Collecting Youth

I am on my way to college to bring our youngest back home for the summer. There is nothing more wonderful than a house filled with the sounds of family and a washing machine going non-stop. I have been a Mom with kids at home so long that I am still a little bit at sea when there is no a child home with me. Times change and children grow and our home takes on new sounds and new pervasive quiet. And I want to shake that up and collect youth so that the walls reverberate with life.

For today, I take on the challenges of this journey, knowing that life will be different after today and not like it was in the past either. Each collecting time is a time of recognized change. She has grown and changed and so have we. The familiar will be a little awkward, the comfortable will be tested. And we will all be learners and testers in this process. For today, I am going to enjoy completely collecting my child and all her belongings. She will bring new stories and new dreams and hopefully I will have some to share of my own.

May we, who live in families, no matter how grown or spread apart, remember that we are known in the relationships we foster and renew. We are at our best when we change and grow together and God is known in the midst of our two or three gathered together. For all of us on a journey this day - safe travels, and safe home.