The Two P's and a trip to MO

Dear Readers,

Do you ever put off writing about certain occasions?

Do you ever put off posting certain pictures?

I do.

It seems like sometimes I just have too much to say about them right after they happen. Like there is a greater amount of personal expectation involved. I want to use the right words. I want it to look just right. I want it to do for you, the readers, a small portion of what it did for me.

That isn't always easy.

So I put it off.

Perfectionism and procrastination don't mix

***

One of my husband's family's dear friends died recently and we made a spur-of the moment trip to Missouri for the funeral. Mr. Loggerhead's Grandmother lives there and she welcomed us in with open arms, clean, sweet-smelling sheets and fresh homemade bread. 

I am ashamed to say that, other than a few fly-by-night, passing-through occasions we haven't been to visit Grandma 'Rette since a few months after Mr. Loggerhead and I got married.

I was newly pregnant and didn't even know it yet.

I probably wasn't even very good company.

She is so nice, she would tell you otherwise.

The place was as lovely as I remembered.

I came here the first time, when I was fourteen.

 Mr. Loggerhead and I wouldn't really notice each other for another three years.

There were familiar sights. The sign on the fence, a little more weathered. A different cat in the window. But the hospitality and the feeling of seclusion from traffic and noise was the same.

I like that. 

As sad as it was that a death brought us here, I couldn't help admiring the beauty all around me.

The antique feel of the buildings.

The charming array of 'junk'.

The ever-present reminders of country life.

The impression of a wild and untamed wilderness everywhere.

My boys loved the swing.

They squealed, cuddled and laughed in the sunshine. T-boy begged daddy for one more ride.

This is the same swing in which I had pushed my baby sister, Katie, not so very long ago.

Mr. Loggerhead spent a lot of time here growing up. It was interesting to hear the stories he has about the days before I was in the picture.

Like looking in the window on a World I never knew.

We walked around checking-out what was different and what was the same.

Swapping stories about what we remembered about this place.

Here's a bike he's sure he rode at one time.

So much to see.

So very much to see.

[hee-hee]

And he threatens to take away my camera.

An awesome feeling to see my boys in spots where their daddy played.

Oh, and worked, as Mr. Loggerhead reminded me.

What adventures he must have had here.

I hope for my boys to have the same.

Amazing how things come full-circle.

Love,

Loving the Journey in NE