Filling Our Souls

Yesterday morning I got a text from Frank with a photo of a page of the school newspaper in which he is student of the month. Cool, I thought. But then I took a step back, and figured out how many students can be student of the month in the course of their time in high school. Basically, thirty-six. I amended my initial reaction to VERY cool.

With all kids, elementary-age, tweens, teens, there are ebbs and flows to their interactions with their parents. When you have more than one, the ebbs and flows seem to multiply by more than the number of kids you have.

I think it's relatively natural for teens to disappear from their parents' lives when they get their driver's license. They begin exercising their independence in a way we don't plan for . . . at least with the oldest child. I'll find myself thinking, where is he? Only to find out he's at a friend's house. SCREECH. Hey buddy, you need to ask, not just go. They start staying out until their curfew. Exactly. 

"When will you be home?" 
"By curfew."
Oh. Okay.

Everyone says this is normal, but I miss him. The last few family mini-trips we've taken, he's opted to stay home. Usually for good reason, like work. Truthfully, it helps because then we don't have to board Ballou. This year he asked if we were going anywhere for spring break, and I told him we weren't. Then we changed our mind. 

In the meantime, he signed up to work over the break. When I told him of the plan change, he said, "I wanna go" (only a slight whine in his voice). Uh, okay . . . call Smith's Dog Lodge, book Ballou to go play for a few days; rent a big SUV (because we don't have a car big enough anymore for all of us to ride together); and reconfigure where we're going (just a little), how long we're staying, and how many rooms we'll need. He was able to get the time off work. Evidently a lot of the guards and instructors offered to work spring break, so it wasn't a big deal to find a replacement. 

I'm thrilled, because again, I miss him. We all need to get away. Buying a house and moving is stressful. Very. We're waiting for escrow to close . . . which will be another month or so, and it's hard to wait. We really can't pack any more than we have, because the rest of the stuff we need to use on a regular basis. We can't plan any more room layouts, or take any more measurements, or shop any more catalogs. We need a break. 

So off we go. A little sojourn to Taos and Santa Fe. We recently went to the Georgia O'Keefe show at the Fine Arts Center. We watched the newsreel of an interview with her filmed at her ranch. We were filled with longing to go back to the enchanted land of New Mexico, and feed our souls.

It's a quick trip, but it's all of us. Together. Reconnecting. Filling our souls.