The Inevitable...

Change is inevitable...we face change every single day, wheather it's blatantantly recognizable or subconcious. Usually change for me is something I welcome with open arms. I like new experiences, and even though transition can be difficult with change...I accept the challenge. I like to be stretched...I like knowing that my changing or things around me changing are part of a greater plan the Lord has for my life, even though I can't see the big picture.

That having been said, today I am struck with a mournful change. My sister, and youngest sibling left for USCG bootcamp in Cape May, New Jersey. Something I am extremely proud of her for, and know is a calling the Lord has on her life. However, I realize, she is the last of us kids to leave home, and venture out to start her own life. The whole dynamic of our family has shifted on this day. My parents now have an empty house, and going home to visit, where I could once be welcomed by at least one sibling that still remained, is no longer a reality. We all have totally seperate lives, which is amazing, because we are all still so close and following the Lord and being blessed by him...yet at the same time...it's just so wierd to think that our childhood is truly over. And the things that defined that chapter of my life, no longer exist. I guess, the way I see it, is that because Aimee was still at home, when I would be visiting, it still felt like old times...when we all lived there. Like I was hanging on to my younger years through her. It was compforting I supose.

Those days are gone. It's a bitter sweet experience. I can't believe we are all in such different places, and "grown up". No more summer family vacations, no more sitting together every night and eating dinner together, no more getting up early for saturday morning cartoons, no more unavoidable daily chores, or petty bickering or family games or movie nights...or the excitment of holiday preperation...christmas songs all day every day from Thanksgiving til christmas!! Holiday baking and shopping, gift giving and christmas light viewing! These are a thing of the past. For me some of this stuff, like saturday morning cartoons, have been long gone years and years ago. For some reason, none of this was such a reality, as today.

There has been a major shift, and things will never be the same. It will always be wonderful to get together and visit. Those will be cherished times...invaluable as time goes on. Today is a day of goodbyes to the past, and to the compfort and safety of what I recognized as "home" and "family". So, it is with a bittersweet attitude, that I bid my farewell. Thank goodness that memories last a lifetime:)