Youth In Our Lives

Over the past week or so we’ve been reminded of how the youngsters in our life stir our imagination and bring us happiness.  

A few days ago after leaving the Elkhart area, we stopped at our good friends’ home in Marion.  Mike and Suzanne alerted their congenial neighbors we were arriving. They were more than willing to have us park along their street, offering whatever they could to accommodate us.  As we pulled in Lauren and Sean, the 9 and 7-year-old  members of the family, came running to greet us. Isn’t it great how those hugs and smiles give you an  injection of the happies?!  

We always enjoy getting up to date with Lauren and Sean’s activities.  Sean acquainted us with his latest wrestler action figures, such as Jake the Snake and Matt Hardy. And there were many other professional-type names that I should remember.  (Sorry Sean.)

Lauren demonstrated her Star Doll website where she can choose from a wide variety of clothes and accessories to design her outfits. Then they went off to socialize with their neighbor friends while we adults found a relaxing spot on the back porch, catching up on the past year.  By the time we saw the kids again they had filthy feet, hands and faces that were hard to explain.  Then we saw why. They had been creating this life-size, chalk artwork covering the complete driveway. Obviously, the artistry involved a considerable amount of crawling around on the “canvas”.  Take a look at these youthful imaginations at work.

    

After our super visit with the Flynn family, we traveled the 100 miles or so south to Indianapolis.  We were glad to be seeing our family again after a long stretch for our trip north to Alaska. As we turned into Tim’s, our home base, the water was filling his new swimming pool. The next two days were unseasonably warm for October, mid 80s, and the heater was cranking. So there were definitely good pool times, especially for the children.  Snorkels, rafts, water basketball and water guns, they all got a workout.

We loved hearing the latest news from everybody and sharing our stories, as we were entertained by the water shenanigans. We were also introduced to  granddaughter Caroline’s boyfriend, Brayton.  (Yes, he is polite and personable, in addition to cute.)  Our girl is becoming a lady, soon to be off to college.  Wow, just yesterday we were watching her and her brother, Ben, spread out construction paper and finger paints to create their own imaginative art projects in our living room. 

Another type of youngster in this mix is my daughter Krissy’s beautiful Emma. She’s been to doggy obedience school recently and is showing great progress.   She waited patiently as we all chowed down on the delicious Green Chili Stew that Krissy brought us for dinner the other evening.  Emma is very loving and energetic and wants to please. She’s glad to have been rescued. 

We’ve been happy to have all this vitality around us. No adults were allowed in this particular message.  It’s all about the youth. Ah, how they keep us young.

Thanks again for visiting Hurley Travels.  Talk to you later.