Today is our first full day back from an almost weeklong vacation visiting friends and family. It was a lot of traveling and a lot of worrying, especially after last weekend’s episode, but each moment laughing and enjoying the company made it absolutely worth it.

There’s a reflection exercise I like called “High, Low, Surprise,” which can be used to consider a day, week, month, year, or entire lifetime. You can offer your reflections to a group or yourself in any order, and it’s a good way to start on the path to daily reflection. Today, I’m using it to remember our vacation. After anticipating it so much, I almost can’t believe it’s already over!

High: Seeing a friend since childhood and meeting her family in full.

Low: I could have stayed days longer! When we visit, we pick up like no time has passed since we last spoke.

Surprise: Jacob lying on the floor with the dog in the kitchen, and the fact that he let Jacob touch his nose.

(Secondary low: We missed snapping a photo of that one!)

High: No hospital! No EpiPen! No Benadryl!

Low: Cortisone almost every day.

Surprise: The random hives here and there from we don’t know what. Again.

High: We ate in two restaurants and survived three flights without a reaction. (We brought food for J-Bear.)

Low: We dared not order from the menus for Jacob, and cleaned all high chairs, tray tables, windows, seatbelts, etc. with antibacterial wipes before we settled in.

Surprise: High chairs and tray tables on airplanes can be Dirty with a capital “D.”

Low: While I left with a slew of partially-read books, just-started knitting projects, and a sense that I wasn’t accomplishing as much as I could day-to-day, I came back with an even longer list of things around the house I should just tackle already.

Surprise: Despite how tired I am, I actually feel like doing them!

High: I am cleaning out clutter, planning meals, and reorganizing my lists. Can you say “nesting”?

Jacob had the time of his life. While he is talking a lot more, he hasn’t started typing yet, so here’s vacation according to Jacob, as I imagine it:

High: Air-panes! Air-panes! Two air-panes!

High: Papa!

High: Doggy!

High: Ocean! Wow!

Low: What’s a low?

Surprise: Big tar. (We rented a car, and rather than walking through the terminal to a normal-sized sedan, we opted to take what was just outside the counter. It was a Ford Flex—in other words, a giant box on wheels. Comfy, quiet, fine. Jacob took one look and said simply, “Big car.”)

 

We have cooler weather in Brooklyn today, and I’m starting to think that in a few weeks, I might just be ready for fall.