.
7. One low-light. The doctor called and said our grandaugther may have Cancer. We were on our way home when the news came. Rachel called us in tears and so we went back to her house for a day and I stayed several more days while Dean and my parents went home. Now I know that the prompting that I might stay longer was real and I also know that this is the real reason we planned this trip when we did.

So . . . this trip turned out to be a trip that was about "vacating life" as well as a trip to take care of someone and care for them when a moment of possible crises arrived. There are no coincidences in life. I find that when we are living to the best of our ability, we are put in the places we need to be, when we need to be there. It always happens that way for me anyway. I hope it does for you as well.

Turns out our little Ashlynn does not have childhood cancer and we're thankful for that. More tests are being run to see what she does have. For now we are thankful and know that many prayers over the last three days were answered and may have even turned the blood tests to Ashlynn's good from where they were three days ago - - very bad.

So . . . vacating life is not always what you think it will be when you set out. It can be all that and more - - much, much more.