Getting Away...
This picture was taken just a few months before Baby Sister was born. It was a quick get-away that was planned on a whim. My husband had just successfully completed another term in his graduate program and I was once again getting that itch to see something different.
So we left for a long weekend. We gladly said goodbye to the Hollywood sign, the beaches and the 300 pressed juiceries on every corner.
We were desert bound.
On our drive, I began to loose count of the industrial size windmills and the palm trees and the lizards and the violet desert flowers when LA was far behind us. I needed to loose count. I needed the unfamiliar.
And away from everything is where we found our magic again. Maybe it was the heat or the crazy desert air, or that random rain cloud that showed up for an hour every evening around 6pm, but all three of us were different. Calm. Lighter.
I left my planner at home. I ignored all emails. I only contacted my mother to let her know that we had arrived safely. I shut everything off and focused on the new for 72 hours.
And I was actually able to open a book and read for awhile. And when I glanced up, I saw them. This. My little one on ballerina toes telling her daddy something I couldn't hear but something that was important. Him, listening intently because he has always showed her that her words carried weight with him. It all made me smile. Because this is the 2003rd time that I have seen this. Them. That no matter what they talk about, they look at each other as if the other was made of bunnies and fireworks and chocolate cupcakes.
We didn't have to travel far to be in this space... for me to capture this moment. It's amazing how two hours in any direction feels like an entirely new world. Because though home is wonderful, we all need time away from looming deadlines and preschool parent meetings and dance practice and long commutes and cleaning and birthday parties and schedules.
And so we will do this again. Often. We will pack our bags soon and leave Los Angeles to find something new. Next time our adventure will be with Baby Sister. Next time we will head north. We will head north and recharge.
