On Fridays I share things that made me happy from the week - a photo, a song, a quote, a beauty product, a recipe, a pair of cute shoes, etc. If it's a product, sometimes it's something I actually own and sometimes something I just saw online that gave me a smile. Sometimes it's serious and sometimes it's silly. I suppose I believe that God is in the simple details of life and yes, I can even find Him in a tube of lipstick.
Hello, Friends~
I'm back home after our trip to Maine to visit my son, Joe, who was the Director of Broadcasting and Media for the Sanford Mainers baseball team this summer. If you followed Jen Hatmaker on Instagram at all this summer you know that she was in Bar Harbor which is about three hours north of where we were. She could not have spoken more highly of Maine during her stay there which got me excited to visit, but I also thought she might have been over-selling the place.
I can assure you. She was not. She did not. She could not.
This brings us to the one and only favorite thing of this week and of all of the year 2021 thus far:
MAINE
It was magic. I don't think I can overstate how in love I am with Maine - most specifically, the town of Kennebunkport. I have been to Hawaii, to Aspen, and to Pebble Beach and I would put Kennebunkport, Maine up there with all of them as one of the most visually stunning places I have ever been. I was completely overwhelmed by the beauty of the coastline, the flowers, the homes, the restaurants, and even the actual air.
Perhaps it was because I was coming off a week of some of the hottest, sweatiest days that I can remember in Virginia. Perhaps it was because President Bush has a special place in my heart and I have always wanted to visit the Bush Estate in Kennebunkport.
Perhaps it was because visiting your adult child who has made decisions and found success completely all by his own darn self in a place you have never been and without a shred of your help is pretty special.
Perhaps it was because this year has brought some really hard things into my life. And when that happens - as it does to everyone at some point - choosing to love the fire out of every single moment that doesn't seem quite so hard is exactly the way I want to live.
So I did. I went there. I did that. I bought the (literal) tshirt.
I have never in my life bought a "destination shirt" on a vacation. I don't know why. It just isn't my thing. But I saw this sweatshirt that looked awfully familiar. I realized that I had seen it on one of Jen Hatmaker's posts. I said to myself, "I'm not buying that sweatshirt just because she bought that sweatshirt. I mean, whatever. I am my own Jenn." Then I put it on and thought it was the softest sweatshirt I had ever touched. Does Maine have its very own magical brand of sweatshirt fabric? I think it does. Also the shop had photos of the Bush family everywhere. I had no choice really. I paid for it without taking it off my body. Then I wore it for most of my waking hours.
Except when I wore this.
Just by pure coincidence I was wearing my throwback campaign tshirt when we stopped at Yale to check out the baseball field on our drive home. And then I proceeded to lose my fool mind because I remembered that our beloved 41st President played baseball for Yale.
So even though there was a very obvious "No Trespassing" sign on the gate to the field, Steve, Drew and I decided to walk right on in and get some photos.
I mean what were the chances we'd get in trouble when I was wearing that shirt at a field named after President Bush? Perhaps it was reckless, but as you can tell I was super casual about the whole thing so as not to draw attention to us.
We simply had the best time. We missed Kyle, but we loved having at least four of us together after a summer of being all over the map.
Here are some more photos of our trip which - if you are not my mother - I am sure you will scroll right on by. ;-)
That's it for Friday Favorites this week. I've got to hustle to make food and clean sheets and get the laundry room ready. The Mainers lost in the first round of the play offs on Tuesday night which means Joe will arrive home this week and get to stay for a bit before he reports to his next gig in North Carolina. Kyle will be home this weekend as well for a a little while before the University of Tennessee starts classes again. I am so excited to have my house full again. Perhaps unreasonably so because I know well that when there are four grown men in my space, the shine can wear off quicker than I expect. But for right now? Very shiny. I can't wait.
Enjoy the fire out of every little moment that you can this weekend, Friends. Go ahead and be overenthusiastic, excessive and unreasonable about even the smallest joy. Of course, we can't be in a place like Kennebunkport, Maine, all the darn time. But we can choose to believe that in the whole of our days there are moments - unique ones and even - maybe especially - plain ol' basic ones that are intentional, gracious gifts from God. In the words of Frederick Buechner, again ;-):
"Faith, says the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, is 'the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen', and looking back I choose not to deny, either, the compelling sense of an unseen giver and a series of hidden gifts as not only another part of reality, but the deepest part of all."
Have a blessed weekend.
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