All Of Our Years

In the space of time it took to take my morning meds and prepare my oatmeal yesterday, I overheard a variety of phrases and subjects coming from a conversation in the next room. It included the following:

The Peter Principle, Al Gore, Jamaica, political apocalypse, propaganda, ice caps, environmentalist, air quality, nuclear power, pushing an agenda, eagle’s habitats, electricity, wind farms, energy under the ocean, fault line, tsunami, Chernobyl, Russians, K19 Widowmaker, stem winder, inaugural cruise, main drive belt in mower, dropping the clutch, transmission update, common for this model, and rev that thing up and go to town.

Who were the two responsible for all those subjects? Nathan and Steve, that’s who.

I didn’t want to distract them, so I just took a picture of their legs — and the dogs.  Give them two more hours, and they could have added a hundred things to that list. The only thing that didn’t appear on the list above (which usually does) was philosophy and theology.  If Gage had been there, the list would have been twice as long.

Nathan was staying overnight with us so Steve could take him to the airport Sunday morning to join Meagan and the kids in Florida for two weeks of vacation.

In the meantime, I got to cook breakfast for him . . .

and enjoy seeing his sandals stacked by the chair, announcing he was back home. The best view.

I often think of how comforting it must be for Nathan to be still able to come through the same front door he entered as a 3-day-old. (Try not to be too jealous of his mother’s hairdo.)

For those who don’t know the story,  Nathan came home (to Ken and Vernie’s house) one day, and Hurricane Hugo arrived the next day. We were without power for 10 days.  There’s a whole long story there, but that’s the gist of it.  He was exceedingly brave and made it through the storm.

This picture was taken near the same spot where his sandals were sitting.

On the couch in the den.

And a few years later, Sarah joined the family; in this photo, we are sitting in the same room where Steve and Nathan just sat and had their meandering conversation.

Nathan and Sarah are 36 and 30.

Steve and I are 69 and 64.

And the family house is 61.

So thankful that all of our years have come together in this place.

What about you?

What’s the oldest house you have lived in/or currently live in? What’s the best thing you love about it?

If you were going to have a long conversation with someone you were really comfortable with, what sorts of topics would you cover?

What are you looking forward to this week/month?