The Word Is:

good-bye

The Word Is:

victory

[O Greater Light, we praise Thee for the less;

The eastern light our spires touch at morning,

The light that slants upon our western doors at evening,

The twilight over stagnant pools at batflight,

Moon light and star light, owl and moth light,

Glow-worm glowlight on a grassblade.

O Light Invisible, we worship Thee! ~TS Eliot]

Let Us Journey Together

As you may or may not remember,

this dear one is about to leave for the Peace Corps.  

Before she heads off on her journey, we had a little journey of our own, in order to celebrate her with oodles of friends and fun.  

The travels of the weekend began when the Baltimore wedding crew arrived in DC mid-Saturday,

 and had some precious quality time near the fountain,

talking together and watching the ducks.

Then, we made our way over to the Mall, 

 where the others had arrived with our lunches,

 and to surprise our girl.

We laughed, we talked;

 we played,

 and attracted random children into our midst--
which is fitting,

 seeing how none of us have acknowledged that the journey of childhood is in our past.

Embracing childlike-ness helped on our next activity--

at the Spy Museum,

when we took our girl on a spy mission, and saved the [fake] country of Khandar from serious nuclear disaster.

Hungry from the intensity of our task,
we headed over to Ethiopian food,

 communal,

 and delicious.

The perfect follow-up 

 was a charming ride on a sweet boat

for more quality time,

seeing the sights,

thinking some thoughts, and--of course--

blowing more bubbles.

We disembarked to find

 these firemen,

who quickly became our friends.

 While Sara procured a ride around town on their truck,

 some of the more introverted of us found this lovely cafe,

and had ourselves some lovely treats.

After the others joined us and had their own treats, it was time to head toward our home for the night. We crashed and slept and breakfasted, and then made our way back downtown,

for time with God.

Fed, but with rumbling bellies,

we ended up at lunch,

enjoying each other's company,

the food, the atmosphere.

Splitting up then,
we traveled in packs toward our next destination:

Annapolis.

We poked around what the town had to offer a bit,

and gathered together, 

waiting for full reunion of all of our members.

Eventually, when the town embraced us all,

 we sought out the food of our personal desire

and headed dock-side for the eating of it together.

There was just enough time for dessert,

before we called our Annapolis day to rest.

But, lest you think our partying was over, 

allow me to assure we had plenty more to go.

A friend in our midst opened up his family farm to us,

 where we met up for late-night antics

 and outdoor dwelling, campfire included.

 One by one we made our way to beds and blankets.

I rose early and sat on the porch, the sun rising above my head and the water in the distance, the birds singing me their song.

And then, eventually, 

 there was activity,

 and the partaking in a delicious meal

[where the influence of our Ethiopian
experience was clearly seen].

Then there was time to explore.

 We headed water-side,

 in the company of a million flies excited for our visit,

 and played,

 and worked,

 and rested.

[I personally discovered that the open sea is the best place to read in peace, and decided then and there that all future journeys should take this into account...]

Soon enough it was time for lunch,

 so this grill-master and I toasted up the treats 

planned by our excellent planners.

We needed to be revived after all our hard play, after all, because next we had some important Sara-Celebrating to do.

Since we take our role in her life very seriously, we felt the need to prepare our girl for her Moldovan experience.

First, a Moldovan mad-lib,

 helping her to understand the Moldovan culture and language.

 Next, we competed for the most authentic Moldovan dance,  

with much kicking of legs

and flailing of arms. 

 Sara was very impressed,

and enjoyed herself immensely.

We closed out the afternoon with love poems defining what she means to us, and prayer for her in this new season.  We committed her to the One who has been the author of this story, and then worshiped Him for all that He has done and will do. 

And there were tears, and precious words, and even more precious thoughts, as we held her in our midst for this final moment.  She is our dear one, and we are grateful to have had her, grateful to be with her on this journey, grateful to know that her leaving us does not mean our journeying together is over.

Because though I then packed up my bags and left our journeying weekend, my heart will never leave the beauty of this season that I have been privileged to travel with such a gift of housemate, sister, and friend.

To you, dear Sara, we say:

The Lord will bless you, and He will keep you.  He will make his face to shine upon you and he will be gracious to you; He has turned his face toward you, and has given you his peace.

You are forever loved.