Blissful Feet at the Beach

Yes, we really did go to the beach last week. And I can prove it!

I'm not sure when I started taking pictures of feet, especially feet at happy moments. But from time to time, I just do. And my feet, feeling warm sand for the first time in a decade (I kid you not) were completely blissful.

We finally got a mini-vacation...our first family time away of the entire summer. We had two nights and most of three days. And we finally got to Lake Erie, which is something we'd wanted to do for years. The peninsula was gorgeous. I loved the combination of woods and beach...this was my first ever visit to any of the Great Lakes. And it was the sweet girl's first ever visit to the beach.

I don't know why it took us so long. Life in the past decade, here in the post-industrial town that time forgot, has not always been easy. I am feeling a bit nostalgic as I write this because today, August 20th (it's just past midnight right now) marks exactly 10 years since we moved here. 10 years. If you had told me then that we would still be here, I would have laughed in disbelief. This was supposed to be a waystation, a testing ground, a little bit of wilderness, preparation time, a stepping stone, a bridge moment, a season. And it has been all those things. Just in a much more prolonged and profound way than D. and I could ever have guessed when we pulled onto this very street a decade ago and began unpacking boxes.

So...tired as I am, feeling grateful for lots of things. For persevering love in hard places. For knowing the faithful words and kind works of God in a "besieged city." For my sister who drove through a pouring rain to help us unpack boxes that first night, who flew here in the middle of the night/early morning five years later to be here for the birth of the sweet girl, and who has visited us here countless other times. For friends who know how blessed but exhausting life and ministry and work in this town can be, and who sent us a check so we could take that vacation to the beach this past week. For a relatively new friend, Erin (who so faithfully reads this blog, and who has blessed my life with poetry and great conversation in the past almost-two years) whom I was delighted to finally have a chance to meet during our time in Erie.

And oh yes, I'm feeling grateful for rested, blissful feet at the beach.