We've Hit the Midway Point

The girls have been here for three weeks which is half their visit. Looking back I see how quickly those three weeks have gone and know how fast the remaining weeks will fly by. We have had lots of fun, lots of laughter, lots of swimming and family time and lots of memories have been made. This years jokes and teasing lines have been established ( Monkey's fat knees). Bedtime has proven to be challenging and probably holds the least attraction but mornings are quiet and I get to look at two sleeping girls taking in their beauty and the wonder of their being. I get to be Monkey face to face instead of on the phone or in the words of my weekly letters to them. I am very thankful for this time together and can easily dismiss their reluctance to settle down at night. I have silent evenings the rest of the year. Yesterday Emma made an extensive list of chores she and her sister will do to earn the enjoyable activities of the next three weeks. She knows of course that those activities will happen regardless but I love that she lists the jobs such as washing eggs( a job her mother detested) as their way of earning the things Grampie and I are providing. More precious than gold comes to mind. I do once in awhile remind the girls that their presence here and all the fun things we are doing does not come cheap. But even as I list the cost of airfare, whale watching . our road trips etc. I know I would not have it any other way. I say that these six weeks are our way of condensing into a short time the things other grandparents do year round.This is what our distance apart calls us to do and here we are half way through another year of doing that. I will love to have my quiet evenings back but I will deeply miss the first hugs of morning and the presence of our girls in our home when the next three weeks come to an end.