R & R

Kirby doesn't travel for work too often, but we are just on the heels of him having been gone for 13 days straight. That makes for a long solo parenting stint, so we (and by we, I mean HE) worked it out so that I could join him for a few days in the middle of this trip. I flew from chilly MSP in Minnesota to Phoenix, Arizona (a treat for any Minnesotan by the time late-February rolls around) where we stayed for 1 day before settling in to our rental car for the drive to the Palm Springs area of California. We stayed with a UNW donor in her home (where we have been before -- me once and Kirb a few more times than that). We spent much of our time with her, but had some time alone as well.

We got to experience (again) a walk through the life of Jesus. It is a garden walk with beautiful sculptures depicting important scenes from Jesus' life. The experience was made even more meaningful by the fact that it was Lent. More about the experience can be found here.

The first night of my part of the trip I fell asleep at 7:14 pm (according to my Fitbit) and slept for more than 10 hours. I guess parenting 6 kids without your partner for 6 days through 5 play performances, 2 sporting events, 2 doctor appointment, kindergarten round-up and 3 musical concerts (yup, all that in 6 days) will wear you out. The extra sleep was exactly what I needed to enjoy the rest of my time (and I continued to bank nearly 9 hours of sleep each night for the remainder of my trip. Sleep is one of my favorite love languages!)

We had a wonderful time of rest, relaxation, sunshine, hikes, runs, palm trees, mountains, coffee and reading. I headed back home on Wednesday (after having arrived on Sunday) where I picked up where I had left off with the kiddos until we were ALL home together again a few days later. The kids were all so happy to have their dad back home. He is a very major part of their day to day lives (putting them to bed, praying with them, reading to them, cooking dinner, being their rock), so he was greatly missed. They missed me too, but I wasn't gone as long as he was, so his homecoming was highly anticipated!

I am so thankful for my parents and their willingness to take care of the kids so that I could get away for a few days. I am also thankful for our "village" that helped me out while Kirb was gone and were waiting in the wings in case anything came up, while my parents were staying here, that required a bit of reinforcement (thankfully they managed just fine without needing any reinforcements!).

The sunshine and warmth we banked will help us make it through the last cold stretch of winter until spring is here to stay!

Even though I am not much of a traveller, I had a great time away and enjoyed the time with my favorite person in the world (and away from 6 of my other favorite -- shorter -- people!). Even this non-traveller can benefit from a bit of away-from-home R&R from time to time!