A Gifted Weekend

I am so full that it almost hurts. Almost. I have returned from the most fun-filled, thought provoking, entertaining, fulfilling weekend ...

It all started just a little ahead of schedule. Just before my Daycare Day wound to a close on Thursday, My Sister arrived and the first leg of our Fun-Filled Weekend would begin.

My Sister got me through the last half hour of a particularly challenging Daycare Day. She was the most fun, interactive toy that my daycare family has ever found within the confines of our daycare home. They were thrilled. I was thrilled that they were thrilled. I am not certain that My Sister was as thrilled as we were but she certainly faked it well if she wasn't.

My Sister joined my family for supper. Then the two of us were left on our own and we visited throughout the evening. We woke up the next morning and by 8:30 a.m., we were headed out the door towards our Weekend Adventure.

We picked up Our Aunt before we left the city. Every family should have an aunt like our aunt. Maybe every family does. But I don't think so. I think we are pretty lucky that she married into our family. She makes life richer because of the way she sees, absorbs and reflects the world. She is a kaleidoscope of everything I enjoy in a person. And I could tell that I was not alone. I believe that Our Aunt was instrumental in bringing out the best in all of us and it was a gift (quite literally) to have her join us for our Weekend Adventure.

We drove for an hour and a half and our next stop was to join my Second Sister. She arrived at our rendezvous point minutes before we did. And that was exactly how our weekend continued to unfold. We were exactly where we were meant to be, when we were meant to be there (other than all of those yellow lights that we kept hitting which must have meant that we were running just slightly ahead of schedule at one point of our travels).

Four (or so) hours after that, we were on Our Mom's doorstep. We knew exactly how much of a gift it was to bring Our Aunt along with us, so we pinned a ribbon (and little Happy Birthday sign) to Our Aunt's lapel and had her go ahead of us and ring the doorbell to present Our Aunt to Our Mom as our gift. Mom did not understand our gesture or appreciate her gifts one at a time, because she peered out beyond Our Aunt to find the rest of us (just like a kid who rips opens their first gift and doesn't take time to stop and savor it before they tear into the next). That is not to say anything negative about Our Mom. It is to say that Mom was a little bit like an excited child because she was excited to open all of her gifts right away. And that would be us. Her daughters.

It was all precious and special. Our weekend went on to include Our Brother and His Daughter joining our party and taking Mom out for a birthday supper. It was almost anticlimactic to leave the magical environment of Mom's home and family setting to go out and eat a meal. It may have been the only thing that was less than ideal about our enchanted weekend. It brought us down to earth, broke the spell and displaced us for the duration of our meal. But Everything Good was sitting there waiting for us back at Mom's house when we returned.

And that ... was just the beginning. There was more. There was so much more.

But for this very moment in time, I just want to breathe it all back in again one small moment at a time. So I shall stop here and inhale. If the weekend had stopped right there it would have been enough. I am very happy and content with 'enough' but there were more gifts hiding around the corner.

Stay tuned...