Making a Memory

We took a trip down the river this week. We had planned on doing it all summer and for one reason or another we hadn't been able to make it happen. Finally the weather and our schedules aligned and we decided it was the perfect time. We took a picnic and then set out floating. The water was quite cool and refreshing. It was slow going in few spots but we paddled and drifted and just relaxed. It was a nice day. There were a few good rapids that were fun. Some were more shallow and our tubes dragged across the rocks and pulled our plugs loose. At one point we were all standing in the middle of the river blowing our tubes back up. Thank goodness it was shallow. The trip took us 3 and a half hours and I got a bit too much sun. But overall it was a great time. We watched the birds, noticed flowers, and the beautiful blue sky. We stopped to swing off rope swings, jump in off rocks, and have fun. Once we were back home, Blake said we didn't even take any pictures of us tubing. Maddie answered back that not every single thing needs a picture taken of it. How true!! and how wise of her to recognize that and help me see it too. It was nice to be in the middle of a beautiful river with my family with nothing competing for any of our attention. Most any other time there are phones, ipods, TV, other people, jobs, chores, responsibilities, the next project, the next best thing. Usually I only feel a reprieve from these distractions when we are at the river or at the beach. I purposefully leave my phone (and everything else) at home to keep it from being lost or broken. I've been more aware lately of how important it is to spend time with my husband and my kids, giving them my undivided attention and making them feel just how important they truly are to me. I'm starting to think I have it backwards, maybe I should leave behind any distraction so that my family isn't lost or broken. Not everything that is a distraction is a bad thing, most are necessary to life really. The problem is when you don't balance it, the real life people fall by the wayside. I don't want that to be my husband or one of my kids, ever. Life is precious and short and I don't want to waste it on anything that takes away from my family. I want to have more memories that we have made simply because I took the time and cared enough to just experience that moment, not because I took the picture to document it. All the sweetest memories actually are kept in my heart anyway, and I don't need a picture to remember it. They are the feelings of being known, loved, accepted, important, and happy. No other thing, screen, photo, material object, possession, duty, or obligation means more than how you make someone feel.
So dump the distractions and get back to your life....it's waiting....

~Tara