Going Home

Welcome to Alberta! (pic is not great -- taken from a moving car - -but still -- you get the idea!)

My cute sister and her first grandbaby, Oliver. She couldn't keep her hands off him, with good reason. He's beautiful.

Oliver and his daddy, my nephew Eric. So fun to see him grown up, and being a husband and a daddy (and doing a great job!).

Val and Keith - my only sister and together, one of my favorite couples (and relatives!)

Ian and Ashley, just after exiting the Alberta Temple in Cardston. Aren't they gorgeous?

Val pinning Ian's flower on him after the temple ceremony. He's a married man!

"Where we love is home -- home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts." ~Oliver Wendall Holmes Sr.

Mark and I just returned from a week in Alberta. The purpose was two-fold: to visit with my parents who live in Lethbridge (where I grew up) and to attend my nephew Ian's wedding to his beautiful new wife, Ashley. There's something that happens to me every time I get back there -- there's a pull for me to drive by the house I grew up in, to check out the schools I attended, to look out over Henderson Lake (3 blocks from our house), and to soak up the family that I don't get enough of.

The wedding was wonderful. Ian and Ashley were so ready to spend their lives (and beyond) together and it was a gift to be able to watch them make that commitment to each other. It was wonderful to spend time with my sister and maybe be of a little bit of help in her involvement with the wedding. It was great to be with her husband Keith and son Eric (with his wife Jacquie and new baby Oliver -- both wonderful!). I even ran into some seriously old friends (from way back when -- probably haven't seen them for nearly 40 years -- amazing) and had a little visit with them.

I loved spending time with my parents. I get bothered because they don't get around as well as they used to (or as they'd like to), and I wish there was something I could do to change that for them. But it's fun to be able to spend time with them, even if we aren't doing anything especially exciting. Just being together is really what it's all about.

That week in Alberta has brought out that Canadianism that isn't buried as deep as I thought it was. My feet may have left Lethbridge, but not my heart.