Well, I'm back from an unplanned two week vacation.  Now, when I say vacation, I only mean it in the sense that I was not working or cooking or blogging or much of anything else that would require the slightest bit of effort.  Not a vacation in the sense that I actually packed a suitcase and went somewhere exciting.....unless you'd count my trip to the dermatologist 90 miles away. 

First was Carson's birthday and we had some guys over to grill and chill for that.  After all that hoopla, I helped the guys get ready to go on their trip.  They've been gone on their little hiking/camping/bathroom-ing under the stars trip to Yosemite and Blair has been working out of town which left me at home. 

All.  Alone. 

Woooo Hooooo!!

I'm sorry.  I shouldn't have exhibited that much excitement over the temporary absence of my loved ones but let's all be real here- it's all kinds of wonderful to be alone every now and then.  I mean, really.  Who doesn't crave a little time to themselves?  I haven't cooked, cleaned, or done laundry because, well, there hasn't been any dirty laundry to speak of and the dishwasher just got full enough to run, last night, for the first time in a week.  I've just been picking up dinner or meeting friends to eat.  I watched what I wanted to watch and turned the TV off when I wanted to be quiet and read.  I listened to music, cleaned out a closet or two, slept late, and whatever else struck my fancy.   

Wooooo Hooo!!! 

Sorry. 

There I go again. 

So, anyway, information coming in from the trip has been sketchy at best.  They flew out of New Orleans and started hiking on day two around lunch.  Around supper time, I got my first text from Carson in the wilderness saying that they had arrived at their campsite and he had been vomiting.  (I hate the word, vomiting.  It sounds so eeeeww, but I guess I was trying to sound all sophisticated by using the medically correct term as opposed to throwing up which is what we usually say around here.  But, that is neither here nor there.)  Anyway, I am here at home envisioning him on top of a desolate mountain losing fluids.  Now, I'm no doctor, but I know enough to know that the top of a desolate mountain is not where you want to be losing fluids.  As a mother, I visualized the group having to carry him in his sleeping bag down to the park doctor for a bag of fluids when, in reality, he was likely just experiencing some altitude sickness and was acclimated by the next morning.  I suppose that's one drawback of being left alone with your imagination. 

My mother called to check on the hikers, the next day, and I said they were fine aside from the fact that Carson was feeling a little queasy.  Now, I don't know about your family, but almost every family has a worrier.  I mean, we're all worriers to some degree but I bet you're picturing one person, in particular, who is the worry representative for your family tree.  And if you're now worrying because you can't think of who that would be in your family, it is likely you.  In my family, it is my sweet mother.  She is the champion.  Only in death will she relinquish the office.  I'd put her up against anybody your family's got.  She can come up with scenarios that will spin your head like a top.  Anyway, I had to round the edges and soften the wording of "Carson is throwing up in the middle of nowhere" to a more palatable, "Carson is a little queasy."  As you know, you have to do those things in the best interest of the worrier.  I really think that God is ok with not divulging all of the known information when it is for the good of others. 

See, the thing about champion worriers is that, while you're picturing a trip down to the park doctor, they're envisioning medical helicopters trying to lower a basket down through the canopy of trees in the middle of a lightening storm and an encircling pack of rabid wolves.  You'll never outdo their scenarios.  Don't even try.  I didn't even tell her about this guy they met and invited to camp with them.  She would've had him pegged as one of the FBI's most wanted, hanging in every post office from here to Seattle.  Sometimes, it's just best not to tell everything you know. 

So, I've just gotten spotty texts and pictures from them since then.  I've gotten enough information to piece together that they're having a great time, though.  So, I'll share what I know which won't take long. 

They're seeing lots of God's beautiful creation......

 Which made me think how......