Who moved the finish line? ;-)

Diane here…

I keep starting to write/post/blog and then I press delete delete delete.  I’ve done this for 3 or 4 days now.  I don’t know what to say.

 What do I say in the waiting --- that in-between  time of now  ...  and not yet?   

What can I say while I'm waiting?  In 31ft?

It feels like I'm stuck in a holding pattern. You know, those times when  your tray table and seat back are in the upright position, and  you can see HOME out the window, but for whatever reason the pilot keeps circling the airport, and it feels like for----eh---ver.

Or those times when you think you see the finish line, only to discover it’s been moved!   You are stretching out to finish the race, only to discover you have yet another lap to go.   Augh.

It’s like I don’t know what to say in the in-between.

We’re ok.  We haven’t bonked each other over the head or anything.   I think Maxine has shrunk a few feet. But we’re ok.  I think our kids and grandkids are pretty amazing --- the way they are flexible, and hang-in-there, even when the wait feels toooo-long.

We’re waiting.  

Waiting for moving vans to arrive (taking longer than planned). Waiting for Derek and Abby to get keys to move into very cute home (that is a God story Abby gets to tell you!). Waiting for Keith to return from Kansas City where he has been with Nick for the past 10 days.     

Why is waiting so hard?  And why do holding patterns feel so LONG, and extra laps feel so EXHAUSTING?  The last 10 minutes can feel longer than the entire journey.  An extra quarter mile, can feel like 20.

So in the waiting….

We're learning how to be together.

And we're learning how to find time alone.

We’ve had good beach walks.

Kai is riding her two wheeler like a champ, doing laps around our RV Park with a confident smile.

Chester has learned that seagulls are almost as much fun to chase as squirrels.

Oh, and we went to see the Elephant Seals near San Simeon.  They have come to have their babies and then... make babies.

We've  have had some God-connections with different people.  He is so kind to put people in our path at just the right moment.

We are learning the lay of the land.

We’ve had moments of letting off some “steam”  ~~~ like one time when Jack started to scream because he was so frustrated.  Well, …we all just JOINED HIM.  “AUUUUUUU!!! “  He looked at us like we were nuts.  I think we were.

Kai and I had a breakfast date, (it had been a long time since she and I had had a Gigi-Kai day), at the Madonna Inn where everything is PINK PINK PINK.  I showed Kai where her Gigi used to go ballroom dancing with her Cal Poly friends, and of course she and I took a twirl or two.   And we drank hot chocolate with whipped cream and pink sugar sprinkles.  Kai said it was yummy and she whispered in my ear, “Gigi, you could totally get a job here.  They make hot chocolate as good as you.”  I laughed.

We’ve visited the library --- and Kai got her very first library card.  So EXCITING.

Abby and I shared lunch together ~~ sitting by the bay.  A glass of wine and fresh seafood. We talked about silly things like ...Chester getting a job with the barking seals.  And serious things like... relocating and starting over.

I am enjoying watching Jack grow taller, hearing him say new words, and figuring out how to jUmP!

I love getting to  know Derek more and more. A few days back I was telling him how I felt about someone  keeps moving our finish line!  He laughed, saying, "So, who's finishing? More to come!" Laughter and perspective, just 2 of the many things I love about my son-in-love.

I went to see Les Miserables by myself yesterday, and I cried.  Literally held onto my scarf like it was a warm blankie and sobbed.   After the movie, the entire theater broke into applause and then most of us just sat quietly, not moving.  Such a story of passion and redemption and love and forgiveness. 

…. And after the movie I parked under a street lamp along the bayside, and talked to a  long-distance dear friend on the phone for over an hour.  Processing the movie….and life.  A ranger passed by a couple of times, checking on me.  I sorta hoped he would stop so I could tell him how we’ve been traveling for 4 ½ months in 31 feet and how good it felt to have “girl time” and over an hour of uninterrupted adult conversation.   J

It won’t be long, and we will “land” & cross the “finish line”.

It has been such a grand journey --- and not one us wants to minimize how grand it has been.  It has been AHH-MAY-ZING. 

But ohmygoodness, we are totally smellin’ the barn and ready to get this baby landed, and feel the red tape across our chests.   ;-)

P.S. Abby just poked her head over my shoulder and said, “Are you gonna cry?…….. This is your last blog with ALLLLL of us in Maxine!”    Buahhhhhhhhhhhhhh,  (where is my scarf?)