I picked the wrong year to start a blog, run a half marathon and read through the Bible. It has been a record year for craziness.

A few days ago we arrived in Virginia to stay with my parents for about two months. I am getting good at this.

Kind of.

And believe it or not, in two days we are loading up the car and making a 12 hour trip to Maine. (Did I mention I have two kids under two?) And then, in another two weeks, I will be heading the opposite direction for a 10 hour drive to Atlanta. Then back up to North Carolina for a few days and on to Virginia for the remainder of September, until we fly back to California on the 29th.

I don’t know how I’m going to do this. Or more accurately, how my kids are going to do this. They may not sleep well for a year once we’re done.

Why all the traveling? Most of it is good stuff…visiting family, friends, vacation. Some of it is GREAT stuff. My husband was selected to be the owner/operator of a Chick-fil-A in Northern California! I’m sorry I haven’t told you yet. 😦 He will be heading to Atlanta for about five weeks for training, and then when he’s done we’ll take a short vacation and pack up to head West for good.

Some of it is also bad stuff. My grandmother in Maine is dying. I haven’t seen her in a year and a half. In fact, she is doing so poorly that I’m not sure if she will still be with us by the time we get there on Friday.  Even if I do get to see her, I don’t know how responsive she will be.

I’m not sure how to feel about it. Sad, of course. But I’ve also known that this day has been coming for a little while. She has lived a good life. Eighty-six years, I think. She is ready to be in heaven. She is ready to be united with her Creator and her husband, who went there twelve years ago. Every day she stares at his picture directly across from her bed. She doesn’t want anything to block her view of it, not even flowers sent from loved ones.

Death is so weird. It’s a reality that is one of the only certainties in life. We will ALL die. Yet, we are so unacquainted with death. So far this summer, two people I know have died, and that is unusual. A few weeks ago, a family friend lost her 38 year old daughter to melanoma. And in June, I learned that my cousin, 29, drowned in a freak fishing accident in Alaska. His death shook up my world a bit. I wasn’t very close to him as he lived in Alaska and I had never been there. But, it was so shocking. There was no reason for him to die. No cancer, no old age, no disease. One moment he was perfectly healthy, breathing, and then the next he was gone. So strange.

Now it appears my grandma will soon be joining them.

And then there’s me trying to train for a half marathon, read my Bible every day, and sort of keep up with a blog I started nine months ago. Is this just me, or is this just life? Everything happens all at once. Thankfully, it’s mostly good. It is just a wonderful, challenging, adventurous, exciting season of our lives. So I will try and enjoy it. The memories of my grandma, the time with family, the shin splints, the humidity, the living with family, the pool, the car trips, the pack n’ plays, the living out of suitcases, the plane rides, the hugs. It’s all worth it. Whether I have fifty-six more years or not, it’s my life, it’s great, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.