We Went Home and Came Home Again

Standing at my kitchen window, we are home in Scotland again.

It is such a beautiful view. We are blessed to live right where we are, here in Portsoy.

We’re dragging with extreme jet lag. We flew across the world, drove across states and drove back again and had the most precious family time and celebration. It is hard to write about it in any way that makes sense. Our hearts were so filled with the time we had with loved ones. I’ll just write a sliver of the experience whether it makes sense or not. (Nothing new).

Dress rehearsal prior to packing. (I think he’s so handsome.)

What about my other Scottish boy?

Gunner had his own ‘stay-cation’. We’d invited young friends from Ellensburg to come and have a Scottish vacation, complete with home, car and darling dog. A bird’s eye view of his time…

All in all Scotland made wonderful memories for them all.

Meanwhile back in the states, we were playing games, shopping and laughing. We devoured Mexican food, pizza and gas station snacks, (See, I always tell the truth) and gasping with delight at the hotel breakfast.

We drove a ‘wee’ 700 miles across Nevada. We had precious people to be with. My Other Girl had to answer her 3 year old every 10 minutes, “Mom how much longer until they’re here?”

We planned our road trip with memories of our ‘youth’ and how ‘easy’ it is. Now as we imagine our next trip to be with our dear ones, we sound like our GPS as it does so often…”recalculating”. Was it worth it? Of course!!! How many times in your life do you get to find out, “Grammy is my bestest friend.”

My Loving Spouse is not really a ‘baby’ guy, but I had to pry Little Sister out of his arms to get my fair turn of snuggles.

We took the ‘kids’ out to dinner. I almost choked on my food. I was eating so fast so I could be that ‘nice Grammy’ and hold the baby so the others could eat. (I’m not that nice, I just wanted the baby.)

I’d sewn the Little Miss a hooded towel. I was greatly relieved that she immediately saw it as the Dinosaur towel, it was meant to be. Not a dragon or a shark or anything else…just a dinosaur.

A very rare purple dinosaur only found in Utah.

My Other Girl had requested a Highland Cow for Little Sister’s baby quilt, and she likes yellow and purple. I’d never paper pieced a quilt before and there was a huge learning curve. I was so very happy to get to sew again and begin to use my new sewing room. (Note to Number 3 Son, who’s visiting soon. I need help moving some furniture. It might not be just right yet. Eat your Wheaties.)

It has already been pooped on a little bit, as it should be!

Back across the state of Nevada with a sweet overnight reprieve at my high school friend’s house. We headed into THE wedding weekend. More time with family! We hadn’t all seen each other since before (damn COVID) at our other brother’s memorial. We were so happy to be together to celebrate!

Who dressed these guys!

The generation below ‘us’ (my siblings) has a lot of boys. They weren’t all there, but our parents had 12 grandsons and 1 grand daughter (My Girl). I’d never really been out and about with ‘the’ boys. Turns out that ‘the’ boys are all grown up and pretty fun to be with.

‘The’ boys figured out where to go for brunch and lunch and even paid the bills. Maybe it’s not so bad getting old. A few went walking and a few went to the Jelly Belly Factory.

Watching your kids and cousins together never gets old. It is like a double blessing.

We all moved so well together, we weren’t even late for the wedding!

Everyone cleaned up so well. There were a few guests who asked if they could take their picture with My Loving Spouse. In America there are characters for their theme parks and for weddings….My Loving Spouse?

We came together to honor our brother/sister-in-law and their son as he got married. A few of us commented that we’d finally be able to tell the twins apart as one of them now had a wedding ring.

We weren’t aware that so many of ‘the’ boys were in the FBI….

Sisters…

I honestly tried not to take too many pictures as we were having so much fun just being together. (Sorry, Father and Mother of the groom, ah…and everybody else).

When ‘the’ boys started moving towards the dance floor each with a chair in hand…we knew what could only be coming.

As ‘the’ boys were all strong and mostly sober, no bride or groom were injured in this dance.

I cannot begin to express how full my heart was to be with my family. To encourage them each to come to Scotland and to get together again soon with an even bigger age group included. Time together is precious and I was crying very hard as we had to say goodbye to each.

…and we are blessed indeed.