So, what did you learn...
Ty and Tim
Will and I standing in front of a telephone booth that Sam thought was a port-a-potty;)
My family
My kids
A part of Tim's past that I will never forget.
Sam and Ty(There will be more pics to follow. My computer won't let me download right now.)
So, we just got back from our vacation and traveled to both New Mexico and Colorado. And man did we drive all over those 2 states and have a blast. I love taking road trips. Looking at all that is out there while driving, stopping for breaks, taking pictures and just being able to spend some one on one time with my family.
We spent about 10 days stuck like glue most days and I have to say...I learned quite a bit during these last days close together. One thing I learned is that we take each other for granted on a daily basis. We get so wrapped up in our daily lives that we miss paying attention to the other person. The kids especially. The last 10 days of them being together I think that they have been closer now than they ever have the whole time we've all known each other. With Ty being 19 and fixing to leave for the Air Force he's not too into the bonding thing. Craving independence and freedom. Sam as well but still having to hang in there for at least 2 more years and then Will kind of feeling like the odd man out with Sam and Ty being closer in age and mentality. But in recent days I've seen all negative issues pushed aside and forgotten and lots of laughing, picking and good memories. When returning home Sam commented that she wasn't ready for Ty to leave now that they've all had so much fun. Hopefully she can appreciate Ty a little more and he her. Will also and go from there.
By making this trip there were a lot of places that you couldn't get signal for the cell phones or Internet and I have to say that other than loading my pictures up on my face book so everyone could see what a blast we were having I was fine with not having a way to get to the outside world. I could concentrate on what was right in front of me. I've taken for granted what is right in front of me wondering what's always going on with others. Something I've tried to teach my own daughter and figuring out that I am just as guilty. Tim is from a small town in Nucla, Colorado and as I told him, I fell in love with the essence of the small town of about 700. It was like stepping back 50 years where people worked hard all day, came in and ate what was made for them, spent good quality time with ones they loved and turned in before 9pm to do it all over again and finding fun in the more simpler things like walking out your back door and using your imagination. Hunting, fishing, exploring or whatnot. I, as a grown up, could walk outside in Tim's hometown and let my adult imagination run wild and find that it wasn't so far off of the way my child's mind worked all those years ago. I learned that I've forgotten my imagination but haven't lost it yet.
I learned when making road trips you can't help but let your mind wonder with the mood of the song. I find that while listening to the radio and all the different songs that play I can connect with certain songs. With people singing about love, heartache, friendship, beliefs, drinking , cheating, and anything else you can think of I find that the drawl of the small and simple life that I was temporarily living took the pressure off of everyday life that I live in in a bigger and a lot more different lifestyle and setting.
With living in a bigger town there's a lot more ways to either screw your life up, lose your family or anything else negative or more opportunity to rise higher financially or dream bigger. Small towns come with less work for the hard working man and that hard working man is paying more attention to building dreams as best he can for him and his family and less about mischievous deeds and thoughts. Oh, it happens but when a person supporting a family in a smaller place has to choose between Internet, social networking, philandering with someone elses mate or food on the table, a roof over their head and keeping a job to make it through the winter I have a pretty good idea which he would choose. Unlike a bigger place where if one gets down on hard times something will come along pretty quick as long as laziness doesn't set in and mooching off others takes the place of searching for a way to provide.
Either way it can happen. The loss of a job, a spouse, a family, a way of life. My faith and trust in the ones that I love keep me right where I am even though the drawl of a much simpler life appeals to me as well. As I am very much a family girl my family will always be number one in my world. Hopefully I won't ever have to connect with songs about my husband cheating because the trust that I have in him, the love that I feel for him and the dedication I am willing to offer him to keep his eye from ever wondering. He's an extremely hard worker and takes working on the job and off very seriously. He doesn't drink and spend all night at the bars, he doesn't abuse me mentally or physically and there are many times he tells me what I mean to him.
I don't go around chasing wild men, someone elses man or keying or bash trucks with my Louie-ville slugger to my ex's, I don't start cat fights with women who look my guys way, I don't drink and party, I don't bitch and moan about why my guy doesn't devote his entire existence to only me and why I can't have everything my heart desires while he's busting his ass working 5 jobs just to pay for it. I don't cuss him, belittle him or think his tractor is sexy. It's a dirt bike and God bless America it's 10 times better. All my kids are sassier than HELL and give me aches in my ass 9 times out of 10 but Sam's not a mean girl, Ty isn't a loser with no direction and Will isn't killing the neighbors cats or setting fire to any ones home so I feel very blessed to have what I have. I may write my own song that's a little country to tell of a hell of a good man mixed with a little headbanging because well, that's what I do taking care of kids and maybe mix in a little comedic rap talking about a dog that should be human and parents that drive me nuts but I love anyway.
