Yesterday was our last day together (at least for now) as a family. We haven’t been together this much since all four of our children were in local schools, over seventeen years ago. My goodness how we have all grown through these many years. I’m feeling blessed and depressed at the moment. Blessed and depressed. Miss, Tay, and I are together on a flight to Chicago. Krits is flying solo back to KC, while Andrew and Jordan fly alone to Berlin and Miami respectively. We are no longer together and I already miss them. We miss them.
I miss Jordan’s playfulness and his joy at discovering the bidet 🙂 He taught us some new games to play in the car. We laughed as we “bet” on each other’s thoughts. I miss Krit’s adventurous spirit and the many hikes we took to that “damn rock,” and straight up the Amalfi coast. I miss her laugh and beautiful spirit. I miss Andrews humor and how much he cared for my Miss. I miss seeing Tay having time with each of his siblings. I miss the moment when Tay came up with the best business idea for the island of Santorini – Duber (Donkey meets Uber). I miss hearing them call me dad, ding, deuces, King Deucious, Emperor Dusuvius, Deucious the terrible, and Chetters. I love hearing them call me by name. I miss laughing uncontrollably at silliness that only we understand – we as a family. I miss waking up and knowing exactly where our children are and that they’re safe. I miss being somewhat responsible for them. I miss seeing them be so generous with those that took care of them, especially Jordan – the poker playing social worker with a soft heart. I miss walking behind them and just studying their different gates and remembering those same gates when they were younger (some things do not change). I miss our children.
I’m thankful we had these two weeks together. Miss and I are flying home blessed by being with our little humans that are not so little anymore. I’m blessed that we are already planning our next family offsite. I’m blessed that we can all be together and were all healthy enough to climb the steps from hell up to our Villa just this side of heaven. I’m blessed that Miss is with me and Tay not so far away. Blessed and depressed. Poison and wine. Bitter and sweet. Such is our human condition, is it not. Blessed. Good.
Live hard. Love harder (Thanks, Teeks)…
You forgot dufus. 🙂
A heartwarming response to a heartfelt post. I was welling up a bit and then laughed awkwardly on this Southwest flight when I read your reply. Thank you for that!
Nothing is better than family.
‘And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.’ So happy you and Miss enjoyed such a blessed time with your beloveds. God is good. Your family is a beautiful blessing!
So good Chet! Thanks for sharing. I love that you all did this and hope you continue. As I raise my three kiddos (11, 10 and 5) it challenges me to stay connected to them and in the moment. And to cultivate experiences (and moments) vs things. Thanks for always challenging us to be BTL and sharing your heart and mind!!! 🙏🙌🏻🔥💪🏻