If I am totally honest about this trip, I would have to admit that I really didn't put much thought or energy into the trip as it began to loom upon us other than to see it as a deadline for getting stuff around the house completed. I wasn't excited or unexcited--it just was. Then, we left for the trip, and I began to feel apprehensive because I hadn't planned enough, or at least recently enough, to have a clear idea of what we would do or what the trip would be like.
But, then we got here, and what I have felt most today is blessed. I have felt the blessing of my children in being away from them for the first time in two weeks. The day-to-day irritations very quickly fade, and what I already miss so much are the wonderfully sweet and good-natured babies that I am so blessed with. I have felt the blessing of my new house--the B&B we are at is very lovely, but I don't find it as lovely as my home, and that is surely a blessing. I have felt the blessings of my families--the ones caring for my children and the ones willing to take time from their busy schedules to check on things at my new home. I have felt the blessings of having in-laws who are also friends, as having Marshall and his wife here has been a wonderful addition to the trip, not just because Barney loves spending time with his brother but because I do too. I have felt the blessing of time--time to rest, time to read, time to drink hot chocolate, eat beignets, and enjoy some amazing food.
Mostly though, I have felt the blessing of having married my soul mate. Seeing him experience New Orleans has been better than experiencing it myself. At one point tonight, I heard a woman on a cell phone talking to a loved one back home and telling that person how much she loved and missed him. My immediate impulse was that I needed to connect with my person too, so I reached out and took his hand, and it was one of those clarifying moments where I realized that sometimes even when we know how lucky we are, we fail to see our blessings because we have allowed them to become trivialized, mundane, or everyday. Being in a strange city has only reinforced to me what I should already know, which is that home for me is not a house (no matter how much I love it) but a blessing that was given to me in the form of an amazing husband and our equally amazing children.
New Orleans is strange, wonderful, and indescribably different from my world, and I am in no danger of being one of the people who come and never leave though I am so glad to be here and experiencing what it has to offer. But, I will leave here with a greater awareness of the fullness of what I go home to and the importance of both recognizing and protecting that blessing.
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