Hello, dear glorious Global Family! Greetings from our little Comfort Suites room in NC. The royal Tinkerbell and Frodo are nestled in their chambers (i.e. their pen) with their two soft cushy doggie beds. Schuy is snuggling her Team of Four (Otto, Sugar, Sue Bear and the Cracken) tightly against her as she drifts away into the darkness of her night mask.

It has been a very human day, I must say. We spent last night in Savannah in a breathtaking hotel overlooking the water that has become a tradition as we make the trek up to NC. It was the first time in more than a decade that Frodo P Frankfurter, now with the lovely Tikerbell, was invited to join us. Frodo is not the most easy going traveler these days. He made it effortlessly through the hours on the road, yet at 4am, Frodo was giving us “the bark”. Trust me, a 4am walk in Tampa wouldn’t really feel like the optimum way to spend the wee hours. In Savannah, it was all I could do to hop out of bed and put on a smile with that down jacket.

A few hours later, we were up and getting ready for the final leg of our “over the river and through the woods” tradition. A quick continental breakfast at Starbucks, a major load-up of the car and we were (gasp) ready to go. The little green hornet has been showing its age recently. A recent higher than normal speed bump seems to have caused some oil to leak from underneath — something that I discovered a couple of days ago. Yes, major heart sink and adrenaline rush to see that days before a major trip.

Some say that things come in threes… well apparently, the little Green Hornet must have been listening because all of a sudden yesterday, the keyless entry battery seemed not be consistently working. I had hoped that it was a fluke but this morning and again this evening, the car computer showed that the key was missing when it was most definitely inside the car ready to go. When it did start up, what was the first thing that I saw on the dashboard was the tire warning light. Oh my! Seriously? Sigh!

Dogs jammed on top of suit cases. The walker. The wheel chair. Bags of shoes. Bags of games, computer, lap tops, jackets, food — and of course the sweet Schuy princess perched in the front seat under a mountain of pillows, books and computer cords. Not the optimum timing for all of the car issues…

Two faulty air pumps later, I was able to fill the tire so that we could finish our drive to NC. Ok, so the light was back on this evening. Sigh! And yes, the key once again was not working when we got back in the car tonight…

Meanwhile the symphony of non-stop sirens zoom by us and I think of how lucky we are. To still feel the magic of family… to love and cherish those faces that we may only see once every 365 days… to know that life may throw us its curves and its challenges — well, no one ever said that a lazy river outshines the whitewater rapids.

On the eve of Thanksgiving 2017, I sit here listening to the sounds of bubbling life around me. My ears plugged into Coldplay’s “Don’t Panic”… How quickly the decades have passed… how incredible it is to have those “special people” in our lives… some that we see often… some that we see once in a blue moon… and then there is the global family with its beautiful web of love and light…

As I sat around the table watching the generations laugh and listen and embrace, I thought once again how magical the spin of this planet is… “We live in a beautiful world”… The gasp that my Aunt Frances took when she saw my little book… the power anticipation as I tread one step closer to 2018… it will be BIG!

The giggle that Schuy and I shared when we opened a photo from our dear friends the Marinaris of their young man soaking in the Sky is the Limit book…

Yes, dear family, we DO live in a beautiful world… and tomorrow will be a perfect day to absorb it all in, to hold our arms wide and for one day KNOW that even our wildest craziest dreams can indeed be POSSIBLE! And for that how can we not be grateful!! Keep gazing at the beautiful road ahead, even if the only way through is beyond the “impossible”….

In Joy! The Sky is the Limit!!

xoxox

Meridith