Remember when....

Kelsey was out running errands this evening, but she got home around 9pm and somehow we ended up plopped on the couches with all the boys talking about "remember when....", remembering times from our history. Of course, with children, history is always a relative thing, but it was awesome...some highlights:

Our first Christmas as a married couple...December 18, we started a new job at a Boys Home, having coasted into town with three dollars cash and a quarter tank of gas. Our first night at work was the staff Christmas party and we got a hundred dollar bonus.

Jackson's favorite Christmas gift at 4 years of age: Rolls and rolls of masking tape. He would build these intricate webs all over the room.

Grayson remembering "the time I fell down the stairs at the house on Wood Trail. I was holding that little toy phone!"

Even Zion got into the act, announcing his favorite Christmas gift last year was the hamster that Grayson got! (It's hard to reminisce when you're so young - Zoe was absolutely silent....).

We must have talked for nearly an hour...quite the feat for a family with four children. They loved it, and so did we. When it was over, Zion asked "Can we talk about that stuff again?"

There's something about reaching backwards that anchors the present. Shared experiences establish identity, and identity helps us relate to the here and now. It settles our heart when we wonder "is it going to be ok?", because down through the years, it always has...and it will be again, in due time.

On a side note, shout out to the Cornhusker Towing Company for tugging me off the ice when I stranded the Suburban like some broken down Zamboni today. I will see to it that you get Sacred Trust credit for good deeds done dirt cheap.