Boston

Boston. Boston. Boston. We love it here. It was home for a few years. Funny how a place becomes your home...slowly. It takes awhile to make a place our own. We were excited to move here...as a new family...making our own way.

Both of us,Biff and I, are loyal to our family. We truly love our family...all of our family...with pokes and pinches and peccadilloes ...one and all...we love each one...with quirky bits and funny folks, family is where we come from. Family made us who we are...our place in our family......our individual relationships with each one in the family, the parenting style, the nature and nurture, love, guidance and support of our family helped to create us....for better or for worse......through thick and through thin...good, bad and ugly moments.....we love our family. They came as a part of our package. We were literally delivered to our very own family.

So here we are....just south of Boston...visiting. This is the place we chose to start to grow our own family. We may be a part of a whole.....with a variety of personalities, partnerships, personal styles, beliefs and even baggage..a wonderful mix of love is what we take from them all ...to venture off on our own.

This is where our family became US. Just us. We were away from family, in proximity but not in our hearts. We became our own unit. We had each other. We built our universe. We learned on our own. We were stronger because of our time here. It was our time to be who we would be.....as a family.....of three,  then four.

We liked us together. We had become who we were....as our own family. We learned what we wanted for us. We created the family for ourselves that was the right fit for us...for the family we were growing. We knew what what parenting styles and couple queues we would take from our families on our own trip and other bits we were sure to leave behind. We had our family support and love. We found our footing. We stumbled and ran and tripped and swam. We were committed to keep working on what worked for us...as our own family.

It was our turn to be just us...growing into a family. With love and laughter and lots of fun.

Now we're back to visit again. We're with our friends who were learning right alongside us. We we were finding our own way. We had challenges and growth as a couple.....as parents........deeply in love...despite the chaos of our new babies and our life far from family.

Now, our babies are 14 and 15. We're. Still finding our way. We thank God for our commitment to each other and our family. Our kids have no idea of the sweet memories of newness and fear and joy. They see it as a fun place to visit...with treasured friends who lived through those times with us.....those everyday days....every step of the way.

This place was our home...still, our roots are deep. This is where we began. This is where we learned to be our own family for ourselves. It made us stronger. We became us. We are us most of all. That is a gift. I'm grateful.

Ily

Biff and I had been the road warriors...no distance too great for a family event. No time too short to get there...for whatever event. We loved that life. We loved our family had proved we would be the ones to be there. We were both the kind of family who showed up. We loved our family ...we would do anything to be there for them.

Though we were a longer distance from extended family...when we started out here, we were with them in our hearts and phone calls and memorieswith love...for all of them. After those years, it became clear that it was our turn....to learn about being here for us. It's special to visit where we began.  Precious memories and places make it all so clear.  We were here for that time to learn how to be us.