Grace and Peace

I'm listening now to the sounds of party revelers outside, and I've no desire to join them :)

I watched DC's fireworks through the back window of a cab tonight, as Sarah and I squeaked back into town JUST in time to get home before fireworks ended and the thousands that descend upon our fair city each fourth of July try to get OUT of it and traffic becomes mayhem and drunken craziness abounds. 

I had a weekend full of exactly what I needed: sleep, a lake, a float with a cup holder with a cold beer, a great friend and a family so like my own that it was eerie.  My friend invited me to her parents' lake home in southwest Virginia and as we neared the house and the roads began to twist and turn, and the landscape turned to haybales and barns and mountains in the distant, I was reminded so forcibly of Kentucky that it startled me. 

Somehow, I thought only these things belonged to Kentucky, but no, red dirt roads are everywhere.  From sea to shining sea -some may say.

Her mother and father, both adorable and have been married to each other and only each other, were refreshing in themselves.  Southern accents.  Babies.  Lake and mountains.  Several times, as I floated along in the water, I closed my eyes and soaked it all in. 

We caught lightning bugs.

This morning, I slept until almost ten.  I wandered sleepily upstairs to be greeted with sausage and biscuits, and then we had a birthday party for a two year old. 

(I think if I have kids, they won't be allowed to have birthday parties until they are old enough to be interested in opening their presents.  The end.)

This two year old is a special boy though, and so loved that it made me so happy to see this boy, born with special needs and still smart as a whip, so loved up on.  Around 5 today, Sarah and I decided to head back to the city.

Four hours and discussions about everything later, we are back.  I am relaxed.  I am happy. 

Max (Sarah's dog) was accidentally locked in the garage for a few minutes today and everyone was frantically looking for him.  When he was finally discovered, I grabbed his head and gave him a kiss and said "well, look who was lost but now is found!" 

Me, too.