our DC trip {in pictures}

This year, for spring break, we trekked up north to see our nation's capital.

First we'd like to thank our wonderful host, Mark's brother Tony. The stay was extremely enjoyed, every minute!

The weather cooperated for the most part during our stay, and we were able to enjoy the outdoors. Getting some fresh air is always a must.

One of our first stops was to Fort Washington

Definitely worth a read to explore the history that took place here...

Looking out over the Potomac...

If these walls could talk...

We enjoyed walking around these grounds and exploring the history surrounding Washington D.C. In case you have ever wondered, there's a lot of history tucked into these areas.

I know the kids get tired of me taking pictures, but I told them they would look back on these someday and wish they had smiled a few times...and this is what I got ;-)

We were able to look at quite a few historic landmarks, and we got our exercise...

In front of the White House:

Jefferson Memorial:

Capitol (under some construction):

American Red Cross National Headquarters:

World War II Memorial:

Washington Monument:

Lincoln Memorial:

On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King Jr gave his "I Have A Dream" speech.

We went through the American History, Natural History, Air and Space Smithsonian:

The kids enjoyed their first Metro Subway experience!

Tony also gave us some great walking tours of the city and we enjoyed all of the busy sights and sounds and, of course, food!

Shout out to John for meeting us for dinner; a fun night! :)

We had a fantastic trip, and can't wait to come back again!

Thank you Tony and Molly, for being such enjoyable hosts!

dwelling

This is such a touchy subject, and I almost hesitate to write about it. I can see dear family and friends reading my words and taking it all out of context and not reading it for what it is. My thoughts. On this day, at this time. I guess I'll take that risk.

For what it's worth, I try to be authentic and surrender myself to ever changing and rebalancing of thoughts and beliefs that will eventually shape this life I live. The process is crucial to all of us who want to think back at the end of our days and say "yes I lived a truly authentic, one of a kind of life." I have to think we all take several paths to get to where we are. This experience of life connects us at our core. 

So I begin.

I grew up with a strong Christian background. Strong in the sense that "hate" was a bad word and heaven was filled with Angels, hell with Demons. Pretty standard, I'd say. 

Sunday was bible school. Pews with hymns and prayers of forgiveness for the sins like tattling on my brother or listening  to my friend say the s- word and maybe repeating it to myself to hear the sound of it across my teeth. By middle school God made his appearances twice a week when I would go to Youth Group on Wednesday nights. We would talk about old scripture and how it would relate to our world of Doc Martens and lip gloss. God was cool, like a hipster picture of Jesus wearing sunglasses. Totally relatable in our land of "like" and "as if." The 90s, people. You have no idea how cool we were. 

Then came adult life. When the world grips your shoulders and shakes you and your hipster Jesus. Your once solid beliefs become a Charlie Brown tree of missing limbs. Maybe there's enough strength to to hold together a few pine needles of original thought here and there. This is it, you think. I am drifting away in an ocean of uncertainty. The waves take you, drifting in the storm your demise absolute. 

A few nights ago we watched a little bit of Eat, Pray, Love. I read the book years ago and loved it. There was this moment, when Liz goes to an ashram in India trying to work on her focus through meditation. She centers on a certain passage: God dwells within you, as you. 

Since my adult life I have felt a large disconnect in all things God. In fact, there are days that I glance at something with the word G-O-D in it and I quickly avert my eyes. It's a word I cannot identify with easily and instead want to push away like leftovers at a table. 

God dwells within you, as you. 

I suppose, if this were truly the case, I am pushing away pieces of myself. Pieces that make me who I am. Nothing to be scared of. Not someone too hard to impress. In fact, someone that knows me in the most intimate way possible. Someone who has never left. Who has been with me in the dark, quiet moments of self-doubt. I am not alone.

God dwells within you, as you.

Day breaks. The sun comes up and greets a new day. You arrive onto an uninhabited island. Alone with your thoughts you become acclimated to this new place. You fill it with pieces of you, as you gather and collect pieces of it. We all have the capabilities to make our own home to dwell in. Our own ways to build a fire. Some may even gather warmth from non-fire sources. 

