In hindsight, here is what I feel like I learned from this trip:
1- Mom's house feels like home no matter where it is. She could be stationed on Mars for all I care, but my mom manages to make whatever space she's in feel like home. She is a great cook and a great home manager- everything for all the meals was planned out and was flawless. It may have helped that she has had visitors 3 times in the last 2 months. Coming from a time in my life when I sometimes start thinking about dinner at 5pm and barely get the spaghetti sauce heated before adding it to the noodles, a week of grown-up meals that came together so nicely and quickly (amazing what you can do without 1,300 interruptions from little people!) was one of the best parts of this trip!
2- My parents are a great team. From packing lunches to navigating Scotland's roundabouts, my parents are really amazing to watch together.
3- Stephen and I are still a great team. I was a little disappointed at first that this trip wasn't more romantic- we were visiting these amazingly beautiful ruins, but this was a family trip after all and even in London it felt more like a rat race and a survival mode stay at a credit card rewards hotel (read bare minimum amenities). But we had this amazing 10 days to bond over all these adventures and amazing places. Sometimes when you're in the daily grind and you don't see each other much and you're the one putting the kids to bed by yourself night after night, you start to feel like it's you and kids on a team and dad's playing solo over there, sometimes trying to get in on the action. But 10 days together makes me feel like we've reset the buttons and we have each other's back. (Regular dates could also probably help with this!)
4- My kids are far more independent than I gave them credit for. The kids did so well at Grandma and Grandpa's- I was almost a little let down at how little they seemed to miss/need me. But mostly, I was over the moon that they were self-assured enough not to need us. Franklin never cried for us at all according to report. That doesn't even happen in 24 hours here. He was so happy to go to all the aunts and uncles and play with everyone that came into his path. It helped if they brought a car or truck onto that path with them. He ate meals, learned more words and happily charmed all those that came near.
5- Nothing will fall apart if I am not here to catch it. See #4. The kids can do more, the church can run by itself, Stephen learned that work will plod on without him. It just gives a lot of perspective to the daily race we put ourselves through. We've both come back a little more determined to no take everything quite so seriously.
Post trip let-down is mediated by my impending birthday and a trip back to Boise to welcome my parents home in a month. After that, well maybe I will feel let down . . . . lol
