Choosing To Love...

Today was our last visit with Lucia and Aidan and Jenny and Brendan.  They rolled out a couple hours ago, headed for Jenny’s cousin’s house, then on up to Jersey to her sister’s house.  We had several wonderful, wonderful gatherings with them while they were in Virginia.

As with most strong friendships, they walked in the door on their first visit, and it was as if they had just been away for a weekend.  The kids disappeared to play together, and Jen and I settled in for great gabfests.

I’m struggling to bounce back now that they are gone.  In preparing the children for today’s visit, I explained that today was our last visit with them for this trip.  Zachary said, “But not our last visit with them forever, right?”  I reassured him that we have many years of visits ahead of us, and the children seem to be taking all of this in stride, whereas I am the one wishing for something else.

But, as I said to Zoe, I would so much rather have them in our lives…and feel the sorrow of loss each time we tell them good bye…than to not have the incredible richness they have added to our existence.

Here are some photos from our time together.