Until the 12th of never.......

I began to write this blog post first thing Saturday morning, but I saw my kids taking down the amazing infrastructure they had constructed for our New Year celebration, and felt compelled to help as we were the beneficiaries of all their hard work.  I decided on the spot to put off composing my daily entry until this evening as there would be so much going on the rest of the day (Sunday) as we would be moving to a different location.

Saturday would be our last day with our 'kids'.....I know, I know....these aren't all OUR kids, but they have been part of our lives since they were anywhere from 8-13, and as far as we are concerned they are our kids.  We spent the better part of the day spending time with our kids, but we did carve out a couple of hours to take a Jeep ride with Mike and Liz in my son's YJ Jeep, which he has heavily customized over the years.  We headed out around 1100 looking for a way to the top of the mesa on the north side of S-22, and had to drive several miles east to find a way to the top that did not involve an 'E' ticket ride for Liz's sake....she was convinced that we were going to flip the Jeep over, and I don't blame her, as that is how I felt the first time I took a 4 wheel Jeep ride.  In all we covered some 15 miles of offroad trails before we arrived back at our base camp around 1300.

(Jeep pictures courtesy Michael Vaccari)

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging with our kids......I was determined to spend time with each of them getting below the surface, and by 2200 hours I think I had mostly succeeded.  To take a phrase from a poplular Johnny Mathis song from 1957......I'll love these kids "Until the 12th of Never"......

I was telling TAR* that in all the years I have known her brother Eddie I spent more time talking with him on this single outing than in the entire 15 years I have known him.  It was revelatory......I came away very impressed, whereas before I was ambivalent.  I spent a long time talking with Keith, my son, Chris' best friend going back to their freshman year in high school.  In fact I spent time talking with Eddie, Keith, Rochelle, Chris, and everyone else there.....I am so impressed with all of you, and so grateful you are apart of our lives.

During all of this we had an amazing sunset, which I managed to notice just in the nick of time.......

.....for me, and I know TLE will concur, this was an amazing New Year celebration for us that lasted 5 days.   Getting to know many of these still young people on a much deeper level gives me hope for the future.  And, on top of that, we spent a lot of quality time with our nomadic friends Steve, Linda, Mike and Liz, and we are excited that we will be spending the better part of January with them!

Thanks for stopping by!

* TAR = The Amazing Rochelle