Dreamy Day

Ever have one of those days (weeks, months, years?) where you just find yourself lost in dreams about what you want and where you want to be and what you want to accomplish?

I've been in that place recently. We have all been thinking a lot about last spring at the beach and wanting to go back. It's so hard to think that THAT moment for our family (for MY family) may never be recaptured. Or, maybe it will. And that sets me thinking about places I want to go.

The Grand Canyon

Yellowstone and Glacier

NYC (with the kids)

(back to) Coastal Maine

The Treehouse Place

(cliched, but oh so fun) Disney World

Oh my, the list goes on. Some of my best memories as a kid are on family vacations. We didn't do anything fancy.... Disney being as commercial and over-the-top as my parents ever got. Most of our trips were camping when I was younger, touring presidents' homes and Vanderbilt mansions and, of course, that's the stuff that makes me dream about owning and renovating a vintage Airstream or going to places like this awesome Shaker Village.

And then there are places like Eaton's Ranch or Prince Edward Island calling to me or a nice rail trip that get me dreaming even more. I start to wonder if we'll ever be in a position to travel as a family. Oh, and I KNOW there's time and the kids are young. I'm not hopeless about it, but sometimes... with the way things go.... I do wonder.

I'm dreaming of other things too a little closer to home. Dreaming of learning to play guitar and to crochet or taking dance classes. Dreaming of building a bigger garden, someday planting apple and pear trees and blueberry bushes. Dreaming of doing something with my grandmother's pillowcases.

And dreaming of summer and a chance to go home. No matter how big I get and how much I love my own home, Mom and Dad's will always be home to me too. Skipping rocks and running in the creek, baseball in the lawn (yes, it's that big), campfires and family.

Which brings me back to the dreaming. Seems as we get older, it DOES get harder and harder to get us all together at the same time. Even the "kids" are growing up... my oldest nephew is now a "Program Director" at a local camp. When did he get big enough to be director of ANYTHING? And we're still adding more to the mix with baby What's-His-Name on the way. Ack, pretty soon the "kids" will be getting married and having babies. The expansion is sort of a never-ending circle of blessings. But it makes last years' trip to the beach a kind of a dream in it's own way.

But, a dream worth dreaming for sure.