Quarterly

So, we're back from another great weekend at Quarterly Meeting, with nary a picture to show for it.
Sometimes I like to just relish being unplugged, and this weekend was a great time for it. The kids hang out in packs, mostly by age, and bake bread and build boats to sail in the creek and sing by the campfire.

The teens are responsible for organizing themselves. They have an adult mentor but they manage their own time and activities and rules, and they have a big sleepover in the barn together (with the adult mentor too.) This weekend there were a lot of teens, and it's great to see them hanging out and bonding and sharing that goofy joy of just loving being in each others' company. We start to imagine ten years down the road when it's  our own kids continuing those strong bonds and connections. I pray that it will be so.

The adults go to the discussion groups and worship groups but also find time to walk in the woods or just sit in the sun and read. We get to hang out with Quakers from across the state and parts of Idaho, and hear about the strengths and challenges of their different Meetings, and talk about what connects us.

I am thankful for this time, of rest and connection and good conversations. I am always thankful for Quarterly.

Spring Break Part 3

But wait, there's more. 

Spring Break part 2

I barely need to describe it right? I mean, just look at it. 

We visited the Platonic ideal of a beach. 

Also, both Chris and I got to catch up with very dear college friends who live in L.A.

The kind of friends who, when you see them, it feels like coming home. 

The kids were just content to dig in the sand and build endless castles, only to stomp on them before the waves could wash them away. 

Coming Home, or Spring Break part 1

oh hi there. Yeah, it's been a while. Sorry about that. We had a little bout of Noro virus and then we had a really fabulous amazing Spring Break. Last night we rolled in with sand in our toes and new freckles on our noses. And then this morning we had to find school clothes and pack a lunch out of thin air and my mind is still a million miles away. Or to be more precise,  about 800 miles away.

So, we went to Davis. and we were only able to be there for a couple of days but we had such a great time with siblings and cousins and parks and sprinklers and a parade full of marching bands. Yes, really. So that was great.

More music

Music has been such a huge force in my life, and in Chris's. It's one of the ways we first connected. Chris especially gets deeply involved in his music, spending hours researching and listening to and taking care of his record collection. We were lucky enough this weekend to attend a show of his favorite band. They were around in the 90s in Seattle and haven't played a show in 15 years, but when a local internet radio station asked them to play a fundraiser, they said sure. So we went, and ran into a bunch of people we haven't seen in years and Chris danced his heart out in a crowd of people yelling the words along with him.

I love that my kids get their own version of that. On a Saturday morning, with the sun coming through the windows. They jump and dance and squeal with delight when the band plays their favorite song. They run into their friends and make new ones and hold hands while they jump around. And then we get to go and have lunch. 

I know that as they get older, I might not always love the music that they love, but I will be glad of the ways that it moves them, the ways that they love it.