Tuesday morning Rebekah and I said “goodbye” to our Orlando family and headed back toward North Carolina. What we said goodbye to was four straight weeks featuring various degrees and combinations of our children, our grandchildren, and sundry other relatives.

The “month of grandchildren” was, as the song says, “Some kind of wonderful.” It was also a little bit exhausting. So we enjoyed the quiet, unhurried, not at all crowded few hours in Rebekah’s long-suffering Rav-4, stopping for lunch with Jesse Alexander in Jacksonville and arriving in Savannah in time to relax before dinner. But more about Savannah in tomorrow’s post.

The other important happening August 9 was the fact that Andrew and Alicia’s Mr. T. turned three years old. The family are all way the other side of the country in Seattle for a couple of weeks, but we did get to sing Happy Birthday to him via video.

I guess that’s really what we noticed the most during these past few weeks, all the growing up that we just can’t put a lid on! David is suddenly a smart and sophisticated ten-year-old, all pre-teen-ish with the eye-rolling, the unremitting loudness, and the beginnings of nuanced humor. Beks at nine is lithe and beautiful, brilliant and creative and dramatic, literally dancing her way through the day with all her huge unmanageable emotions balanced on a knife edge. Geoffrey, both a toddler and a baby at the same time, is 21-months of giggling, crying, exploring, playing, happy, inquisitive, intelligence and boundless energy.

Oh, they all have the energy. Mr. T. especially. He is a force of nature, barreling his way through every experience with nothing held back; curious, imaginative, willful, opinionated, relentless!

But now it’s going to be a little quieter. To be honest, even though we’re ready for a breather, I’m not so sure we’re going to like that.

Blessed, a little tired, and full of gratitude – DEREK