Tim asked me on the way home, "So, what did you learn?" I bet he would be running off the side of a mountain if I really told him all that I learned from this trip. It did me good to go on this trip and I have to say, my heart and my head needed it. It's hard enough living a happy life and trying to make a marriage work, raise kids and stay sane while paying the utilities, keeping the roof over our heads, food on the table, clothes on our backs, driving everywhere to make it all possible and catch a breath in the same moment. Everyone goes through this whether they have families or not. If you're single it's just on a smaller level and then if not it just depends. But, the point is is that it's all doable. We also need breaks away from our daily lives to stand back and see what we have. I'd go to Hell and back for the ones that I love and have with a few of them. If the outcome will always be love and happiness at the end of the day I'll do it again and again.
I learned that counting deer and elk racks are different than how we do it in Texas. That mountains can make you feel like you're about to meet your maker and scream WELL HURRY UP ALREADY!!! from the lack of oxygen to the brain, sickness in the belly, headache that'll split you in two and the vertigo that makes you think you're floating every where. I learned that there are way too many mountains, valley's, platues, basins and names for all of them for me to keep up with while I just sit there and nod yes to people asking if I can remember all that? I learned that you can drink way too much hot chocolate, fall while peeing in the woods, that a coke here is a pop there, a tank here is a pond there, a creek here and a "crek" there. I learned my hubin knows how to keep his family safe in all kinds of conditions, egg nog really does taste good, snow will dehydrate you if not melted first, my daughter likes eating the snow, yellow snow is bad for you, we can really have a great time stuck in a traffic jam for 2 1/2 hours. All you have to do is watch the guy driving next to you head bang while the Indians behind him are getting stoned. I learned or remembered that small towns know everything that goes on about everyone and if you're out past 9 somethings up. I learned that after a while family will turn on you like a rabid dog when I reach for the camera and I bet if I sat here long enough I could list a hundred more.
We can learn anything we are willing enough to be taught but I find that the most heart felt learning experiences come from time spent learning about loved ones. I learned a great deal about my husband and the past and place he grew up in. A place that maybe to him is extremely bitter sweet but holds valuable lessons and experiences. Fun memories and lots of adventurous stories. Friendships that take up right where they left off even if years have past. The love of a father not with us any longer and the love felt that will continue to grow for years to come until a son is reunited with him. A special thought of a child making a grown man cry. A son and grand son sharing a special moment. Memories made and for a little while nothing else mattered but love, family, friendship and how we got to the place we are today. What we all go through to find our own happiness and what we'll all do to hang on to it.
These are my thoughts on what I've "learned" from my time away. It's different for each of us. What we take away from an experience makes us more than what we were, I'd like to think. Good or bad. My husband gave me a very rare gift this year that will not soon be forgotten. A gift experienced with eyes wide open enough to live it and know that there is beauty in life. And the love of a man that will always have a loving happy place to call home......
We spent about 10 days stuck like glue most days and I have to say...I learned quite a bit during these last days close together. One thing I learned is that we take each other for granted on a daily basis. We get so wrapped up in our daily lives that we miss paying attention to the other person. The kids especially. The last 10 days of them being together I think that they have been closer now than they ever have the whole time we've all known each other. With Ty being 19 and fixing to leave for the Air Force he's not too into the bonding thing. Craving independence and freedom. Sam as well but still having to hang in there for at least 2 more years and then Will kind of feeling like the odd man out with Sam and Ty being closer in age and mentality. But in recent days I've seen all negative issues pushed aside and forgotten and lots of laughing, picking and good memories. When returning home Sam commented that she wasn't ready for Ty to leave now that they've all had so much fun. Hopefully she can appreciate Ty a little more and he her. Will also and go from there.
By making this trip there were a lot of places that you couldn't get signal for the cell phones or Internet and I have to say that other than loading my pictures up on my face book so everyone could see what a blast we were having I was fine with not having a way to get to the outside world. I could concentrate on what was right in front of me. I've taken for granted what is right in front of me wondering what's always going on with others. Something I've tried to teach my own daughter and figuring out that I am just as guilty. Tim is from a small town in Nucla, Colorado and as I told him, I fell in love with the essence of the small town of about 700. It was like stepping back 50 years where people worked hard all day, came in and ate what was made for them, spent good quality time with ones they loved and turned in before 9pm to do it all over again and finding fun in the more simpler things like walking out your back door and using your imagination. Hunting, fishing, exploring or whatnot. I, as a grown up, could walk outside in Tim's hometown and let my adult imagination run wild and find that it wasn't so far off of the way my child's mind worked all those years ago. I learned that I've forgotten my imagination but haven't lost it yet.
I learned when making road trips you can't help but let your mind wonder with the mood of the song. I find that while listening to the radio and all the different songs that play I can connect with certain songs. With people singing about love, heartache, friendship, beliefs, drinking , cheating, and anything else you can think of I find that the drawl of the small and simple life that I was temporarily living took the pressure off of everyday life that I live in in a bigger and a lot more different lifestyle and setting.