Without fail, there will be those select few that can cultivate their fire from a rare lightning strike, those lucky few may share their gold with others. 

If you're like me, a fire is more prized when we can build it with our own two hands. 

Whether you are a devout practitioner in lighting fires, or a practitioner of living out this life the best you know how....I feel that all of our journeys are worthy and uniquely ours, and are meant to intersect in ways we may not know and appreciate at times. No matter who you are, where you are in this journey I will send you love and light in your quest.

scout

Every now and then, when I let myself slow down and play observer, I catch glimpses of our children growing up into big people. These moments usually rush in and catch me off guard.

Life has a funny way of doing that.

No parent can really ever pin-point the time in which baby becomes kid then young adult. I suppose that may be due to some built in protective parenting mechanism which wraps itself tightly into shades of denial and unwillingness to let go. The part that always makes me breathless is that no matter what I do now, where we are in the future, and what will be...they are always ours. Just as much as the day we first held them. We are the keepers of their little hearts just as they have always kept ours. 

So when we went to Caleb's Blue & Gold Banquet this year, I held tight that little boy.


He took off, flew.


And right before our very eyes...he became a Boy Scout.

Caleb, we are so very proud.

And we know, you are too.

Next time that I get nostalgic for all the first steps, first words, first rides down memory lane...I hope that I recognize that those things are all nice to think about and remember. But right here, in this moment, we are doing amazing things too.

in between

Sometimes with the kids, I feel like life speeds by so fast I get winded and don't take the time to slow down and look up. There's always something going on or somewhere to be. I'm always looking ahead to those bigger moments and lose sight of the journey in between.

The every day, simple, at first glance boring things can also be the extraordinary. Sometimes I'm afraid that it's all passing us too quick. The days are all a blur.

I don't want a blurred life. I want the "pause-and-reflect", "soak-and-absorb" life. Not the pace of events and busyness and full schedules, but the in between. The don't blink because this may seem so simple, so seemingly insignificant, but it's not. It's incredible, special and full of possibility. The possibility of greatness.

And in that moment, that greatness, there's a sense of calm and well-being. Because you noticed. You grasped. And you held on tighter than ever before.

resilience in my back pocket

For any of those out there in the know, or out of the know, I had a rough day a few weeks back.

My wallet was stolen, and then cards within were used to make many purchases at a nearby mall. 

Humble experience, let me tell you. 

All of this, of course, had to happen on my busiest of weeks under the pressure of learning and adding a new job. 

But really, is there ever a good time to have your wallet stollen? Maybe when it's old, empty and two steps away from the trash can.....

A few days after all this chaos I was in a computer lab, training with some fellow new employees. After I shared my stolen wallet incident, one of the ladies I was sitting next to stared at me.

"What?" I asked.

"I can't believe this. You are working 60 hours a week, your husband is in school full time, you have two kids, and your wallet was stolen. And here you are helping me point and click on this new computer program. If I were you I would be a puddle on the floor."

I quickly laughed off the remark.

"And now you're laughing," she added.

I'll admit, I don't take this sort of observation lightly. And by no means am I trying to be proud or boastful or a complete full-of-myself or pity me-version of Aimee. I'm also not trying to ask the universe for more challenges or obstacles to prove what I'm made of.

I'd like to consider this a learning opportunity about our ability to have a buoyant resilience. Something that is as much a part of us as our ideals and values. It is our ability to take what we can out of a situation and recover from it. Or learn from it. Or grow from it. Or chalk it up to improving our karma.

There are situations in real life that do suck. And I don't want to compare stories, or pull out the measuring stick to put one hardship over another. I really do believe it is all in the eye of the beholder.

Perspective. Humor. Gratitude. These are all handy tools I pull out when life comes in full force and puts on a show of the unexpected. I know that I've become the reactor that I am because of the background that I have. That's the beauty in all this. We all have different starting and finishing lines, and somewhere in the middle, within that race to where we're going...we find it. What makes us bounce back, tie our laces tighter, and throw dirt on the wounds we have so we can forge on. The great thing about that grit, the sweat and tears...our persevering resilience finds its steady beat. And from that point on, we'll never be without it.