We spent time looking out over the ocean for Thanksgiving, visiting my parents, drinking in the sea air as we trolloped all over coastal Florida with a smile. We played at the park, we ate collaboratively cooked meals together, sharing in laughter and joy for three wonderful days.
It’s always bittersweet when visiting family – the long, butt-numbing amount of time spent in the van crossing many states, the upheaval and close quarters in a hotel, the different foods (and often unhealthy ones due to convenience) but there is so much to be thankful for, so much to celebrate by being together again, that the good very much outweighs the bad.
The distance still is hard, though. I don’t get to visit half as much as I’d like to. I never thought I’d live this far away from my family, but such is the military life – going where the Army puts us. Our next duty station will take us that much farther away, too. The drive may end up being longer, our butts may become that much more numb, but the good will still outweigh the bad, even if the travel is extended. We’re a traveling bunch, our family. It’s what we do. And we love (almost) every minute of it. (We could do without the arguments and eleventy-billion bathroom breaks, though.)
We decided in the car on the way back that we want to visit every state as a family, and we’re considering making a “family bucket list” of things we want to do together. What about you? Do you have something similar? Do you yourself have a “bucket list” of things you’d like to do?
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