With living in a bigger town there's a lot more ways to either screw your life up, lose your family or anything else negative or more opportunity to rise higher financially or dream bigger. Small towns come with less work for the hard working man and that hard working man is paying more attention to building dreams as best he can for him and his family and less about mischievous deeds and thoughts. Oh, it happens but when a person supporting a family in a smaller place has to choose between Internet, social networking, philandering with someone elses mate or food on the table, a roof over their head and keeping a job to make it through the winter I have a pretty good idea which he would choose. Unlike a bigger place where if one gets down on hard times something will come along pretty quick as long as laziness doesn't set in and mooching off others takes the place of searching for a way to provide.
Either way it can happen. The loss of a job, a spouse, a family, a way of life. My faith and trust in the ones that I love keep me right where I am even though the drawl of a much simpler life appeals to me as well. As I am very much a family girl my family will always be number one in my world. Hopefully I won't ever have to connect with songs about my husband cheating because the trust that I have in him, the love that I feel for him and the dedication I am willing to offer him to keep his eye from ever wondering. He's an extremely hard worker and takes working on the job and off very seriously. He doesn't drink and spend all night at the bars, he doesn't abuse me mentally or physically and there are many times he tells me what I mean to him.
I don't go around chasing wild men, someone elses man or keying or bash trucks with my Louie-ville slugger to my ex's, I don't start cat fights with women who look my guys way, I don't drink and party, I don't bitch and moan about why my guy doesn't devote his entire existence to only me and why I can't have everything my heart desires while he's busting his ass working 5 jobs just to pay for it. I don't cuss him, belittle him or think his tractor is sexy. It's a dirt bike and God bless America it's 10 times better. All my kids are sassier than HELL and give me aches in my ass 9 times out of 10 but Sam's not a mean girl, Ty isn't a loser with no direction and Will isn't killing the neighbors cats or setting fire to any ones home so I feel very blessed to have what I have. I may write my own song that's a little country to tell of a hell of a good man mixed with a little headbanging because well, that's what I do taking care of kids and maybe mix in a little comedic rap talking about a dog that should be human and parents that drive me nuts but I love anyway.
Tim asked me on the way home, "So, what did you learn?" I bet he would be running off the side of a mountain if I really told him all that I learned from this trip. It did me good to go on this trip and I have to say, my heart and my head needed it. It's hard enough living a happy life and trying to make a marriage work, raise kids and stay sane while paying the utilities, keeping the roof over our heads, food on the table, clothes on our backs, driving everywhere to make it all possible and catch a breath in the same moment. Everyone goes through this whether they have families or not. If you're single it's just on a smaller level and then if not it just depends. But, the point is is that it's all doable. We also need breaks away from our daily lives to stand back and see what we have. I'd go to Hell and back for the ones that I love and have with a few of them. If the outcome will always be love and happiness at the end of the day I'll do it again and again.
I learned that counting deer and elk racks are different than how we do it in Texas. That mountains can make you feel like you're about to meet your maker and scream WELL HURRY UP ALREADY!!! from the lack of oxygen to the brain, sickness in the belly, headache that'll split you in two and the vertigo that makes you think you're floating every where. I learned that there are way too many mountains, valley's, platues, basins and names for all of them for me to keep up with while I just sit there and nod yes to people asking if I can remember all that? I learned that you can drink way too much hot chocolate, fall while peeing in the woods, that a coke here is a pop there, a tank here is a pond there, a creek here and a "crek" there. I learned my hubin knows how to keep his family safe in all kinds of conditions, egg nog really does taste good, snow will dehydrate you if not melted first, my daughter likes eating the snow, yellow snow is bad for you, we can really have a great time stuck in a traffic jam for 2 1/2 hours. All you have to do is watch the guy driving next to you head bang while the Indians behind him are getting stoned. I learned or remembered that small towns know everything that goes on about everyone and if you're out past 9 somethings up. I learned that after a while family will turn on you like a rabid dog when I reach for the camera and I bet if I sat here long enough I could list a hundred more.
We can learn anything we are willing enough to be taught but I find that the most heart felt learning experiences come from time spent learning about loved ones. I learned a great deal about my husband and the past and place he grew up in. A place that maybe to him is extremely bitter sweet but holds valuable lessons and experiences. Fun memories and lots of adventurous stories. Friendships that take up right where they left off even if years have past. The love of a father not with us any longer and the love felt that will continue to grow for years to come until a son is reunited with him. A special thought of a child making a grown man cry. A son and grand son sharing a special moment. Memories made and for a little while nothing else mattered but love, family, friendship and how we got to the place we are today. What we all go through to find our own happiness and what we'll all do to hang on to it.
These are my thoughts on what I've "learned" from my time away. It's different for each of us. What we take away from an experience makes us more than what we were, I'd like to think. Good or bad. My husband gave me a very rare gift this year that will not soon be forgotten. A gift experienced with eyes wide open enough to live it and know that there is beauty in life. And the love of a man that will always have a loving happy place to call home......
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