The Flagstaff Visit - It's not the destination, it's the journey...

Matt surprised me with tickets to fly to Flagstaff for a quick visit in the middle of November, so the kids and I trekked through 2 airports 3 weeks post knee surgery and hung out with the family for a while! It was a good visit for the most part, and even the travelling went well. Since my blog seems to have morphed into a journal entry rather than the profound insights of motherhood I felt sure it was going to be, I am going to embrace it and try to update it for the last month so I can remember what we were up to!

The flight to Arizona was first thing in the morning, so we tucked the kids into bed early and in their clothes for the next day so they were ready to go at 6 when we dragged them out of bed. There had been some debate about my ability to limp through the airport with 2 children and all the items necessary to bring with us to entertain and feed 2 children on the plane. Up until we were pulling into the airport I was still debating about needing to ask for a wheelchair. The Oklahoma City airport is not tough to navigate, so I decided I would try it on my own, since I didn't think my in a wheelchair was going to be easier when bringing the kids with me. We got through security and I was once again impressed with how thoughtful everyone here is! The guy 2 people in back of me in the security line set up the stroller for me after the x-ray machine while I was getting the kids shoes back on, and even checked to make sure it was locked. (Side note: Oklahoma City is the nicest city I have ever lived in, people here seem to go out of their way to offer help and smile and greet eachother. Maybe it's a southern thing and it happens in the true south too, but it amazes me every single day!)

We got to the gate and lucked out that the fight was not completely full, so the people at the desk said I could go ahead and just take an extra seat for Nathan, even when they made an announcement saying it was a full flight. The kids were wonderful for the flight, Nathan crawled all over our little area and played peekaboo with the people behind us, Meredith enjoyed looking out the window, and both kids colored for a long time, so I even got to read my magazine for a little while! Nathan wanted to look out the window too, and Meredith was in stellar big sis mode so she held him on her lap and was pointing things out to him as they gazed out together. It was one of those touching moments where I am so grateful to have such amazing children!

We landed and met my dad and Brina at the little waiting area past security, and I was able to relax and turn the kids over to them. They helped get the bags, load the car, take Mere to the bathroom etc., and even tracked down 2 little rubber planes for them that were the hit of the vacation. (The more useless and tiny an object is, and the more annoying I find it, the more my children love it.) We went to see Brina's townhouse, which looks amazing (It was falling apart and a mess when they bought it, and my dad has worked his magic on it so now it is one of the nicest places a college student could live!) and they watched the kids for me while I iced my knee. It's fun for me to see Brina and Meredith together because Meredith worships Brina the way Brina used to worship me. And Brina is always very sweet and kind and patient to Mere, which I really appreciate, because I am certain that even Brina does not REALLY want to spend 3 hours listening to Meredith "play" her various instruments, analyze fingernail polish, chatter constantly about everything from dinosaurs to God and Angels and dictate what she should say!After feeding the kids a little snack (Meredith actually about ate Brina out of house and home! We must have been on her eating day that day, since she normally only eats about every 4th day) and hanging out for a while so they could burn off some energy we headed to Swensens for lunch and then made the drive up to Flagstaff.

I am always happy to see the Peaks, and as always, it was good to get to see everyone and be "home" for a while. At some point in the last few years I have made the transition to adulthood, so going back to the place that I thought would always be home now feels like I am just visiting. It's nice that I have my true home with my husband and kids in OKC now, but it's bittersweet to visit Flagstaff and realize that it is no longer home.

The kids and I had a nice visit, we got in lots of family time. We were able to hang out with my nephew Caden, and he is now old enough that it is fun to watch him crawl around and interact with Meredith and Nathan. Everyone got some one on one time with the kids, and I really appreciated how helpful everyone was with the kids so I could stay off my knee for the most part. The visit was really very positive until the last night we were in town, when for some reason Blake and his wife Gwen were in a mood. They changed Caden into a pair of Nathan's jeans (he only had 4 pairs of pants at the time, so I was irritated that they were trying to take 25% of my son's wardrobe!) and when I mentioned it Gwen was really weird and defensive about it. I was assuming that it was a mistake, but her reaction was very short and rude, and turned the entire ordeal into a much bigger deal than it needed to be. The end result was that they stormed out without saying good-bye, and Blake asked my mom to tell me that I am not welcome at his house. Sometimes I wonder why my family loves to have drama, and I wonder what it would be like to live in a family where everyone is respectful, helpful and drama free!

The drama sort of left a black cloud over the house, so we were all pretty introspective for the rest of the visit. Brina and my dad and I hung out for a while after everyone else went to bed, and I was reminded again how fantastic it is to have people who really get me! We joked and laughed and analyzed life until late that night, and then Brina drove us back down to the airport the next morning so we could fly back home. It was good to get back to Oklahoma and see Matt again. There is a song that Meredith is crazy about that Matt put on a cd for us called "If I ever get back to Oklahoma, gonna nail my feet to the ground" (yep, it's as cheesy and country as it sounds!) and that song kept playing in my head as we were driving home. Life never fails to surprise and amaze me, I really enjoy the ironies and challenges on the journey, and I can't believe that Oklahoma ended up being the true home for me.