12 Days of Blog Posts: Road Trip!

Gantt and I have been making this drive for sixteen years. Our first drive from LA to Portland, Oregon was during spring break in 1998. That was when David first met my family. We've grown up so much since then. We've lost parents, and taken a long journey to parenthood ourselves. 

Tonight we're taking the trip with two kids in the backseat and driving through the night. We will drive a little slower this trip, knowing all we could lose.

Our winter drives usually coincide with winter solstice and this longest night gives us the chance to think about where we've been and where we are heading. 

With most of the year in our rear view mirror, 2015 was welcoming Gabe and completing our family. It was the awe of Kiara coming into her three-year-old self. It was exhaustion and trying to fit even more into full, full lives. It was absorbing a country at odds over #blacklivesmatter, an international refugee crisis, and a chaotic political landscape that too often leaves me feeling hopeless. 

But this past year's challenges taught me so much about who I am as a mom, a teacher, a writer, a coach, and a human and when we make this drive again a year from now our planet will have made another trip around the sun. Our kids will be one and four and 2016 will be nearly complete. I welcome all of the possibilities.