The One that Never Leaves

I live with the best of intentions. Truly. I'm going to keep my house straight, wear my seatbelt, go to bed earlier, start riding my bike, blog regularly. Then it's like I look up and there are dirty clothes piled in my bathroom instead of in the hamper, my seat belt warning bell dings nonstop, it's 1:42 AM and I am just starting my first blog post in a month and I haven't even sat on my bike since early June.

It is this knowledge of myself that contributed to the fact that this summer, for the first in a while, I didn't set a lot of goals for myself. I knew we would be gone a lot and that my Cambodia trip would take a large portion of my summer. My primary goals were to clean my refrigerator and press n seal the shelves (it's about time Pinterest gave me something that WORKED-- I'm still smarting from the HOURS I spent on salt dough starfish that broke after NINE DAYS OF DRYING) and to just drink in the time with my little four and a few other family members.

Well, as of last night, the refrigerator is complete (cleaned the microwave too-- BONUS!) and I am milking the next few days of all of the family I can get. I don't think I consciously took time off from friendships this summer, but it's the way it happened and it feels right. I just needed at home and vacation time to center on my family people.

We've been swimming almost daily with cousins and Granna and Natalie, made homemade ice cream four times, blackberry picked,  thrifted with Granna and Natalie, beach vacationed with our Davis peeps, crafted, counted baby cows, done the eating and swimming and skiing and boating that is Bear Paw with our Silver clan, almost finished reading my favorite childhood book aloud (one chapter per night), and now the girls will spend a week at the camper with Nana, Popaw, and Kaleb. Time has been cherished but has still felt like it slipped through our hands like the sand at the beach.

I don't know what's ahead. I know from the unfortunate stories I hear nearly every day of scary diagnoses or frightening phone calls or tragic accidents that life can change in a split second. I know that my summer time with those I love most is drawing to a quick close, with only four days left until my trip. And I know that we will never regret having spent this summer focused on those who will be there no matter how or where it all ends, because your family is the one that never leaves.