Looking forward

It least I, spend much of our lives 'looking forward' to what comes next and not enough enjoying what is happening at the moment. Since about this very day last year when the Tour de France ended I was anxious for the start of it again in early July, and only a couple of weeks later my sister left our house to begin their school year at an international school in Kazakhstan. With all the anticipation, both came and past with incredible quickness.

Jess and Dan left yesterday for Idaho. For about a year we had been anticipating their return from Kazakhstan to visit. They arrived at our house on July 8 and stayed with us for 2.5 weeks. How quickly it flew. There were so many things to fit in this time that we can't share the rest of the year - farmer's market, Indian food, thai food, watching the Tour de France together, friday night races at the bike track, long bike rides in the sun (largely derailed by a summer time cold for me), and most importantly Molly.


I think that I have come to a time in my life that I have realized that I could climb a mountain, travel to a distant paradise, catch fish in the tropics, or any other magnificent activity; but it is experiencing life with those I love that really makes it wonderful. For this, I spent the time between the snowy February 26th when Molly was born and July 8 anxious for Jess and Dan's arrival to to share what is the biggest thing in my life. In the two and a half weeks they were here we shared watching her grow and change, see her tired and screaming, happy and giggling, trying to shove both fists in her mouth, grabbing her feet, and all the cute things babies do. When they arrived, Molly was just starting to get the hang of eating baby food and starting to show some interest; now she is grabbing the spoon and helping shove it in her mouth and nearly holding a bottle on her own. Her first 'rollover' was shortly before they got here; now rolling over is old hat and she is showing signs that crawling isn't that far away. Those are the measurable achievements, and there were countless other moments throughout.

There isn't anyone that I want to share the joy of Molly with more than my sister. It was wonderful to share these events and milestones the last couple of weeks. I'll continue to do my best to bridge the half-a-world distance between us for the next year with all the media available. It will be fun to watch them experience all this on on our heels. I only wish they were an easily traveled distance away so that we could regularly share these experiences.