Markers

I love reflecting. I love revisiting important places in my life that give me pause to remember where I've been. Patrick's Point has become one of those places. I took P & J on a camping trip there just the three of us last month. I pitched an old fashioned pole tent all by myself, it was sagging yes, but it provided adequate shelter for the two nights we were there. It was an adventure, and it was fun to hang with my older two.
This picture is of us at Wedding Rock, a very important marker for me and for our family really. I've visited it a total of only three times in my life, but they represent big moments in where I was at.
The first time was in February '95 when Trav proposed to me. We were just a couple of young college kids in love and knew we wanted to be together forever. We had no clue what that really meant of course, but we were in! We've never looked back.
We didn't return until August '07 with our three young children in tow. Payton was 6, Jonah 4, and Davey 2. We were still in the glow of our self-imposted sabbatical. Trav was only working 20 some odd hours a week at Starbucks which he was thoroughly enjoying, we were living in the beautiful Santa Cruz mountains by my family, and we had lots of time just to play together. What a gift it was! And we were still in that excited wonder of "where could we be next year? What will our story be? How exciting!" Little did we know that the anticipation and excitement for what might be were to slowly dissipate into, "what the heck are we doing? are we always going to be living in a one bedroom house at my parents?" There was to be a long year of that. So much growing was done in us.
My third visit was last month here with the kids, Sept '09, just two short years from the last time. I was very reflective of where we'd been, where we are now, and what the future holds for us still. I felt much more melancholy, sober, but also in possession of an anchored peace. I'm still lonely for what we had in both Riverside and Santa Cruz, I miss all the easy, natural relationships I had in both those places. But, we're solid here in Redding. It's starting to take shape for us. We've passed the magic one year marker for living here, and it's starting to feel more like home bit by bit.
I don't know when we'll be back to Patrick's Point again, but it's one of our favorite places, so I know we'll be back time and again with the family. It's our place to check in along the way of life, see how far we've come, to reflect, and be thankful. I look forward to next time.