Renewal in Unlikely Ways

So.  We had high hopes for our Saturday.  It was the first weekend in weeks when Joe, my husband, was off from school.  We actually had an entire weekend for family time, at home, together.  We had romantic notions of a lazy morning in pajamas sipping coffee and reading the newspaper (a Stephens’ family ritual, I might add!), of strolling to the farmer’s market up the street, of exploring the library and hitting baseballs in the backyard.  It was going to be grand.  And renewing.

I quickly realized about 8:00am after a morning meltdown that it might just be a day of finding renewal in unlikely ways.  Instead of what I thought it would be, Saturday became what it needed to be:  a day of being heard, of reconnecting with one another, of loving, of Plan Bs, of letting go and being surprised. 

Renewal became an afternoon of bowling (Harper’s first!), planting pumpkin seed starters (oh my!  what are we getting ourselves into?), dancing to “Imagination Movers” music and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a leisurely dinner for us after Harper was in bed, and yes, even a bit of baseball in the backyard.  And so the learning–and living–continues!