Home Sweet Home

... And it feels that way.

I wasn't sure it it would. Coming home to Scottsdale.

Our trip was wonderful. We had so much fun. It was better than I could have ever anticipated. The kids had such a great time seeing their best friends, spending every single moment with friends, having sleepovers, laughing, going into the city, swimming, staying up way too late every single night, doing things I normally wouldn't let them do (like seeing movies by themselves, going to restaurants by themselves, walking to Starbucks by themselves, wearing MAKEUP!). It seems they all got to grow up a little bit this summer.

I got to spend time with more friends than I could count. I lunched and I breakfasted and I coffeed and I drank more than I ever could have expected. We saw U2 and REO, and watched birds chase squirrels from their birdhouses, and also watched preying mantis grow and eat fruit flies. We had parties and I laughed a shitload and created memories that are too fun and too private to share on this blog. Porch regret! We planned the next Buttercup Retreat, and a Vegas getaway. I slept in, read some great books, got awakened by the big brother I never wanted at six a.m. by him playing the saxaphone -- WHO DOES THAT? Only the big brother I never wanted!

And now we're back. And they survived. And I survived. There were tears. It was difficult. I felt the emotions of leaving. It felt like saying goodbye all over again to my close friends, it felt like I was coming back here to nothing all over again. I wasn't sure how I would feel, coming back to the desert, to the heat, to a house I might not remember.

But we came back, and it was like, "Ahhhhhh." and "Home."

Our friends are our friends no matter the distance. My children know that now. They had the time of their lives. They're all here now, in their home, doing their thing. McKaelen is chatting on her cell phone with someone, I think a friend from here. Luke is playing his piano, and I've signed him up for football. Ajers is probably Xboxing it up. He gets his braces taken off today. McKaelen gets molds for hers to come ON today. Life keeps moving, just as it did. We had a great trip back home. We made incredible memories.

We're going to make incredible ones here to. In Scottsdale. Here. In our home now.