There is nothing more sobering about the condition of your family life than to travel out of your comfort zone for a couple of weeks and take some time to hold everything at arms length for a bit. Reflecting on where a word of encouragement could have been spoken or when a sarcastic remark could have been swallowed has a way of keeping us focused. As I watch our family function as a unit, we migrate through a variety of situations all of us bringing very different temperaments to the table. And it is commonly those traits that we find most irritating about each other that are so apparent in ourselves. How ironic. Almost makes me laugh if it wasn’t so sad. I have found as I’ve gotten older that one of my primary desires is for my family to establish that “patient and kind” attitude towards one another. To be encouraging rather than competitive. To be protective of one another rather than judgmental. I made the statement recently that when I hear one of them being critical to another, it hurts my spirit. I have no idea if that makes sense to anybody but me, however, that is how it feels. As each of them are striking out on their own path, it is very interesting to watch them process life. We are returning from a family vacation to one of the U.S. Virgin Islands (before you judge let me mention that we have probably taken 4 family vacations together ever and our oldest child is 21, none of which have ever been off the continental United States). Experiencing the thrill of anticipation before we left, the eagerness to finally arrive, the wonder on their faces as they take everything in…..those are the priceless moments. It’s like Christmas – at a certain age when you’re growing up it loses some of its magic. And then you have children and its all back as you experience it thru their eyes again. It’s rejuvenating to the soul.

We have done many things together on our trip such as take a ferry to one of the other islands and explore a landscape that is breathtaking. And snorkel off a beach where just a half hour later an island diver captures a venomous lionfish and throws it on shore for all to see. More about that later. And today the kids are out with a diving instructor named Micky to receive the final instruction to become certified scuba divers. Emotions ranging from excitement to nervousness were very much in play….and the kids were excited too. :). And in the evening as we’re winding down we have played Triominos (love that game!) and LIFE which is hilarious. Especially when you see our oldest be the big risk-taker and our daughter being very conservative. In real life they are opposite of that for the most part. And then our youngest….well he’s just a delight all the way around. We visited Coral World yesterday (which was so fun) and he tripped and fell hard over some rocks and landed on his shins and palms and it broke my heart to see how hard he tried to be brave. Once we got him out of viewing range of everyone, he finally cried and allowed me to put some Neosporin on there and to wipe the cuts off with a tissue. He was so worried about how it all appeared and didn’t want a fuss made. He’s 11 so I fussed over him when nobody was looking. Yep, good ole Mom had a package of clean tissues and a travel-size Neosporin spritzer in my purse. Just in case someone crashed and burned at Coral World. As he slips his hand into mine and tells me “thanks for always taking care of me, Mom” I can tell you that every second of time that went into planning this trip together as a family has been worth it.

When we arrived at Red Hook Dive Center this morning to see the kids off for their dive certification, Jacob was carrying Ashley’s dive bag, Jamie had Jacob’s stuff slung over one shoulder and the dive instructor had to ask Ashley to let Jacob get his own dive gear together because she was going to do it for him. So, as different as each of them are, they are united by a bond that will preempt every other obstacle waiting for them in the years ahead. They are and will forever be family.